One of the greatest challenges that B-to-B marketers face is generating and cultivating new leads. If you're facing a similar challenge, consider hosting a Webinar to initiate a one-to-one dialogue with your target customers. Ovation recently conducted a two-part Webinar series for one of our clients that produced an ROI of more than 58%. The event attracted 750 registrants, of which two-thirds attended the event. It was highly successful in generating new leads (65% of attendees were not in the client's database), and it also enabled our client to connect with its current customers in a meaningful way.

We conducted a multichannel marketing effort to encourage people to sign up for the Webinar. The campaign consisted of an e-mail invitation to prospects and current customers, a print and online ad in industry trade publications, a press release, and a flyer that sales representatives could send to their customers. The e-mail generated more than 50% of the registrations with the trade ad producing approximately 20% of the sign-ups. There was also significant word-of-mouth. Nearly 20% of the registrants heard about the Webinar from a colleague.

At the conclusion of each event, attendees were asked to take a brief survey. We measured their satisfaction with various aspects of the event (content, duration, delivery, etc.) and requested their input on other topics they'd like to learn more about in future Webinars. This feedback has been valuable for planning upcoming events. If you're considering conducting a Webinar to generate B2B sales leads, here are a few key factors to keep in mind:

1. Don't go overboard talking about your products and services. Attendees will immediately be turned off if you use the event to overtly sell your products/services. It's acceptable to occasionally give your company a plug, but keep it subtle and avoid the temptation to sell, sell, sell.
2. Keep the Webinar less than an hour and leave ample time for Q&A. We also found that people prefer to have multiple Q&A sessions during the presentation rather than have one session at the end.
3. Use polls to keep attendees engaged. We saw a spike in the number of questions attendees posted shortly after a poll was conducted.
4. Follow up with an e-mail to no-shows to encourage them to participate in an archived version of the Webinar. Post links to the archive on your Web site. Within a week after the event, we had more than 15% of the participants take part in the archived event.
5. Plan your follow-up strategy in advance of the session and don't delay in following up with both attendees and no-shows. These prospects are hot. Now is the time to pitch them on your products and services.