The Pros & Cons of One-Time Webinars & Series

Webinars have been increasingly popular among various businesses. In fact, 91% of B2B professionals prefer webinars as their go-to content! But of course, within the world of webinars, there is an all-important choice to be made: a planned series, or simple one-time webinars.

"95% of survey respondents said webinars play a key part in their marketing efforts, and 38% consider webinars critical to their digital communications." — ON24

As a business owner or entrepreneur, you may be wondering if a webinar series is right for you and your business. After all, you can always just do a one-time webinar, right? They’re quick and easy to make, and you can potentially achieve your goals with just one webinar. Well, while that may be true, you should take a step back to have a look at the big picture to ensure you maximise your return on webinars.

There are actually several key advantages to doing a webinar series over a one-time webinar. But of course, there are still cons that you need to consider to fully know whether making a webinar series over a one-time webinar is the right route to take.

The pros of webinar series

1. You can build relationships with your audience:

A webinar series provides you with an opportunity to build relationships with your audience. You can get to know them and their needs better, and they can get to know, like, and trust you. This is essential if you want to convert them into customers or clients.

2. You can build a community around your brand or product

We’ve seen an uptick in this in recent years — where brands build themselves thriving communities to gain a loyal following. Ultimately, webinar series can be a fantastic way to achieve this, by bringing like-minded individuals together around a shared interest.

3. You can establish yourself as an expert

If you host a series of webinars on a particular topic, you will establish yourself as an expert in that area through engaging thought-leadership events. This can be helpful in attracting new clients or customers, as well as growing your business.

4. You can provide more value

Because a webinar series is ongoing, you have the opportunity to provide more value to your audience than you could with a one-time event. This is especially true if you offer a variety of topics or guest speakers. By ensuring that the content and information you are providing are of excellent quality, you’re enriching your customers’ and clients’ experience of your company.

5. You can generate more leads

Webinar series can be a great way to generate leads for your business. You can promote your series to your target audience and encourage them to sign up which can help you grow your list of prospects and expand your reach.‍

6. They can improve brand identification and familiarity

With each webinar, you are creating a new touchpoint at which your clients and customers can interact with your brand. If each webinar is branded in a meaningful, and identifiable way — and also marketed well to the right audience, you will slowly become more recognisable, and therefore more credible. In doing so, you are warming each lead in a very organic way, which will naturally increase conversion.

7. They can provide you with an array of additional content

It may seem like webinars are standalone events, but they can be used as a basis for content across socials. Soundbites, blog posts, videos, quotes, podcasts — the list goes on. For each webinar, your process of creating such content will improve, and you’ll be efficiently pushing out fresh content on a regular basis in no time.

The Cons

1. They can be time-consuming to produce

Producing a webinar series can be time-consuming, especially if you are doing it on your own. If you don't have a lot of time to dedicate to planning and producing your series, it may not be the best option for you.

2. They can be expensive to produce

If you plan to host a series of webinars, you will need to budget for the costs of production. This can include the cost of hosting, equipment, software, and marketing.

3. They require commitment from participants

Since webinar series are ongoing, participants will need to commit to attending each session. This can be difficult to do, especially if they have busy schedules.

4. They can be challenging to promote

Promoting a webinar series can be challenging, especially if you don't have a large audience. You will need to find creative ways to reach your audience. Otherwise, you may find yourself lacking in terms of viewership when you finally host your webinar.

But, which is right for you?

As you can see, there are plenty of pros to hosting webinar series over one-time webinars, but there are still cons to consider before committing yourself and others. Either way, one may work for you better than the other, so it is important to carefully understand what your needs are to make the right decision.

But, in the end, the fact that you’re using webinars is the most important. Averaging at around 55% conversion rate, webinars are a tool you simply cannot miss out on. Hosting webinars every so often is, by all accounts, better than hosting no webinars at all.

Tevent offers a platform in which anyone can create and host compelling webinars and gathering quickly and easily. If you are looking for an online webinar app to host your events, check out our platform for free.

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