Using Virtual Events For Lead Generation

Since launching in 2021, events have been an integral part of Chezie’s marketing strategy. Being that we were bootstrapped until earlier this year, we needed a cost-effective way to establish ourselves as thought leaders in the ERG space while increasing our brand awareness with our target audience. Events have checked all of these boxes. Over the past few years, our monthly events, ranging from panel discussions to speaker series, culminated in our ERG Summit last October. We've welcomed over 1600 individuals from hundreds of companies to these events, consistently adding them to our email lists and converting many into leads for the top of our sales funnel. With that in mind, here are three tips for effectively leveraging virtual events for lead generation: 1. Know your audience: Generating excitement for an event begins with a deep understanding of our audience. By tapping into insights from our vibrant ERG community on Slack and engaging in ongoing conversations with customers, we thoughtfully curate event topics. This approach guarantees that our events not only resonate but actively engage our audience, leaving them eagerly anticipating the next one. 2. Use your registration form wisely: Harnessing the power of your registration form strategically provides a valuable opportunity for market research and shapes your follow-up outreach strategy. Move beyond the standard inquiries of name, email, and company. Our registration forms serve as a window into understanding attendees' ERG programs, assessing alignment with our ICP, and gauging their interest in exploring our software. It's an approach that deepens our understanding and tailors our interactions with each registrant. 3. Content beyond the event: The event is just the beginning of our content journey. Post-event, we go the extra mile by crafting engaging recap blogs, creating bite-sized 30-second clips, and hosting AMAs with our speakers. Repurposing content isn't just a tactic; it's a way to effortlessly extend your brand's reach across various platforms and channels. This not only maintains a dynamic presence but significantly boosts the chances of connecting with our target audience in diverse and meaningful ways. While events demand careful planning and time, when executed well, they become a powerful tool for increasing brand awareness and building pipeline. I’ve gained a ton of knowledge in event planning over the years, so I'm happy to share more about how founders can execute a successful event marketing strategy. What do you want know? 👀

Here’s how I’d scale a B2B tech company with virtual events: 1. Differentiate the company and make it the go-to for our niche To do: Create virtual events around solving the pain points of prospects by providing the knowledge and tools that they need to succeed in their roles/business, a.k.a, educational events. Types of events: Live podcasts or Q/As, masterclasses, webinars or workshop series, 3-day challenges, a brand summit or conference. Strategy: - Conduct customer interviews to uncover the pain points that directly and indirectly relate to the solution(s) we provide. - Stay in tune with industry trends, regulation changes, and other topics prospects are interested in. - Invite trusted thought leaders as speakers or contract a thought leader (either internal subject matter expert or external) as a regular host. Craft topics that clearly state expected outcomes, and deliver on that promise. Results: Get the brand’s name out there, attract new prospects (whether they are ready to buy or not), get a library of content to repurpose as blog articles, short clips, infographics, templates, etc., to position the company as the go-to for knowledge to succeed in their role/business. 2. Show prospects how the product solves their problems by leading with value To do: Create virtual events around prospects’ pain points that our product directly solves. Types of events: Webinars or workshops, masterclasses, a summit or conference. Strategy: - Invite customers (who are also trusted thought leaders) as speakers. - Partner with another software that solves a different pain point for the same ICP. - Craft topics that clearly state expected outcomes, and deliver on that promise. - Show them a clear roadmap to solve their problems with vs. without our product. Results: Prospects leave with the understanding of how to solve their problems with the product. Generate pipeline and qualified opportunities. 3. Bring customers and SQLs/SQOs together to see the product in action To do: Create events that bring customers and prospects together in the same “virtual” room Types of events: Customer webinars, product demo webinars, a summit or conference. Strategy: - Invite only hot leads - SQLs, SQOs, and free trial users. - Product demos, summit or conference breakout sessions: The speaker/moderator/host should be someone from your team who understands the ins and outs of the product, knows how to run effective demos and answer questions, a.k.a sales. - Customer webinars, summit or conference breakout sessions: The speaker/moderator/host should be a power user who understands the ins and outs of the product, can show how they use the product to solve their problems, and answer questions. - Go straight into product demo and effectively answer questions. Results: Demos booked, free trials, closed-won deals, revenue. The best part is, you can run all these virtual events at a significantly low cost without ads. Thoughts?

Getting people to attend your webinar is only 20% of the battle. The real game is what happens after. Here's the hard truth most agencies won't tell you: 73% of marketers say webinars are their best lead gen tool, but most leads never convert to sales. Why? Because everyone focuses on registration numbers instead of conversion strategy. Let me share what works (tested across 100s of campaigns): Real-time engagement is everything. We use strategic polling during webinars, but here's the trick: We don't ask generic questions. Instead, we map our polls to specific buying signals. The data tells exactly who's ready to buy and who needs nurturing. Here's something fascinating we discovered: 1 — Hot leads go cold within 48 hours if you don't have the right follow-up system. But when we implemented instant follow-ups with personalised recordings and resource packages? Conversion rates jumped 40%. 2—Getting sales teams involved during the webinar, not after. They're not presenting behind the scenes, taking notes on specific questions and objections. This lets them personalise their follow-up outreach instead of sending generic "Thanks for attending" emails. Here's our current playbook: → Custom follow-up sequences for different engagement levels → Sales team briefing before AND after each webinar → Targeted content packages based on questions asked → Retargeting campaigns specifically for webinar attendees What is the most interesting observation we’ve had? The leads who don't convert immediately but engage with your follow-up content often become your highest-value customers later. #webinars #leadgeneration #sales #marketing

