30,000+ Webinar Attendees in One Year
Every b2b company (and many b2c ones, too) runs webinars. Most of them are snoozefests, forgotten as soon as neurons can get around to it. I've developed a tried-and-true method for turning webinars into a moneymaking machine, and deployed it at BuildingConnected, Autodesk, Teamflow, and Apollo.
COMPANY
Everywhere I've Worked
COMPANY
Everywhere I've Worked
COMPANY
Everywhere I've Worked
POSITION
Marketing
POSITION
Marketing
POSITION
Marketing
ROLE
Webinar Master
ROLE
Webinar Master
ROLE
Webinar Master
Webinars...really?
Webinars...really?
Webinars...really?
Most webinars have similar characteristics:
Boring presenter
Boring slides
A thinly veiled pitch for the company's product/service
Little to no replay value
But…they don't have to be that way. Done right, webinars can full-funnel marketing campaigns that reach across all stages of the buyer's journey to generate demand for a business.
Over the years, I've developed a tried-and-true playbook for building webinars into a moneymaking machine. It started at BuildingConnected, continued at Autodesk, and blossomed at Apollo.
Here are some of my most successful webinars, with thoughts below on how it all worked.
Autodesk
Most of my webinars at Autodesk have since been re-run as the product has updated, but they all had similar stats. In 2020, 5 of the top 10 highest-revenue-generating campaigns for the construction division were webinars I ran.
Create Construction Ready Models With Assemble
Results:
3,000 registrants
1,250 attendees
$1.15m pipeline generated
$350k ARR closed in 4 weeks
Apollo
How to Write the Perfect Cold Email
Results:
10,000+ registrants
4,750+ attendees
200+ demo requests
14,000 plays on YouTube
Mastering Cold Emails with AI
Results:
9,500+ registrants
4,000+ attendees
187+ demo requests
44,000 plays on YouTube, generating an additional 115 demo requests and 350 product sign-ups
Mastering Email Deliverability
Results:
7,500 registrants
3,350 attendees
130 demo requests sent to sales
21,000 plays on YouTube
Generating an additional 75 demo requests and 225 product sign ups
Most webinars have similar characteristics:
Boring presenter
Boring slides
A thinly veiled pitch for the company's product/service
Little to no replay value
But…they don't have to be that way. Done right, webinars can full-funnel marketing campaigns that reach across all stages of the buyer's journey to generate demand for a business.
Over the years, I've developed a tried-and-true playbook for building webinars into a moneymaking machine. It started at BuildingConnected, continued at Autodesk, and blossomed at Apollo.
Here are some of my most successful webinars, with thoughts below on how it all worked.
Autodesk
Most of my webinars at Autodesk have since been re-run as the product has updated, but they all had similar stats. In 2020, 5 of the top 10 highest-revenue-generating campaigns for the construction division were webinars I ran.
Create Construction Ready Models With Assemble
Results:
3,000 registrants
1,250 attendees
$1.15m pipeline generated
$350k ARR closed in 4 weeks
Apollo
How to Write the Perfect Cold Email
Results:
10,000+ registrants
4,750+ attendees
200+ demo requests
14,000 plays on YouTube
Mastering Cold Emails with AI
Results:
9,500+ registrants
4,000+ attendees
187+ demo requests
44,000 plays on YouTube, generating an additional 115 demo requests and 350 product sign-ups
Mastering Email Deliverability
Results:
7,500 registrants
3,350 attendees
130 demo requests sent to sales
21,000 plays on YouTube
Generating an additional 75 demo requests and 225 product sign ups
Most webinars have similar characteristics:
Boring presenter
Boring slides
A thinly veiled pitch for the company's product/service
Little to no replay value
But…they don't have to be that way. Done right, webinars can full-funnel marketing campaigns that reach across all stages of the buyer's journey to generate demand for a business.
Over the years, I've developed a tried-and-true playbook for building webinars into a moneymaking machine. It started at BuildingConnected, continued at Autodesk, and blossomed at Apollo.
Here are some of my most successful webinars, with thoughts below on how it all worked.
Autodesk
Most of my webinars at Autodesk have since been re-run as the product has updated, but they all had similar stats. In 2020, 5 of the top 10 highest-revenue-generating campaigns for the construction division were webinars I ran.
