Hosting Webinars for Lead Generation

Too many marketers treat webinars like one-off lead gen plays. Run the event, send the recording, plan the next one. But the teams getting the most out of webinars treat them like content engines, using multiple touchpoints to promote them and creating multiple assets from each one. Here’s how: 🔹 Before: plan & promote. Design the webinar around what you want the final content to generate. Think about how you can pre-plan the moments to clip later. Start outlining that blog recap now. And when it comes to promotion, don't stop at email invitations. Find ways to embed the registration link into existing content channels — a new or popular blog post on an adjacent topic, the bios of all your social channels, etc. (At SparkToro, I can consistently add 100-200 extra registrants by embedding the registration link in a new blog post.) 🔹 During: reward active engagement. Having live attendees is nice; having active chat participants is even better. Invite people to engage directly in the live chat. Ask open-ended but simple questions that are easy for people to respond to. Make sure you're also using that chat in real-time — drop notes, reactions, answer quick questions that don't need to be verbally addressed during the presentation. 🔹 After: remix & reassign. One recap email isn't enough. A single well-run webinar should become multiple LinkedIn posts, a blog post, YouTube clips, and sales talking points — assets that serve social media, content marketing, and sales. Give each content asset a new job. This mindset has mattered a lot for SparkToro Office Hours, which typically gets ~1,200 signups. It’s also very aligned with how Goldcast talks about online events too — not just hosting webinars, but turning video into clips, blogs, social posts, and more. Link below in the comments to learn more. #GoldcastPartner

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 The idea came when we noticed most ERG content online was outdated (think black-and-white websites from 2014; it was dark out there).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! 👇🏾

Marketing ops built the webinar program. But nobody gave ops a seat at the post-event table. That's why most webinar results plateau. The content team celebrates registrations. The SDRs wait on a lead list. Ops is stuck exporting data and hoping something downstream works. Here's what ops pros can actually do to make webinars compound over time: 1. Define engagement scoring before the event goes live Define high-intent behavior upfront: session watch time, resource downloads, poll responses, and map them to your lead scoring model before registration begins. 2. Build post-event routing logic before registration opens Who gets routed to sales vs. nurtured vs. recycled? Segment-based follow-up only works if the rules exist before the data arrives. 3. Turn SDR talk tracks into a playbook, not a one-off email Engagement data is only useful if it gets to the rep in a format they'll actually use. Build this into CRM activity and/or a Slack message. 4. Create an on-demand asset infrastructure, not just a recording link Every webinar should feed a landing page with SEO intent, a nurture track for late registrants, and a content library that keeps capturing demand between events. 5. Close the loop with a repeatable measurement framework Registrations → Attendees → Engaged → Converted. If ops isn't owning this reporting cadence, nobody is. The webinar isn't the product. The system around it is. If you want a platform that makes this whole infrastructure easier to build and scale, I'm a big fan of Goldcast. Check them out, link in the comments. What part of post-webinar process do you see breaks down the most? #marketing #martech #marketingoperations #ai

Founder-Led Sales Bootcamp #18: The anti-follow-up follow-up Let’s face it - most follow-ups are awful You know the one: “Just checking in to see if you had a chance to review…” It’s lazy, adds no value, and gets ignored. And yet, we all do it. Here’s the truth: deals don’t die because of price or competition nearly as often as they die because… people just don’t follow up well. Not consistently, not creatively, and definitely not with empathy. Your follow-up should remind them of the value, not just remind them you exist: 5 Follow-Up Tactics That Actually Work: 1️⃣ The Insight Drop Send something actually useful. "Thought of you when I read this piece on X - lines up with what you mentioned re: [pain]. Let me know if you'd like me to break down how this applies to your team." 2️⃣ The Reverse Close “Happy to pause here if priorities have shifted - I know how things move internally. Let me know either way.” By giving them an out, you remove pressure and often get a faster reply. 3️⃣ The Value Tease “Would a short walkthrough focused just on [specific goal] be helpful for you or others internally?” 4️⃣ The Close the Book This one’s powerful when things have dragged out: "I haven’t heard back, so I’m going to assume timing isn’t right and close the book on this for now. If things change, I’m always here.” It’s respectful, confident, and creates positive tension. You’ll be shocked how many replies start with, “No wait, sorry for the delay...” 5️⃣ The Mutual Action Reminder If you’ve got a Mutual Action Plan or shared plan in place: “Circling back on our shared timeline - still makes sense to aim for [milestone]?” Quick Action Plan: 💡Stop saying “just checking in.” Forever. 💡Create a 3-email follow-up flow. One value-add, one soft ask, one Close-the-Book if needed. 💡Add a reminder into your CRM 3, 7, and 14 days post-demo. Most founders give up way too early. Buyers aren’t ignoring you because they hate your product. They’re just busy. Be the one who makes follow-up frictionless.

