Do you have an online course you’re ready to take to the masses? You might want to launch your course with a webinar (sometimes called a workshop, masterclass, training, etc.). These webinars serve as a chance to connect with your potential course students and to really sell them on why they need your course.
During your webinar, you can introduce your ideal customers to the content you offer in your course and provide free value that convinces them they want to learn from you! But… what do you even talk about and how does the webinar boost your sales? We’ll go over this all in detail here.
Warm up cold leads
Because attendees have to sign up for your webinar with their email addresses, webinars let you bump up your email list. Even if someone registers for your webinar and bails last minute, you’re still able to communicate with them. Plus, because they registered, you know they’re interested in your products. Maybe this webinar wasn’t the right one for them, or the timing didn’t work out, but there’s a good chance they’ll find value from your brand in the future.
We’ve talked about nurturing your email list for your online course launch before and a webinar is just another opportunity to do that. Any subscribers who haven’t been opening your emails before might be enticed to do it now with the offer of a webinar.
Connect with your audience
A webinar lets you bond with your audience by interacting with them in real time. You build trust with your audience and you’ll look like an expert in their eyes. Webinars also give customers a chance to see the real person behind the brand and the online course. You’ll strengthen your connection and create good feelings between you and your audience. Hello, positive brand reputation!
Offer them something valuable for free
Would you be more inclined to buy something if you understood why you needed it and what benefit you were getting out of it? Or does a sales pitch out of the blue work better on you? We’re going to assume that, like most people, you like to know why you need something before you buy it. Think about it: don’t you want to try the samples at Costco before buying the whole big box? The same applies to your course.
Before asking someone to invest (aka trust) in your course, give them something valuable for free so they can get a taste of what you’ve created. This doesn’t work 100% of the time (#wishfulthinking) but you’re still providing value to your audience. That might influence them to buy later.
You might be hesitant to offer freebies, but remember that webinars are hosted virtually. People around the world can attend your event and many webinar programs can let you host hundreds or thousands of attendees. Even though you’re giving some of your content away, the logistical and marketing costs are still pretty low. We’d say that’s a win for your budget and long-term growth.
Give them an offer they can’t refuse
What else do people love other than freebies? Exclusive offers. Think about how you want to sell your online course at the end of the webinar. Will you offer a discount to people who buy your course before a specific deadline? Or maybe you’ll offer a discount to the first 10 or 20 customers who purchase your course.
Whatever you decide, try to create a sense of urgency that will nudge attendees to buy sooner rather than later. And of course, include a CTA link so people can buy with as few roadblocks as possible. Then don't forget the money is in the follow-up, so create a follow-up email sequence to make sure they’re reminded that doors or closing or your offer is ending.
Make sure to promote your webinar
By now, you (hopefully) see the benefits of hosting a webinar and how one can lead to increased sales for your online course. Of course, you’ll need to spend some time thinking about what your webinar will be about, how you’ll present it (on Facebook Live? On Zoom? On another platform?), and what your pitch will be.
Once you decide on a format for your webinar, the rest is making sure you promote it properly. You’ll want to consider registration pages, social copy/posts, and even emails. If you need templates and graphics to help you promote your webinar, let Styled Stock Society help. We have Online Course Launch templates to help you promote your webinar and course. Plus we have Presentation (or webinar) and Workbook templates to help you create and launch your course.
And we're coming out with new templates and of course the stock photos you can use within those templates every month! Learn more about what our membership can do for your webinar and online course launch!