Create Construction Ready Models With Assemble
Results:
3,000 registrants
1,250 attendees
$1.15m pipeline generated
$350k ARR closed in 4 weeks
Apollo
How to Write the Perfect Cold Email
Results:
10,000+ registrants
4,750+ attendees
200+ demo requests
14,000 plays on YouTube
Mastering Cold Emails with AI
Results:
9,500+ registrants
4,000+ attendees
187+ demo requests
44,000 plays on YouTube, generating an additional 115 demo requests and 350 product sign-ups
Mastering Email Deliverability
Results:
7,500 registrants
3,350 attendees
130 demo requests sent to sales
21,000 plays on YouTube
Generating an additional 75 demo requests and 225 product sign ups
How I Do It
How I Do It
How I Do It
I don't believe there's a 'playbook' for marketing that an executive can come into a company with, roll out, and see success.
I do, however, think there's a formula to what makes a good webinar that produces results years after its go-live date.
Here it is:
Have a high-energy, relatively telegenic host to keep things moving
Don't overthink it: email your whole marketable database with an invite. Send one 2 weeks before, 1 week before, and 1 day before.
Always secure a presenter from industry or with legitimate subject-matter expertise. Sorry, but…unless they built a career in the same industry as your audience, nobody cares what your product marketers think
The best webinars follow a similar format. Here it is:
5 minutes introductions w/ icebreaker
15 minutes in slides, explaining 'what' we're going to talk about and 'why'
25 minutes in screenshare, with the presenter showing exactly 'how' to do something
10 minutes Q&A, with a poll running where people can hand-raise to talk to sales the whole time
It's better to have more slides with less content than less slides with more content. Take this to an extreme — can you have a new slide every 20 seconds?
Turn every webinar into a YouTube video, 5-10 YouTube shorts, and host it on your website
Choose topics that map to the high-intent SEO keywords your content team is working on
Use a platform that lets you engage with the audience. Sequel.io is a favorite.
Rehearse webinars like your high school play. Every speaker should be 'off book', fully engaging with the audience the whole time
With some variations, this playbook has worked for me time and again.
I don't believe there's a 'playbook' for marketing that an executive can come into a company with, roll out, and see success.
I do, however, think there's a formula to what makes a good webinar that produces results years after its go-live date.
Here it is:
Have a high-energy, relatively telegenic host to keep things moving
Don't overthink it: email your whole marketable database with an invite. Send one 2 weeks before, 1 week before, and 1 day before.
Always secure a presenter from industry or with legitimate subject-matter expertise. Sorry, but…unless they built a career in the same industry as your audience, nobody cares what your product marketers think
The best webinars follow a similar format. Here it is:
5 minutes introductions w/ icebreaker
15 minutes in slides, explaining 'what' we're going to talk about and 'why'
25 minutes in screenshare, with the presenter showing exactly 'how' to do something
10 minutes Q&A, with a poll running where people can hand-raise to talk to sales the whole time
It's better to have more slides with less content than less slides with more content. Take this to an extreme — can you have a new slide every 20 seconds?
Turn every webinar into a YouTube video, 5-10 YouTube shorts, and host it on your website
Choose topics that map to the high-intent SEO keywords your content team is working on
Use a platform that lets you engage with the audience. Sequel.io is a favorite.
Rehearse webinars like your high school play. Every speaker should be 'off book', fully engaging with the audience the whole time
With some variations, this playbook has worked for me time and again.
I don't believe there's a 'playbook' for marketing that an executive can come into a company with, roll out, and see success.
I do, however, think there's a formula to what makes a good webinar that produces results years after its go-live date.
Here it is:
Have a high-energy, relatively telegenic host to keep things moving
Don't overthink it: email your whole marketable database with an invite. Send one 2 weeks before, 1 week before, and 1 day before.
Always secure a presenter from industry or with legitimate subject-matter expertise. Sorry, but…unless they built a career in the same industry as your audience, nobody cares what your product marketers think
The best webinars follow a similar format. Here it is:
5 minutes introductions w/ icebreaker
15 minutes in slides, explaining 'what' we're going to talk about and 'why'
25 minutes in screenshare, with the presenter showing exactly 'how' to do something
10 minutes Q&A, with a poll running where people can hand-raise to talk to sales the whole time
It's better to have more slides with less content than less slides with more content. Take this to an extreme — can you have a new slide every 20 seconds?
Turn every webinar into a YouTube video, 5-10 YouTube shorts, and host it on your website
Choose topics that map to the high-intent SEO keywords your content team is working on
Use a platform that lets you engage with the audience. Sequel.io is a favorite.
Rehearse webinars like your high school play. Every speaker should be 'off book', fully engaging with the audience the whole time
With some variations, this playbook has worked for me time and again.