Here's exactly how I structure my follow-ups to stop deals from slipping or ghosting at the last minute. Buyers ask themselves 5 crucial questions before they spend money. So we match our follow ups to each different question of the buying journey. The questions: 1/ "Do we Have a Problem or Goal that we Urgently need help with?" Follow up examples: Thought Leadership emphasizing the size / importance of the problem. Things like articles from Forbes, McKinsey, HBR or an industry specific publication. Screenshots, summations or info-graphics. NOT LINKS. No one reads them. 2/ "What's out there to Solve the Problem? How do Vendors differ?" Follow up examples: Sample RFP templates with pre-filled criteria. Easy to read buying guides. Especially if written by a 3rd party. 3/ "What Exactly do we need this Solution to do? Who do we feel good about?" Follow up examples: 3 bullets of criteria your Buyers commonly use during evaluations (especially differentiators.) Here's example wording I've used at UserGems 💎: "Thought you might find it helpful to see how other companies have evaluated tools to track their past champions. Their criteria are usually: *Data quality & ROI potential *Security (SOC2 type 2 and GDPR) *How easy or hard is it to take action: set up/training, automation, playbooks Cheers!" 4/ "Is the Juice worth the Squeeze - both $$$ & Time?" Follow up examples: Screenshots of emails, texts or DMs from customers talking about easy set up. Love using ones like the Slack pictured here. Feels more organic and authentic than a marketing case study. 5/ "What's next? How will this get done?" Follow up examples: Visual timelines Introductions to the CSM/onboard team Custom/short videos from CSM leadership When we tailor our follow ups to answer the questions our Buyers are asking themselves - Even (especially!) the subconscious ones Our sales cycles can be smoother, faster and easier to forecast. Buyer Experience > Sales Stages What's your best advice for how to follow up? ps - If you liked this breakdown, join 6,000+ other sellers getting value from my newsletter. Details on my website!

I’ve run 75 webinars that made €5mil in revenue. Here is my playbook for a session that actually converts: 1. The 100-hour rule I spend 100 hours researching content for a single 1-hour webinar. If you don't have deep insights that solve a specific problem you're wasting everyone's time. 2. Audio > Video Half your audience is multitasking. If your audio is bad they leave immediately. Buy a good mic and don't worry about the fancy camera. 3. Have a Point of View Vanilla content gets zero traction. Challenge assumptions. If no one disagrees with you in the chat you probably haven't said anything important. 4. Give away the IP Don't "tease" the solution. Give them the PDF templates, the frameworks and the spreadsheets. Practical utility builds trust faster than high-level strategy. 5. Bring the ENERGY People remember how you made them feel. Be 50% louder and more excited than usual. If you are bored they are asleep. 6. Track focus time Attendance is a vanity metric. Focus time is what counts. If they aren't focused for 75% of the session your content is weak. 7. Promote like you mean it Great content fails in silence. If you spent 100 hours building it, spend the budget to promote it. 8. Run it until it breaks This is the biggest mistake I see. If a webinar topic works don't invent a new one next month. Run it live again. We ran the same topic 15+ times because it kept driving revenue. Webinars are the only channel where your audience gives you 60 minutes of undivided attention. Don't waste it on a pitch. Give them value so good they would have paid for it. What else would you add?

