Webinars are powerful tools in content marketing, especially in sectors like horticulture and controlled environment agriculture, where education about the latest technological trends and solutions is key.
Here’s a common problem, though: If you stop at the live event, you’re leaving value on the table.
The real opportunity lies in what comes after—specifically, in offering on-demand access and providing additional resources.
These strategies extend the life of your content and directly enhance your marketing ROI. Let’s cut to the chase and explore how you can implement these tactics effectively.
Why On-Demand Access Is Essential for ROI
1. Expand Your Audience Reach
Not everyone who’s interested can make it to the live webinar. Surely you’ve encountered this as a user: Finding a compelling webinar that just doesn’t line up with your schedule. Maybe your audience members are in different time zones, or they’re just swamped with work.
By offering on-demand access, you turn your webinar into a 24/7 resource. This increases your audience size beyond the live event and keeps your content working for you long after it ends. The broader your reach, the more leads you can generate.
ROI Tip: Track the number of views on your on-demand webinars and compare them to your live attendance. Use this data to optimize the timing and promotion of future events.
2. Deepen Audience Engagement
On-demand webinars give your audience the chance to dive deeper into your content. They can pause, replay, and focus on what matters most to them. This deeper engagement makes your message stick and can lead to higher conversion rates.
ROI Tip: Use engagement analytics to identify which parts of your webinar are most watched. Create follow-up content or marketing campaigns around these high-interest topics.
3. Turn Webinars into Evergreen Content
When your webinars are available on-demand, they become evergreen content—always relevant, always accessible. This means ongoing lead generation opportunities with minimal additional effort. You’re essentially creating a content asset that keeps delivering value over time.
ROI Tip: Promote your on-demand webinars in your email campaigns and on social media. Include a call to action (CTA) that guides viewers to a landing page where they can sign up for related services or products.
The ROI of Additional Resources
There’s a lot more you can do to capitalize on the webinar you spent so much time preparing. You’ve got your audience hooked. Now, deliver additional targeted resources that you already know they want.
1. Reinforce Your Key Messages
Supplementing your webinar with additional resources like white papers or case studies reinforces your main points. These materials can help push a potential lead further down the sales funnel by providing more detailed information.
ROI Tip: Include a download link for a white paper or case study in your post-webinar follow-up email. Track how many recipients download the resource and connect this to subsequent sales or inquiries.
2. Cater to Different Learning Preferences
People process information differently. Some prefer watching, others reading. Offering a variety of resources ensures you’re meeting your audience’s needs, making it more likely they’ll engage with your content. This tailored approach can improve conversion rates.
Another example could be a simple infographic that expounds visually on a core concept from the webinar. Offer this as a simple .pdf download and monitor who takes you up on this piece.
ROI Tip: Analyze which types of resources (videos, white papers, etc.) are most downloaded and correlate this data with conversion rates. Focus future content creation on the formats that yield the best results.
3. Drive Continued Engagement
Follow-up resources keep your brand top of mind and encourage ongoing interaction. Regular engagement increases the likelihood of moving a lead to a sale.
You’ve got your list of people who initially attended the webinar. Keep that list segmented for future targeted emails.
ROI Tip: Set up a drip campaign that sends additional resources at regular intervals post-webinar. Monitor engagement metrics to determine the optimal timing and content mix for future campaigns.
Implementing These Strategies for Maximum ROI
1. Make On-Demand Access Easy
This should be obvious, but too often the user experience gets overlooked on B2B websites that are not optimized as media brands. The easier it is to access your on-demand webinar, the more likely people are to watch it.
This is key to maximizing your reach and impact.
Remember, as Troy Young says, if you have an interface point and you have customer data, particularly around consumption and intent, you have a media business.
ROI Tip: Host your on-demand webinars on a dedicated landing page that includes a lead capture form. This way, every new viewer becomes a potential lead.
2. Distribute Resources Strategically
Don’t just dump resources on your audience—plan it out.
Immediately after the webinar, send a follow-up email with links to the on-demand recording and a few key resources. Consider drip-feeding more in-depth materials over the following weeks.
ROI Tip: Use lead scoring to track which resources each contact engages with. Prioritize follow-ups with those showing the most interest to improve your conversion rate.
3. Use Analytics to Fine-Tune Your Strategy
Data is your best friend. Use analytics to see what’s working and what’s not. This continuous improvement cycle will keep your content strategy sharp and effective.
ROI Tip: Regularly review your analytics dashboard to see how your on-demand content and resources are performing. Adjust your content production and distribution strategies based on these insights to maximize your ROI.
Conclusion
On-demand access and additional resources are important for maximizing the ROI of your webinars.
By implementing these strategies, you’re extending the reach of your content and actively driving engagement and conversion, leading to real, measurable business growth.
