We Launched Our First Webinar! Here’s What We Learned
Toward the end of 2020, many of our clients started to ask us about webinars as a lead generation tool ahead of a product launch. Webinars can be excellent tools for business owners to expand their reach, gather new leads, and share value with their clients. Often, coaches will recommend business owners launch a free webinar to generate leads for their upcoming service or product launch.
Having helped a handful of clients launch webinars of their own, we wanted to try our hand at launching a webinar right here at LI. We hoped this process would help us learn more about the launch methods our clients were interested in. We also hoped it would be a great way to add value for new and existing clients.
So, in March 2021, the LI Team decided to launch our very own webinar!
In this blog, we’re going to talk you through exactly what we did, why we did it, how we did it, and what we learned from our experience. Use this blog as your guide for how to launch a webinar, including what you’ll need to invest upfront, the work that is involved, and mistakes to avoid along the way.
The concept: How to Build a Passive Revenue Course
The first thing we had to do when creating our webinar was determine a topic. A good topic is a mix between what you, the business owner, feel really passionate about and experienced in, plus what your clients really want and need.
The leadership team held a planning call and decided that for our launch, we would serve potential clients by helping them create an online course of their own, following the most streamlined system possible. We wanted to give this information to people who were interested in getting support with their course but weren’t ready to invest in 1:1 services. We set our sights on developing a webinar, and we also developed a digital product that would provide instructions and templates to help busy entrepreneurs develop their own courses from start to finish.
How did it come together?
We began with a brainstorming session. We needed a webinar that was informative and added value to people who chose to sign up and spend an hour with us! After the brainstorming session, it was clear we needed to utilize our team of creatives.
Emily enlisted our copywriters to provide:
- Promotional Emails
- Follow Up Emails
- The Webinar Script
- Digital Advertisements
- The Webinar Slide Deck
- Social Media Posts
- Sales Page Copy
Once the copy was ready, the graphic designers created:
- Social Media Graphics
- Webinar Slides
- Digital Product Ebook
- Digital Product Sales Page
Our tech support team helped with:
- Webinar Landing Page
- Email Automation
- Webinar Page Design
And finally, the LI ads team designed and ran ads to drive traffic to the landing page.
How did it go?
We learned that no matter how well you plan, it’s still a good idea to get up early on the launch morning.
Excitement was in the air on the morning of the launch. We felt good about the way it all came together. The nervous and giddy feelings that come when you’re about to try something new were there, for sure. But then came one of those stomach-flip moments when we realized that our mailing system accidentally sent out an automated email way too early.
Our entire RSVP list received an email thanking them for coming to the webinar, before the webinar even started! Oops?
We needed to do a bit of damage control, letting those who signed up know that they did not miss the webinar with a follow-up email! Being ready to catch any last-minute mistakes is part of the process!
All the nerves of the morning went away the moment our webinar started. Some of our favorite clients attended, and we were so excited to share the information we had with them! It was a super educational hour with a wonderful audience, and the launch of our digital product after the webinar ended went incredibly well. 10% of the people who signed up came to the live webinar, and about half of them purchased our digital product!
We felt terrific because we met our objective: to provide valuable information to people and get them on the path to creating their DIY course from start to finish with the kit that we made! You can see our kit by clicking here.
What did we learn?
Webinar creation can be intense, especially if you want to be launch-ready in a month! Having a team behind you can be highly beneficial but also costly. And if you don’t have a team, you’ll want to be prepared to invest a lot of your personal time and energy.
What’s the upside to putting in the time to create a webinar? Once it’s complete, you have evergreen collateral that can be launched and relaunched as a lead funnel.
For us, it means we can reuse our webinar to reach more people, gain more leads, and share valuable information in new ways! We’ll update the material and create a schedule to relaunch it periodically.
What is a low-cost alternative to a webinar launch?
Do you think a webinar may not be for you at this stage in your game? No worries!
Try this instead:
- Host a free training on Instagram live.
- Cut the training into a short video.
- Run the video as an advertisement that links to your digital product, such as an ebook or a course.
How can we help?
LI Boutique Agency has the best team of creatives behind us! From writing scripts to designing ebooks and troubleshooting on launch day, we can help you make your webinar launch ideas become reality.
Is it time for you to grow your business with the support of the LI Team?
Tracy Jenkins joined the LI Team as a copywriter in November of 2020. She has collaborated on 50 projects with us, writing everything from emails and social media to course layouts for clients. She has over 1,700 followers on Medium.com and is making a move from her 9 to 5 to full-time writing this summer!