Marketing to sales: Here is a list of webinar sign-ups, follow-up with them. Sales:...Ignore... Here is how to make webinar sales' favorite playbook, not the most hated: Step 1: Co-create webinar narrative together with sales to make sure it addresses the interests and challenges of target buyer persona. To avoid blatant product pitching, start by answering a question: Imagine having a 60-min lunch with your target buyer persona who is not aware of our product and is not in the market. How would you highlight potential challenges, seed the grains of change and explain the solution? Step 2: Agree on promotional plan. Make sure sales actually want to invite their target accounts. Agree on: Accounts and titles (how many?) Touchpoints (e.g. sales - email + LinkedIn, marketing - newsletter + LinkedIn ads) Step 3. Develop post-event playbook based on account engagement history. What sales hate is when marketing marks all sign-ups as MQLs and asks to follow up. It's a waste of time because of misalignment with the intent: Webinar sign-ups ≠ buying intent. Instead, agree on post-webinar analysis: matching contact engagement to account engagement identifying tier 1 & tier 2 accounts that are already engaged identify new tier 1 & tier 2 accounts (first engagement) for account research define "brdige" activities (e.g. free strategy sessions) to book discovery calls instead of pitching a demo Step 4. Develop a post-webinar nurturing content hub. Content hubs are microsites with nurturing content: - Recording - Slides - Useful resources - Bridge activity - Case studies The beauty of the process? Your buyers will come to the hub multiple times, might share with your team, while you receive notifications about the content consumption and engagement. It creates a perfect opportunity for timely, fully personalized follow-ups. For the last 2 years, our go-to tool for content hubs has been Aligned. It allows us to create post-webinar content hubs in a few seconds and send content engagement to HubSpot by automatically matching buyers to accounts. *See the example of the hub for the most recent webinar here: https://lnkd.in/ddSFQJ5y Step 5. Track content engagement and develop personalized follow-ups with sales. We used this process with top-performing sales reps in "conservative" markets: customs software, real estate, climate data, background checks and were always able to book discovery calls with strategic accounts (feat. Bowin Cai, Raf Schroons, Peter Slater, Samuel Adu-Febiri, Jalynn Close, P.T. Vineburgh). --- TLDR; If sales don't see a value in the webinar, they will never promote or follow-up with webinar "leads". Educate -> engage -> create demand -> research and understand the buyer journey stage and current needs of your prospects -> create "bridge" activities / buyer enablement. This is how you influence the buying process with webinars and generate pipeline TOGETHER. #alignedpartner

Only a handful of webinar hosts know this… Up to 70% of people who register for your webinar won’t attend live! A few will watch the recording. That’s why your follow-up strategy is as important as your webinar. And yes, you need more than one email. Because one weak “Sorry you missed it! Here’s the replay!” isn’t doing anything for you. I recently signed up for over 100 webinars, and what I saw shocked me. Within a few days, my inbox was flooded with LAZY follow-up emails. ❌ “Sorry you missed it!” ❌ “Here’s the recording.” ❌ “BUY OUR SH*T!” Wait… you put all that effort into the webinar: ↳ Planning content ↳ Delivering a great session ↳ Getting people to sign up ↳ Maybe even bringing in guest speakers And that’s how you follow up? It’s not enough. Start treating your webinars like mini campaigns with multiple touchpoints. To help you, I've prepared a list of 50 follow-up email ideas that keep the conversation going, and leads converting: 🟠 Reinforce the Value ↳ Recap key takeaways ↳ Send a “What You Missed” summary ↳ Share a shocking stat + why it matters ↳ Clip a key moment from the webinar ↳ Highlight top Q&A questions 🟠 Build Trust & Social Proof ↳ Share a success story related to the topic ↳ Post real testimonials from attendees ↳ Show screenshots of positive feedback ↳ Compare “before and after” results ↳ Share a “Look Who Showed Up” email 🟠 Handle Objections ↳ Bust common myths ↳ Address “Will this work for me?” concerns ↳ Show cost vs. value of your offer ↳ Answer the biggest sales objections ↳ Share a “What if you do nothing?” email 🟠 Drive Engagement & Next Steps ↳ Invite attendees to a private group ↳ Offer a limited-time bonus ↳ Send a challenge to reinforce learning ↳ Host a follow-up Q&A session ↳ Provide an action plan for next steps 🟠 Add Storytelling ↳ Share “What I wish I knew earlier” ↳ Tell a relatable failure story ↳ Feature a case study of a similar attendee ↳ Ask “What would you do?” to spark engagement 🟠 Create Urgency & Scarcity ↳ Send a “Last chance” email for an expiring offer ↳ Remind them “Spots are filling up” ↳ Use a countdown timer for action deadlines ↳ Offer an exclusive thank-you discount 📢 Question for you: How many follow-ups do you normally send? And which ones are you adding to your next sequence? Let me know in the comments. 🔁 Repost this to save a marketer from sending basic follow-ups. 📩 Follow me for more tips like this.

