How to Generate New Business with Webcasts

While it’s likely you’ve attended a webcast in the past, there are good reasons to start running a webcast or webcast series yourself. We will explore some of these reasons below.

The number one priority of webcasts should be lead generation. If you’ve attended a webcast before, you know that the organizers request some form of information from you if you want to attend. Since the goal of running a webcast is to share in-depth knowledge with your audience, you should expect something of value from your attendees. This could range from something as simple as name and email or could require more information like company, job title, phone, etc.

As with podcasting, blogging, or any form of content marketing, there is value in educating potential clients. By hosting an in-depth discussion on a legal topic, you position yourself as an expert on that topic and trusted source for those concerned with that topic. 

Before you even decide on a topic (or series of topics), you need to choose a platform. There are many great options to choose from, all with different features, and in turn, different price points.

While all platforms allow you the same basic functionality, each differentiates itself in one way or another. These points of differentiation include the number of attendees, the number of presenters, as well as some of pre-event and post-event features. To learn more about different features and price points for webcast software, see the Elegant Themes blog, The 15 Best Webinar Software Products from around the Web.

Similar to live events, which we will discuss in an upcoming blog, webcasts are a significant investment of time and resources, and need to be planned and executed to properly. They should concern a topic of interest and value, and should be something that you can talk about for up to an hour. Below, we will discuss how to think of topics pertinent to your audience, how to plan your event, and best practices for running the webcast itself.

While it may not sound difficult, identifying a good webcast topic can be surprisingly challenging. Your topic needs to be broad enough to have an audience, relevant enough for your audience to set aside an hour of their time, and specific enough that you can say what you need to say within fifty minutes, leaving ten minutes for a question and answer session at the end.

Once you’ve decided on a topic, it’s time to start planning. One of the biggest mistakes you can make when running a webcast is failing to give yourself enough time to generate interest and convince attendees to save the date. You need to start planning the promotional activities for the webcast at least 4-6 weeks in advance of the webcast, so you can promote it properly and attendees’ calendars are not already booked. 

Once you’ve decided on a topic and started preparing for the webcast, now comes the laborious part: promotion. Promoting a webcast takes time, but if you implement the following steps, you can generate strong interest in and attendance of the webcast.

The first step you need to take when promoting your webcast is to create the landing and registration page on your website. This page should include basic, important information such as the title, date, and webcast description, and sell potential attendees on why they should attend. Once the landing page is created, this will act as the final point of contact before registration, and every promotion activity should lead to this final page. 

From here, there are many different promotional techniques you can leverage to drive registrations. Whether it’s paid search for a term surrounding your webcast topic, promoting your webcast on social media, distributing an email to your email list, or writing related blogs leading up to the event, you should consider your webcast a high priority lead generation activity.

As the webcast approaches and attendees register, it’s time to make the final preparations. Start by drafting a slideshow featuring your key discussion points. A day before the event is scheduled to start, practice the presentation. We recommend following the checklist from GoToWebinar in order to ensure everything goes smoothly.

Following the Webcast

Many presenters think that once the webcast is over, they’re done. In fact, that’s only the beginning. After the webcast is completed, the real work begins. After the webcast ends, you have another piece of content that can be promoted, and it’s something your contacts don’t have to put in their calendars. This is the on-demand version of the webcast, and should be treated as another piece of content you can use to get in touch with your contacts and drive interest to your firm.

We recommend recording the webcast for future viewing, and updating your landing and registration pages to reflect that. From here, you can go about promoting this piece of high-value content using various tactics:

- Upload the slide deck to SlideShare
- Post clips of the webcast to YouTube/Facebook Video/Vimeo
- Write blogs recapping the key talking points
- Email people who missed the webcast and people on your email list who didn’t register
- Draft a whitepaper or eBook on the topic covered
- Post the blogs, whitepaper, and video links on Legal Services Link, linking them to your profile.

Running a successful webcast takes a lot of work to plan and execute the event effectively, but can be highly effective for those who thrive in the spotlight. Yet this is just one of many tools you should use in order to get new clients. Another proven resource for lawyers looking to obtain more clients is Legal Services Link. Legal Services Link allows you to create your profile in its directory for free and to connect directly with clients efficient and inexpensively. Learn more at LegalServicesLink.com.

In addition to helping you get clients, Legal Services Link works hard to provide you all of the advice you need to improve your practice’s return on its marketing investment. From our blogs about building a website, podcasting, infographics, and email marketing, we provide you with the insight you need to build a successful practice.