B2B tech SaaS companies face the constant challenge of acquiring, engaging, and retaining customers. While traditional Light Funnel methods like email marketing and SEO still hold value, one often overlooked strategy that has proven effective is hosting webinars. A report from InsideSales.com states that 73% of B2B marketing and sales leaders consider webinars the best way to generate high-quality leads.
Webinars can be particularly powerful tools for customer acquisition. The creation of content and the registration campaign allow tech companies to have a fresh offer of content value that bring new leads into the database. Further, the webinar event gives B2B companies the content for a value touch to get a prospect engaged during what have become longer and longer sales cycles that now often last for months. They enable companies to showcase their products, technical expertise, and unique value propositions in a controlled, interactive environment.
Webinars that focus on thought leadership, education, product demonstrations, new feature announcements, or industry insights tend to attract prospective customers who are in the awareness or consideration stages of the sales funnel. Providing free but valuable information initiates a relationship built on trust, making the subsequent steps towards a sale smoother. See recent Hubilo webinars covering all of these types.
Engaging potential customers is no less crucial than acquiring them. Webinars offer a unique platform to dive deep into complex subjects, issues, or solutions that are hard to address in a blog post or a tweet. A study by Adobe found that attendees spend an average of 54 minutes watching webinar presentations, which is a significant amount of time to hold someone's attention in the digital age.
"How-to" sessions, tutorials, expert-led discussions on industry trends, or challenges are popular formats. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 58% of marketers use webinars for promotion, suggesting their effectiveness in engaging prospects.
While acquisition is vital, retaining customers is often more cost-effective. Webinars can serve as an ongoing value-add service, keeping your existing clientele engaged and informed. B2B SaaS companies should pay particular attention to engaging current customers to improve product utilization and value and help them recognize more value from the software.
Webinars for retention can focus on advanced training, customer success stories, or deep dives into specific features. These sessions provide continuing value to existing customers, helping to reduce churn and improve lifetime value.
Read and Learn: How to Harness Webinars for a 2X Pipeline Boost
In the planning phase, adding speakers seems like a good idea to help drive registration, but it makes preparation and execution more difficult and tends to make your webinar longer as most speakers go over their allotted time by a few minutes each. Having at least two speakers creates variety of voice and style and helps keep the audience from tuning out. Panels often work better in person than online as online audiences like the convenience of having more of the content captured in the deck so they do not have to take as many notes or screen captures.
Single Speaker:
Two Speakers:
Panel:
Most B2B SaaS companies do a company introduction after the speaker introduction and many refer to the product after identifying the use case and problem to solve. Heavy product demoing and pitching should be avoided unless that was clearly the topic of the webinar. Most webinars offer content to download or the chance to schedule a private demo of the product.
Long format content makes a great base from which to make smaller and more snackable content assets.
COPE (create once promote everywhere) has become a popular acronym and mantra in the inbound content marketing era. According to MarketingProfs, 29% of leading marketers systematically repurpose webinars into derivative content. Transforming your webinar content into blog posts, video snippets, video shorts, podcasts, or instructional videos can extend the reach of your initial effort and engage different audience segments.
Recording and providing an on-demand version extends the life of your webinar content. Hubilo research shows that you should push to drive on-demand views of your webinar with high-performing B2B SaaS companies getting 7X the on demand views vs. their live views through repurposing and email promotion. Hubilo's Webinar+ offers the Snackable Content Hub, which helps B2B SaaS companies repurpose webinar content using gen-AI that automatically creates 40+ pieces of content in just minutes after the live webinar ends. This helps companies get that repurposed content back into the market weeks sooner.
How often should a B2B SaaS company host webinars?
Frequency depends on resources and goals, but monthly webinars are common.
What is the optimal length for a webinar?
The sweet spot is often between 45-60 minutes, according to a study by GoToWebinar.
How far in advance should a webinar be promoted?
A two-week promotion period is generally effective for maximum attendance.
Can webinars replace other forms of content marketing?
Webinars should complement, not replace, other content marketing efforts, like SEO, blog posts, case studies, and social media.
What tools are commonly used for hosting webinars?
Popular platforms include Zoom, WebEx, Adobe Connect, and of course Hubilo Webinar+.
Answer: Webinars are highly effective for B2B Tech SaaS companies when it comes to lead generation. They allow you to present your expertise in a specific area, offer valuable insights to prospective customers, and engage in real-time discussions. Moreover, they often require participants to register, providing a way to capture high-quality leads that you can later nurture and convert.
Answer: For B2B audiences, especially in the tech and SaaS space, webinars that offer practical advice, industry insights, or demonstrate the utility of a particular product or service tend to be the most effective. Topics could range from "How to Optimize Your Cloud Infrastructure" to "Latest Trends in Cybersecurity." The key is to provide actionable value that helps businesses solve real-world problems.
Answer: Measuring the ROI of your webinars involves several steps. First, keep track of all costs associated with hosting the webinar, including platform fees, promotional expenses, and any guest speaker fees. Next, track key metrics like attendee numbers, engagement rates (e.g., questions asked, polls answered), and post-webinar conversions. Finally, assess these metrics in the context of your initial goals, whether they be lead generation, customer education, or upselling opportunities, to determine the ROI.
Answer: Webinars should not exist in a vacuum but be integrated into your overall B2B marketing strategy. You can use email campaigns to promote upcoming webinars and follow up with attendees, repurpose webinar content into blog posts or whitepapers, and utilize social media to extend the webinar’s reach and engagement. Also, consider integrating your webinars with your CRM to seamlessly update your sales pipeline with new leads and interactions.
Answer: Despite the plethora of digital content available, webinars continue to be a highly effective tool for B2B Tech SaaS companies. The real-time, interactive nature of webinars offers a level of engagement that is hard to replicate with other forms of content. Additionally, the focused topic and format allow you to dive deep into issues that are highly relevant to your audience, providing value that can set you apart from competitors.
Webinars have proven to be an incredibly effective tool for customer acquisition, engagement, and retention in the B2B tech SaaS sector. With the right topics, format, and follow-through, webinars can significantly influence your company’s growth trajectory.
Learn more about how Hubilo's Webinar+ is helping 2X customer pipelines with more engaging webinars. Get a demo today.
Download Forrester Consulting and Hubilo's research about Using Engaging Webinars to Elevate the Sales Pipeline
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