Client ran 12 webinars last year. Average attendance: 31%. Watch time: 11 minutes. Pipeline generated: Zero. They'd blast the database, get 200 registrants, 60 show up, 50 drop after the intro. Meanwhile sales is asking why webinars are such a waste of time. Because you're not running webinars. You're running hour-long product demos nobody asked for. Here's the system that actually gets people to show up and buy: 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 1: 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀 Most companies: Blast everyone, hope someone shows up. We flipped it. Pick 20 target accounts. Build the entire webinar for them. One client went from: - Old: 200 registrants, 31% show (62 people), zero pipeline - New: 40 invites, 85% show (34 people), 3 opportunities Fewer people. Actual pipeline. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 2: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 72% 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 3 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁: Call your top 20 accounts. Actually call. "We're covering [problem you mentioned]. Want a spot?" 2 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁: Get a customer to co-present. Their network shows up. 1 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁: Send the actual deck. People show up when there's no mystery. 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲: Text your top 10 registrants. Yes, text. 90% show rate for those who respond. 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳: Calendar hold 1 hour before. Start exactly on time. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 3: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 30-𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 - 2 min: What you'll learn - 10 min: Customer shows actual results - 10 min: How they did it - 5 min: Live Q&A - 3 min: Next steps No company overview. No product tour. Just value. Watch time went from 11 to 27 minutes. 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄-𝘂𝗽 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 2 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀: Everyone gets: - Recording + customer's templates - Implementation guide Target accounts get: - Personal video - 15-min working session offer (not a demo) Others: - 3 emails on implementing what they learned Result: Client went from 12 useless webinars to 6 that drove $1.8M. Half the webinars. Triple the results. The problem isn't webinars. It's that you're running them for everyone instead of someone. This week I'm fixing fundamentals: Monday: ICP Yesterday: Events Today: Webinars Tomorrow: ABM Pick 20 accounts. Build your next webinar just for them. Watch what happens when you stop trying to please everyone.

Here’s my step-by-step guide on how we produce highly attended (700+) webinars that result in customers, influenced pipeline, and nearly instant raving reviews from the audience. 1. We decide on the shell/theme of the series → Our content is focused on inside the deals → We want expert guidance from senior leaders → Highly tactical → No thought-leadership talking heads → If someone shows up, they should leave with something they can actually use 2. We lock the topic and the guest intentionally Either we: → Start with a very defined topic and find the right guest → Or define our dream guest and fit the topic around where they’re strongest 3. I run a mini brainstorm with the SME (1:1) → Get their thoughts out on what the content should be 4. I use AI to speed things up → I take the AI meeting transcript from that SME brainstorm (love you, Granola) → Grab relevant LinkedIn posts from the SME and the guest → I drop everything into a defined AI work project with context and have it outline a deck for me → I try to take the first stab to take as much work off the SME and guest as possible (they're being generous with their time!) 5. I create a detailed run-of-show doc Every single detail. Broken out by: → Minutes → Sections → Who runs what → I include bullets and talking points and encourage both the SME and guest to add to it → I want guests to feel extremely prepared before we even meet for the first dry run → I also find it helpful for everyone to have in the background to reference during the event 6. I create the first draft of the deck → It’s not fully flushed out yet → The goal is to take work off the SME and guest’s plate before we meet 7. We have a 30–60 minute working session with the guest We walk through: → The event → The topic (more info to feed into AI afterwards with their content/expertise!) → The run of show → The deck → And get their feedback before locking anything in 8. I finalize the deck and get sign-off → These decks are MEATY on purpose → They do not follow traditional deck best practices → We’re building a tactical leave-behind. Basically a playbook → My biggest goal is that if someone spends time with us, they can implement something the very next day to help hit their quotas or goals 9. We run the event → I try to actively facilitate engagement in the chat throughout → Especially early, with a warm-up 10. Immediate follow-up We create a post-event deal room with: → The recording → The slides → Extra materials → Any examples or content referenced → Speaker and company info (plus any special offers) → We send this out as soon as possible with a very short email → One to two sentences max Why I think our webinars work so well: ✨ They’re well prepared ✨ They’re intentional, with a clear topic and goal ✨ They’re extremely actionable and teachable, from top talent