Webinars are a Win-Win to Engage Your Government Audience
Recent surveys show that content focused on value and without a strong sales message resonates more with government audiences than other forms of content. The Generous Content Series highlights the top 5 types of content government audiences value and appreciate most. Follow along to learn how to create generous content that solves problems and provides immense value.
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Unless you’ve been blissfully immune to changes in the workplace over the past two years, chances are you’ve received an invitation to attend a webinar and likely attended a few. Convenient and loaded with value, webinars pack a punch in the realm of content creation, especially for government audiences.
Market Connection’s 2021 Content Marketing Review study revealed that 68% of state and local government respondents consider webinars a valuable form of content. In fact, whether the webinar content is focused on value is a top factor in webinar attendance among state and local respondents.
Over 40% of state and local government employees reported they spent more time utilizing webinars during the buying process than they have in the past year. The same study reports that 54% of state and local respondents will still prefer to attend webinars over in-person events, even when it’s safe to do so.
Webinars are a great way to determine new solutions, hear from different perspectives, and make new connections from the office, house, or on-the-go. The convenience and effectiveness of webinars cannot be overstated.
The multilayered value provided to both the customer and service providers makes webinars a win-win form of content.
Why are webinars so valuable?
The long format of a webinar allows ample time to prove authority and introduce solutions without being overly salesy, which is exactly what government customers want.
Getting a group of like-minded people together to discuss solutions to a shared problem is an incredible opportunity to target ideal customers without chasing them down. Hosting a webinar chock full of generous value can help you become an industry leader and keep prospective customers coming back for more.
From a marketing perspective, webinars are typically part of a larger content strategy. Sitting at the top of a marketing funnel, webinars spread awareness, narrow the pool of prospects, and generate qualified leads.
But for that to happen, the webinar needs to be planned carefully and executed well. Everything from the webinar’s format to the delivery needs to be considered for a shot at success.
Five Steps to Creating a Webinar Your Audience is Eager to Attend
Choose a relevant and timely topic. This might sound like a no-brainer, but if you want a webinar that’s well-attended and raved about, the topic needs to be something worthy of your audience’s time and relevant enough to warrant in-depth discussion.
Similarly, in the study previously mentioned, state and local government employees decide to share content based on its relevance at a point in time, so taking time to find a hot topic is definitely worth it.
Uncovering a relevant, in-demand topic may be the most challenging part of creating a webinar. There are several methods you can use to find out what will resonate with your audience. It starts by truly understanding their unique problems and pain points.
Spend time on a persuasive landing page. Believe it or not, one of the most important - yet overlooked - aspects of a successful webinar isn’t the webinar itself. It’s actually the landing page prospects see before they even register for the webinar.
The Content Marketing Review study reveals that state and local government employees look at practical things like the date and time, and webinar length when considering whether to attend a webinar.
But they also want to know whether the webinar will have substance before they commit to attending. Study respondents appreciate webinar content backed by data and research findings and government thought leaders on the roster as presenters.
First impressions matter, but especially for busy, time-strapped government officials you are inviting to a webinar. The landing page is one of your only opportunities to gain the attention of and convince your already busy prospect that the webinar is worth their time.
Make registration simple and convenient. It may be tempting at this stage in your marketing funnel to ask for as much information as possible from your prospect during registration. After all, that information could be a goldmine for future marketing and targeting efforts.
But here’s the thing - most people, and especially government officials, are hesitant to provide too much personal information upfront. There’s a fine line you need to walk here. Get what you need at this stage in the funnel and move on.
Think of it this way. Would you rather only have a handful of prospects show up to your webinar who begrudgingly handed over their phone number, business address, title, etc., or a full roster of prospects who provided their first name and email address?
If you cast a wider net and lower the barrier to entry, chances are you’ll have a bigger pool of interested prospects to engage in later stages of the funnel.
Answer the most pressing question: What’s in it for me? Don’t bury the lead. It may be tempting to save all the good material for the webinar itself, but here’s why you shouldn’t.
People appreciate honesty. Let them know exactly what they’ll get from the webinar, and then follow through. Better yet, over-deliver. Give them what they signed up for and more.
When you over-deliver, you gain the respect of your audience, increase their trust in your authority and increase the chances they’ll continue to follow your content or reach out for services.
Give them something. Treat your webinar like an actual in-person event and give your participants something as a token of appreciation for attending. In a virtual world this may look like on-demand access to the webinar, the transcript or a white paper summary of the event, access to bonus material, or discount codes on products. You know your audience best, so offer them something you know they’ll appreciate.
The ultimate goal is for your audience to look forward to the webinar and be presently surprised when you over deliver.
Why webinars are particularly effective at engaging government audiences.
Webinars are great platforms to discuss complex topics. Government administrators and officials are tasked with solving extremely complex problems often with few resources. Politics and other competing stakeholder priorities can amplify the problem and muddle potential solutions, which is why administrators are always looking for unique and innovative perspectives that may lead to breakthroughs.
Your role in hosting a webinar is to give your customers something of value to potentially make their jobs easier. This is an opportunity to offer your customer new solutions they did not know existed in a long, comprehensive format.
Webinars are convenient, especially for busy government audiences. Government officials are extremely busy and scrapped for time. Offering a webinar they can return to on-demand gives them the flexibility to view the material at their convenience.
During the height of the pandemic, webinars became the go-to method for service providers to engage and network with prospective customers. Government officials and vendors alike are reluctant to begin hosting in-person events again, particularly since webinars have proven to be a convenient and cost-effective alternative.
Webinars are professional and non-salesy. The last thing government audiences want is to be overtly sold to. Not just because it’s annoying, but because these sort of sales tactics reflect a lack of understanding and appreciation for the unique problems facing the public sector. Pushing a solution intended to quickly solve a complex problem isn’t a good look.
From a government buyer’s perspective, more times than not, engaging with overt salespeople is a waste of time. That’s why webinars are appreciated. Not only do webinars provide helpful information, your government audience can be introduced to your product or solution in a less intrusive manner.
Webinars are a win-win for government audiences and services providers alike.
Hosting a webinar can greatly benefit a business by engaging with a targeted and willing audience. The registration process can provide important contact information of your ideal customer, and the long-format gives you the opportunity to prove your authority and engender trust among your audience.
The key to a successful webinar is to carefully consider every aspect of the webinar, placing emphasis on pre-marketing endeavors like landing page copy and user design. Doing so can land you a roster full of enthusiastic participants eager to hear what you have to say.
