How to host an online event, get people there and convert them into clients

What has really taken off during the pandemic is the use of virtual meetings and webinars. Some businesses had not experienced much in the way of conducting meetings or presentations online, using platforms like Zoom, Skype, GoToMeeting and so on. They have had to jump in at the deep end and get with the times!

For those who usually hold live events (workshops, seminars and networking events), here are some tips on setting it up, getting attendees and ultimately, getting them to take action afterwards.

WHY?

What is the purpose of the event and what do you want the outcome to be? For example, it might be to sign people up for a course or to get more users for your app. Once you know the exact reason and goal of hosting the online event, you can work out how to achieve it.

WHO?

Who do you want to attend the online event? Try not to make the target market too broad or too niche. If you define a specific market, it’s much easier to promote the event to them by using content that speaks their language and addresses their challenges. Say you are a marketing company, hosting a webinar in order to gain new retainer clients who need help with their social media marketing. Rather than targeting businesses in all industries and of all sizes, choose an industry and size that you know well, prefer to work with and of course is easy for your business to help – whatever you’re offering needs to be something they need and will get value from. Examples could be sole traders in the health and wellness industry, or perhaps independent businesses in hospitality.

WHAT?

Now think about the content of the event – what would this target market be looking for in order to offer their time to sit through an hour long webinar say? Is there a typical major challenge they have that you can help them overcome? What content can you include in your event that will grab their attention to make them want to attend? For example,, if you are an accountancy company and you want to target say the construction industry for an event, a typical challenge they face could be getting a better understanding of their numbers so that they win the right types of projects that make the most profit. So you could make your online event a webinar that shows them which key numbers to look at and work on, in order to get the clients and projects that bring in the highest profit.

Also think what you will be using to present your event – perhaps you’ll include a slideshow created in PowerPoint or videos from your YouTube channel. Perhaps you’ll just show yourself and all the attendees for a discussion to talk through a topic. Will you have any images, music or other media you’d like to share with them?

Here are some examples of possible online events for different industries and target markets:

• Caterer: Livestream video – Cook-a-long for a dinner party
• Architect: Webinar slideshow – What your your garden office should include so you can work from home
• Accountant: Workshop – How construction companies can reduce tax by at least 50%
• IT company: One-off training course – How e-commerce businesses can backup and manage their data the easy way
• Marketing agency – 10 easy ways a florist can get more engagement with their social media posts
• Network event organiser: Virtual meeting – Network meeting for new startups
• Beautician: Livestream video – How MEN can use makeup to show off their features

Extra tip! Think about what’s trending or in the news currently, because something topical and current is much more likely to get shares when you promote it!

HOW?

On which platform will you hist it? Which one are you most familiar with using, or which is the easiest to learn enough about that you’ll be confident to use it? Also, consider using software that your target market is more likely to be able to use/have an account for. Are they more likely to have Zoom or GoToWebinar? Which is the easiest one for them to download and use straight away? Which has better options for you to email them afterwards? I personally find Zoom does everything I need it to and most of my target market use this regularly for meetings and other online events.

WHEN?

What day of the week and time should you host it? Again, think of your target market and when they are going to be more responsive/more likely to take action plus of course, on a day and time that they’ll have the time to attend. If you are doing a presentation on how to use your app, the morning might be better than the evening, because they might be more alert and awake to learn something new, but think outside the box too.

Extra tip!  It might be better to show them how to do something at a time when they might struggle to do it themselves and realise they need your help!

PROMOTING THE EVENT

So how are you going to get attendees on there?

The first thing you’ll need is a way for people to find out more about it and to register for it. You could create landing page on your website, but a great tool to use is EventBrite. It is a website where you can add live or online events for people to book their place. It allows you to create a landing page for your event, set up paid and/or free tickets, promote it through emails and social media, follow up attendees and more.

Extra tip!  EventBrite allows you to easily create custom links for your events. So if you promote it in different ways, you can track where those who register have come from e.g. Facebook, a specific email campaign, etc.

Another extra tip!  EventBrite allows you to create custom questions on the registration form. This means you can not only ask for their mobile number (so you can call them after), but also add qualifying questions to check they are the potential clients you are looking for, e.g. the headcount of their company.

Once you create the landing/registration page, it’s time to tell your target market about it. Where do they hang out/which websites, social media etc. do they use most? What grabs their attention most e.g. videos, images or email campaigns perhaps?

I usually promote my webinars and online workshops via LinkedIn, – as that’s what my target market usually use and hang out in. I also promote them via a series of email campaigns, using MailChimp.

Think of a headline that they can immediately relate to, like the examples I give above for different industries. Say you are an accountant and hosting a workshop, rather than a headline like this:

“How I help my clients reduce their expenses”

This would be much more attractive and targeted:

“How I help construction companies reduce their expenses by at least 40% in 6 months, using my proven methods”

That’s much more enticing if you’re in that industry and it’s not vague, but allows your potential audience to imagine it happening in 6 months’ time.

Extra tip!  Ask your contacts and connections to promote your event for you, by sharing your posts on social media or forwarding your email to people they think might benefit from attending.

AFTER THE EVENT

As soon as possible after the event, follow up the attendees with an email or even better, a phone call to ask how they found it and to discuss any challenges they specifically have that you can help them with. This also gives you the opportunity to qualify them further and if it turns out they have issues that you can address with your services/offering, arrange a longer 1-2-1 with them (Zoom, or face to face) to discuss what you can do to assist them and potentially convert them into a new client.