In October 2021, we generated 250 sales leads in 2 hours without coding, AI, or sales expertise, and we have never looked back. Here's exactly how we’ve used webinars to generate $3M+ in pipeline since launching our company. A week after launching Chezie's ERG platform in August 2021, we hosted a simple webinar that changed everything. The idea came when we noticed most ERG content online was outdated (think black-and-white websites from 2014; it was dark out there). We saw an opportunity. Here’s our process: 1. Find your topic     Look for LinkedIn conversations in your niche. Use tools like Perplexity to research what people are actively searching for.     2. Get the right host     We reached out to my friend Morgan Matthews (she/her), who was working as a DEI Manager at Peloton at the time. Your host should either have a strong following, work at a notable company, or ideally both.      The more notable your speaker, the easier it is to drive signups.      3. Structure your event     We titled ours "From Intent to Impact: How to Get the Most Out of Your ERGs." Morgan gave a 45-minute presentation and left 15 mins for Q&A.      Keep it simple – a fireside chat format lets your host prepare answers in advance.     4. Capture leads strategically     Have attendees share key info during registration (company size, current solutions, etc.). This helps you qualify leads before the event.     5. Execute and follow up       Some tips for a smooth event:       • Host on Zoom (everyone’s familiar with it by now)   • Pay attention to which participants are most engaged   • Share recordings after via email to warm the inbox   • Focus follow-up on qualified leads      Fast-forward to today: We've hosted 60+ events and turned webinars into our #1 go-to-market channel, even as we've expanded to other strategies. If you have questions about the process, qualifying leads, or anything else around webinars as a GTM motion, comment below; I’m happy to help! 👇🏾

High-ticket deals don't close in the DMs. ✅ You need trust ✅ You need authority ✅ You need a platform I've talked about LinkedIn, Content, Outreach, and Email as part of the 5-Channel System. But here's the piece most people ignore: Virtual Events. Virtual Events are about sharing information and trust-building. Here's why they work for high-ticket sales: ★ They Build a Loyal Following When you show up live, you're connecting with your audience in a personal, interactive way. They see you. They hear you. They ask questions. You answer them. This builds more trust in 60 minutes than months of posting. ★ They Create an Active Email List (Engaged Leads) Virtual events are one of the best ways to grow your email list with engaged prospects. They download a PDF. They showed up for an hour of your time. These are warm leads who are actively interested in your expertise. ★ They Close Deals Directly (Vetted Meetings) You can close deals during your event. But more importantly, the event vets your leads. The people who book a meeting after spending an hour with you are high-intent. They already know your value. The meeting isn't about convincing them. It's about figuring out the logistics. ★ They Provide a Wealth of Insights The comments and questions during a live event are a goldmine. They tell you exactly what your audience is struggling with. This feedback is invaluable for refining your offer and creating your next piece of content. Virtual events are where all the elements of the 5-Channel System come together. LinkedIn gets them to the event. The event builds trust and authority. The event grows your email list. The email list nurtures them to the close. It's one of the most powerful platforms for turning cold leads into high-ticket clients. QUESTION: Have you hosted a virtual event? What was your biggest takeaway? Share your experience in the comments! 👇 #omnichannel #salesgrowth #onlineevents

If webinars are just for lead gen, you're leaving money on the table. Here’s how to do this right 👇 1️⃣ Start with top-of-the-funnel routing Start with a "problem-awareness topic" (e.g. "you're losing money by training your solution partners 1:1"). Not every registrant is created equal. Use that as a filter. 👉 Who shows up ? 👉 Who engages until the end ? 👉 Who asks questions or downloads follow-ups ? Webinar participation gives you high-intent signals—pricing questions, feature inquiries, or requests for demos—that your sales team can act on immediately. Instead of chasing cold leads, route the most valuable attendees to reps. 2️⃣ Build a mid-funnel engine Webinars are perfect for nurturing mid-funnel prospects because they build trust and address objections at scale. Formats like these are especially effective : → Weekly product demos → Recurring case study webinars By scaling your message, webinars take the pressure off your sales team and let them focus on high-impact calls. 3️⃣ Activate and expand customers A sale isn’t the finish line—it’s the start of a relationship. 👉 Activation : Onboard teams, shorten time-to-value. 👉 Upsell : Introduce premium features or add-ons. 👉 Education : Highlight underused features or vertical-specifics. This approach doesn’t just retain customers—it expands accounts and deepens engagement. 4️⃣ Leverage the side benefits Webinars don’t stop delivering value when the session ends. ✅ Replays become evergreen resources. ✅ Snippets can fuel your social media, blogs, or sales materials. ✅ Transcriptions can create SEO-friendly content. The ROI: 👉 More qualified leads. 👉 Shorter sales cycles. 👉 Better retention and expansion rates. At Livestorm we think as webinars not as one-off, but as a system. Hope this helps 👋