7 Tips to Get the Most from Your Law Firm’s Webinar

Webinars have always been an important part of law firm marketing. In addition to showcasing knowledge and thought leadership, webinars are great marketing tools because they can be repurposed. Over the coming months, expect to see webinars become even more essential as in-person events are cancelled or postponed. Fortunately, law firms can leverage webinars to close the gap that cancelled seminars or conferences will leave in their business development efforts. 

We’ve already shared some tips on making webinars more interesting, and now we want to help firms ramp up their webinar strategy to make the most of this channel over the coming months. Here are 7 tips that will help you gain more marketing and business development value from your law firm’s webinar.

1. Begin with content research 

You need to create webinars around topics that your audience wants to hear about. To do that, lawyers should conduct market research. Use everything at your disposal, including keyword research tools, Google Analytics, feedback from your business development team, other lawyers, and even evaluate competitor content. We even suggest looking at trending hashtags and topics on LinkedIn. These insights will also inform what type of webinar would be interesting: a demonstration, interview, etc. Remember that by focusing on something very specific in your webinar—a niche strategy or pain point—you’re more likely to attract webinar sign-ups from interested people in your target audience.

2. Try out different formats

Your law firm’s webinars shouldn’t be strictly a presentation where you speak “at” people. Consider a panel, a Q & A session, or guest lectures, but get creative as well. Try interviews, multimedia presentations, or working collaboratively to reach an end result for your audience. You can also consider streaming your Zoom webinar on YouTube or Facebook Live. If you don’t have a webinar account with Zoom or another webinar platform, consider hosting your event through LinkedIn Live.

3. Leverage industry influencers

Influencer marketing is becoming more popular, and for good reason. Adding industry thought leaders to your law firm’s webinar is a great way to add credibility. Seek out people who are thought leaders in your industry, and ask them if they’re interested in partnering with you. Find people with a substantial following that can be part of a timely and engaging discussion.

4. Make sure you have a landing page that you can promote

Ideally you have an entire promotional calendar built out for generating interest, but a landing page is a critical component of these efforts. Create a landing page where people can view information about the webinar and sign up. Then promote on social, on your website, via email, and write blogs about the webinar topic with signing up for the virtual event as the Call To Action (CTA). 

5. It’s important to be flexible

Naturally you’ll want to run through your webinar a few times before going live, though some formats don’t lend themselves as well to a rehearsal, such as a panel discussion. You still need to test the technology you’ll be using. It’s important not to let practice become too rigid. Otherwise your webinar might come off too stiff and less conversational, which can turn people off. Be prepared, plan, and practice – but be flexible as well. 

6. You don’t always need to be live

Many people believe webinars should always be live, but sometimes the quality is better in a pre-recorded event. Editing can be a great gift that will improve your audience’s experience! You can even do a mix of pre-recorded content, then jump live for Q & A or discussion.

7. It’s all about the follow up

One of the most important questions you need to answer as you develop webinars is what should people do next? It’s important to have a next step in mind, and then create a content bundle to send to registrants after the webinar. Try a gated eBook, checklist, or white paper. Another smart idea is to take content from your webinar and create new content as part of your overall marketing plan. You want to get the most value possible from any content you create, and from the interest displayed by people attending your webinar. 

Takeaway

Webinars have already become more prevalent in the current environment. More and more in-person events and legal conferences have gone virtual. That means it’s even more crucial that your law firm webinars are interesting, engaging, and offer real value. Making the most of the content, promoting it extensively before and after the event, and remaining flexible in your webinar production are key areas to work on if you want your law firm’s webinar program to be more successful.

Do you need help promoting and producing a webinar that connects with your audience, builds authority and trust, and grows your lead/email list? Reach out to us for help today.