When thoughtfully produced and run smoothly, webinars can be a fantastic way for small businesses to spread the word within the industry and attract potential customers. However, they require a lot of effort and can be plagued with technical glitches, poor attendance, and general disinterest from participants—particularly if the webinar software is too limited or complicated to be useful.
Thankfully, webinar technology has significantly improved over the past few years, making virtual events much easier to manage. What used to require a good deal of digital expertise can now be accomplished quickly and sometimes even automated. Small businesses launching their first webinar can expect a more straightforward process with fewer barriers to entry, along with many features focused on future webinars.
Here’s how small businesses can dive into the webinar space and leverage new technology to make a significant impact right away:
**Finding the Right Pricing Plan**
The first challenge, aside from deciding the content of the webinar, is selecting the best software. Small businesses must look for software that suits their needs and offers a reasonable pricing structure. Running the perfect webinar often involves some trial-and-error, and a good contract with a software vendor allows for this kind of learning.
Most vendors appear to have competitive pricing, organized into tiers based on the maximum number of attendees. Small businesses should pay attention to the number of tiers offered and their respective thresholds. For instance, Zoho Webinar plans start at 100 participants in the free tier and double at each step—250, 500, up to 5,000 maximum. Salesforce, however, has tiers at 100 and 300 participants, with higher numbers requiring direct sales contact and maxing out at 1,000 participants.
Small businesses should prioritize vendors offering more tiers, which provide flexibility for adjusting webinar needs. This is crucial to avoid stretching their budget for unused webinar spots. Additionally, look for vendors offering flexible contract terms, allowing businesses to adjust plans without extra fees or time commitments.
Vendors offering sub-100 person plans are also highly desirable. Growth in attendance is great, but there’s more to success than size. A successful webinar could lead to smaller, more focused events for executives or inspire team members to host their own. Flexible plan sizes let small businesses be creative without monetary penalties.
**Engage Your Participants**
Virtual calls and meetings, despite their rise during the pandemic, still feel like a lesser substitute for in-person events. However, they remain popular because they are cheap and accessible, allowing more people to attend who might otherwise not have. This means small businesses running webinars need to counter the distractions in their attendees’ lives.
Software updates have provided engagement tools to help with this. Look for webinar software that allows real-time interaction, such as polls, reactions, screen sharing hand-offs, and question collection for active discussions. Small businesses might also consider letting participants influence the agenda or offering ample opportunities to interact with executives, keeping them engaged.
**Prioritize Privacy**
A single successful webinar can enhance a small business’s reputation, but a security issue can quickly ruin it. Participants trust businesses to protect their personal information, including anything shared during a webinar.
Modern webinar software includes protections against current threats. Small businesses should ensure vendors are GDPR compliant and meet other international standards. Additionally, check how vendors handle their data centers. Look for vendors who host their own data centers, like Zoho, which ensures compliance and security by maintaining closed systems that can be monitored and fixed quickly.
Recordings and transcriptions should also be protected, keeping participants’ data secure. Operating with high privacy standards can help small businesses distinguish themselves in a competitive field.
**Ready to Launch**
The right software vendor helps small businesses easily enter the webinar arena and provides support both before and after the event. While new software can automate social media posts and video editing for platforms like YouTube, it can’t assist with the actual content of the webinar. Small businesses will need to handle that on their own, but with the right software and contract terms, they’ll be well-prepared.
