We’ve been hosting webinars for years now with varying degrees of success. Some are highly popular and we have many people listening in and then, on occasion, they don’t ignite enough interest and there may be just one or two people online. We take the view that it doesn’t matter how big the audience is – what we have to say is integral to our business and webinars are an excellent way to impart a message and gain new contacts. For us, it’s not a matter of numbers – we don’t need to attract 1000s of people per sitting. We can start to establish a relationship through a webinar and that’s what’s important to our business.

Here are 5 good reasons to host webinars:

1 If it has a true value with content that is up to date and interesting (never salesy), a webinar provides a great vehicle to connect with your potential audience

2 You might accidentally sell your services through giving great advice which is obviously a positive. What’s equally as useful though is strengthening your organisation’s brand through the credibility of your presentation and depth of knowledge

3 You can connect with people without being a threatening presence. There is an expectation at face-to-face meetings, often unspoken, of ‘what’s in this for me?’ that you simply don’t get in a webinar

4 You get to explain your concept/service/product in an approachable way that you can’t do through printed material

5 A webinar can be as interactive as you and your audience prefer. Some people like to ask questions, others prefer to type them on screen and sometimes, it might be a quiet affair with little communication

Most of all, they’re a good way for your audience to get closer to you and understand more about what you are offering without any pressure to sell or buy.

Give one or attend one – webinars are fun!

PS In case you haven’t had any experience of webinars… a webinar in an online seminar – sometimes you can see the presenter, sometimes you can see a presentation (like PowerPoint or similar) and other times you might get a webinar admin screen. You get instructions to ‘join the room’ and your presence is indicated by your name. That’s all there is to it!