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Back when my agency was new – 2009 – webinars were all the rage. I attended a lot of them – and I learned from a lot of them. But it’s 2025 and things have changed a lot. So if you want people to actually show up, I compiled 6 webinar marketing tips that I’m using, too.
The most important of the webinar marketing tips: Don’t call it a webinar
According to this article on MarketingProfs, calling your event a “webinar” can lead to a 50% drop in registration rates.
Dang! This really surprised me.
The article doesn’t really say why the word “webinar” is such a turn off, but I’m going to take a wild guess and say that far too many people have attended really boring webinars.
I have. In fact, I remember one from years ago. It was obvious the presenter was reading the material off a script. I’m pretty sure I didn’t stay for the whole thing.
Anyway, instead of using webinar in the title, just tell people what they’ll learn, and leave it at that.
This is especially important for topics that may sound dull, like:
Before: Tax Strategies for Small Business Webinar
After: 10 Tax Strategies That Will Save Your Small Business Money This Year
If you want more tips about writing a great title, this blog post on how to improve your blog with better titles will help.
Create a positive, optimized landing page
One thing I talk about a lot is using fear of missing out (FOMO) to spur people to take action. But I haven’t talked about how to so this in a positive way.
My default is to scare the crap out of people using negative language.
For example:
“Do you ‘have’ to do marketing for your small business but have no idea where to start?”
I actually wrote this for my “Ask Monika Anything” landing page. My coach (life/business/everything coach) walked through all the language on that page and had me spin it in a positive direction.
“Talk about what they will get – not what they will lose or miss,” she said.
Duh.
So instead of: “… but have no idea where to start?”, it could be “… and want proven marketing tips you can start using today?”
And of course, optimize it for search. The actual name of my Ask Monika Anything marketing questions”
If it’s a series, switch around your days/times
You might think that scheduling a webinar for lunch time is the best strategy. It’s mid-day, people need to eat, they want a break from work, etc.
But you are not the only person who wants their attention at lunch time. Lunch meetings, lunch and learns, or a quick hike might take precedence.
Schedule your webinars for different days of the week. Avoid Mondays when people are getting prepped for the week and diving into projects. And definitely never on a Friday, when people are half-checked out ahead of the weekend – or scrambling to finish things up.
Experiment with different times of day. First thing, mid-day, late afternoon are all up for grabs.
You might find that one particular day or time works best for your audience, in which case you can schedule all your webinars then.
Decide if it’s free or paid
There are pros and cons of charging for a webinar or making it free.
Pros of charging:
- It’s a new revenue stream.
- People are more likely to show up because they have some skin in the game.
- If they pay, it is obvious they are invested in what you have to offer.
Cons of charging:
- People like free stuff and may be less likely to register.
- If they don’t know you and your brand well, they may wonder if the cost is worthwhile.
- People may think they can find your expertise online – for free.
Pros of making it free:
- Many more people may register/show up.
- It can be a great lead generation strategy if you’re just starting out – or launching a new service offering.
- A free introductory webinar could move people to your paid webinar offering.
Cons of making it free:
- Fewer people will show up than registered. This is a guarantee.
- It’s hard to tell how invested people are in you, your brand, and your offerings.
- Giving stuff away for free may (MAY) devalue the worth of your expertise in their eyes.
Promote everywhere – including unusual places
You might be super-duper excited about your webinar or webinar series, but no one else is. Like anything in marketing, don’t just announce it once. Promote it often and promote it everywhere. It’s the only way people will remember.
- Add a little promo in your regular email newsletter.
- Send a standalone email a few days before each webinar.
- Instead of just announcing it on your social channels, include a Q&A or tip to make your post as valuable as possible.
- Add a blurb to your email signature.
- Ask your web developer to add a pop-up message on your home page.
Don’t stop there. Ask people on your team, partners, past attendees, and good friends in your network to share the information with anyone they know who could benefit. People like to help their friends, trust me!
Carry the webinar info with you
If you go to a networking event or business lunch, no one is going to remember anything about your webinar. Make it easy for them.
Carrying around postcards that promote the webinar can be cumbersome. You could carry around a handful with a QR code and have people scan it.
Or you can impress people with your tech prowess and get a dot card. Dot cards look like credit cards. Each comes with a unique QR code, and you can connect any web page, ecommerce site, social media account – anything online – to the QR code.
Cool and impressive, don’t you think? (I think so – and I’m going to get one this week.)
Related: I Let ChatGPT Write an Article — Here’s What Happened