With more people working from home than ever before, it is extremely important for financial advisors to be visible to their clients and keep them aware of changes in the markets as well as changing tax laws and legislation.
Investors are seeking financial advisors on the Internet! See how Paladin’s digital marketing services can help you reach them!
By hosting webinars, financial advisors can continue to provide a valuable service to help retain clients as well as add new clients. In these times of economic uncertainty, investors expect to hear from their financial advisors. If not, they may seek another relationship where they feel more informed and secure about their financial futures.
If you’ve never hosted webinars or you have hosted them but experienced low registrations, read these 9 tips that will help your increase attendance.
1) Choose Your Title and Topic Carefully
In order for your webinar to stand out from others, your invitation or advertisement needs to have a crystal clear title and description so investors know what the webinar is about. Catchy and relevant headlines are a great way to increase interest in your webinar. However, make sure the content you provide actually lines up with your title. If not, attendees may feel deceived and likely won’t register for any of your webinars in the future.
2) TL;DR – Identify Key Takeaways
TL;DR stands for “too long; didn’t read” and you don’t want that happening with your webinar description. If something looks long and cumbersome, people are less likely to read it and may skip right over the main benefits of attending your webinar. Keep it short and simple, including key points and takeaways as a bulleted list. Labeling this list as “Key Points” or “What You’ll Learn” can help give people a summary of what they can expect by registering for this webinar.
3) Solve a Problem
People who attend your webinar, are likely looking for information or insights for their specific situation or problem. If your webinar is solving a problem for them (i.e. never run out of money during retirement years) they will stay engaged. Your goal is to be seen as a knowledgeable and objective resource during these turbulent times.
If you can manage that, you can be attracting new clients while also converting your current clients into clients for life. People remember how they’re treated, and if they haven’t heard from the person entrusted with managing their finances during tough economic times, they are likely left feeling uncertain and seeking that reassurance elsewhere.
4) Partner Up
Co-hosting a webinar can be a great way to boost your attendance and provide added value to your audience. When looking for partners, think about what your audience could benefit from the most. For example, you could talk about retirement planning with an estate planning attorney providing insights into the eventual transfer of wealth to heirs.
Gaining access to a new audience could be a big boost to your business if you make the right impression. Also, by partnering with someone, you can take advantage of the cross-promotion to increase overall webinar registrations.
5) Timing is Everything
Choosing the right date and time for your webinar is important. If you happen to have clients in other time zones, make sure you’re not choosing a time that is too early or too late. Also, consider when people are the busiest – first thing in the morning is usually a pretty hectic time and you also don’t want to schedule something during a frequent lunch break time.
Most webinars are usually scheduled around the early afternoon on Tuesday - Thursday – avoiding the beginning and end of the week. Since this is a generalization, you may need to make adjustments once you see how your webinar registrations are performing on certain days and times.
If your target market is HNW business executives you may want to use on-demand webinars to reach them. It stands to reason they are not available during normal business hours. The same could probably be said for anyone who is currently working.
6) Choose the Right Webinar Hosting Platform
There is no shortage of options for platforms that host webinars. Fortunately, most offer some type of free trial or basic account to get started without a major investment. When testing out different platforms, identify your needs and how you will plan on using it.
For example, if you’re running the webinar by yourself, the platform must be easy to navigate since you’ll be presenting at the same time. Also, how will the system work for your attendees? If the platform doesn’t have a user-friendly interface, you likely won’t get people coming back to your next webinar.
Avoid programs that require a full program download on the user side and opt instead for a web-based platform. Another consideration should be the reporting capabilities. Post-webinar, you should be able to identify key metrics about your audience behavior that can help you craft better webinars in the future.
7) Promote, Promote, Promote!
If people aren’t aware of your webinar, they can’t attend! If your website has significant traffic, your homepage can be valuable real estate when it comes to promoting your webinars. Consider a pop-up with a link to the registration page, or possibly adding an “Upcoming Events” section of your homepage to make your visitors are aware of your latest webinars and how they can sign up.
And don’t forget about social media. Platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook allow you to create events within your business pages. You can include the date and time as well as a link to register. If you want to reach more than just your own audience, you can pay to promote your event to a larger audience within that platform.
8) Utilize Your Email List
Your email drip list is one of your most valuable assets when it comes to webinar registrations. Plan to send a series of emails to your contacts about your upcoming webinars. Be sure to include a link to the registration page. If you’re able, it’s a good idea to remove those already registered for your webinar in any future promotions. Most email platforms have a way of doing this, or you can reach out to your digital marketing agency for help.
9) Allow for Playback/On-Demand Viewing
No matter how convenient you make your webinar date and time, you will still have people who could not attend. Most webinar hosting platforms can record your session and allow for on-demand video playback. When placing this on your website, be sure to gate the content so you’re capturing leads just as you would for a live session.
