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- Why Do Most Webinars Suck?
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Rise and shine, contrarians! Let's turn this Monday into a masterpiece. (Or at least make it slightly less Monday-ish.)
It's time for another edition of the Contrarian Marketer, where we challenge conventional wisdom and uncover fresh insights. You get one insightful article with key insights, one Fun Thing, and one Feature of the Week.
If you missed last week's article, Do you Have the Power to Let Power Go, I shared why letting go of tasks and trusting your team isn't just good leadership - it's crucial for scaling your business and preventing burnout.
Today we’re talking about webinars, and most are about as exciting as watching paint dry in slow motion.
Yet webinars should be an opportunity to create stronger relationships with prospects and existing customers. They're interactive, reach people anywhere, and give prospects a low-pressure way to check you out.
Top 3 Insights from today's article
1. Successful webinars focus on delivering genuine value rather than just lead generation, starting with addressing customers' pressing pain points.
2. The key to engagement is making webinars interactive with polls, questions, and chat while maintaining strong visuals and clear single-idea slides.
3. Post-webinar strategy is crucial - from repurposing the recording into social content to thoughtful follow-ups that avoid aggressive sales tactics.
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So why do webinars usually fall flat?
Three big reasons:
They're treated like lead-gen cattle calls instead of value-packed sessions
Speakers forget that talking to a screen is WAY different than working a room
Tech gremlins show up uninvited (Murphy's Law loves webinars)
But fear not, contrarian marketers. Here's how to create webinars that don’t suck:
The "Don't Let Your Webinar Suck" Checklist:
Start with the burning questions: What's keeping your customers awake at 3 AM? That's your webinar topic. (Pro tip: HubSpot's customer feedback tools are great for mining these insights.) Even better? Use AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT to analyze your customer support tickets and social mentions to uncover trending pain points.
Pick your flavor:
Ensure you have a cohesive story (what are you trying to accomplish) and it flows.
Go tactical with meaty "how-to" content.
Go big with thought leadership.
Or my favorite: Do both. Start with a big-picture webinar for leads, then follow up with tactical sessions for serious prospects.
The average webinar converted 58% of its registrants to attendees.
Make it showtime-worthy:
One idea per slide (no eye charts allowed).
Use real customer stories and demos.
Keep it visual – screenshots, videos, walkthroughs.
Practice like you're prepping for Broadway.
During the show:
Record your event!
Get people talking (polls, questions, chat). A great moderator can help facilitate.
Have a backup plan when things go wrong (they will), for example, a 2nd string speaker.
Make your last slide count – clear next steps or CTA, no wimpy endings. How do you want the audience to feel or do at the end?
The after-party:
Slice that recording into social-sized chunks
Share the goods with no-shows
Ask the golden question: "Would you recommend this to a friend?"
Follow up thoughtfully (No "BUY NOW!!!" emails 5 minutes after)
Remember, a great webinar isn't about trapping leads in your funnel. It's about being so helpful that people actually want to hop in.
Until next time, keep swimming against the current!
One Fun Thing
Ever wonder why we type 'QWERTY' instead of alphabetical order? When typewriters were invented in the 1870s, they kept jamming because people typed too fast. The solution? Inventor Christopher Sholes deliberately placed commonly used letters far apart to slow typists down. Despite modern keyboards having no mechanical parts to jam, we're still using this intentionally inefficient layout today. Next time your fingers do their keyboard dance, remember - you're using a design that was literally created to make you type slower!
Weekly Feature
Is working from 9-5 actually killing our productivity? The centuries-old workday might be our biggest mistake. But is it true?
Click here to find out the truth behind this popular belief.
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