One of the most effective marketing tools a building product manufacturer can use is webinars. There are more education benefits in a one-hour webinar than any other sales and marketing option. They drive person to person interaction, they generate high quality leads, they advertise your company as a trusted resource, they increase your audience, and they help build a solid customer base. Webinars should be an essential part of your long term marketing plan.

Additionally, manufacturers can benefit from webinars in several ways. First of all, webinars can educate architects about your building product and its applications. A live presentation can provide your company with brand awareness, build relationships with designers, and generate marketing leads for the future. Webinars are very time effective. During a one-hour AIA webinar presentation, you can maximize your learning outcomes. Webinars are cost-effective. Your team doesn’t have to travel to teach 250 or more designers. Webinars are interactive and provide opportunities to engage with the audience.

Creating a Successful Webinar

There are a few essentials needed for a great webinar:

1. Which platform will be used to host the webinar?

2. What software will be used?

3. How are you going to advertise and build participation for the event?

4. Will the presentation be registered with the AIA and USGBC for continuing education hours?

5. What topics will you cover and who will be your presenter? You need an engaging title and course description in order to entice people to sign up. Your presenter needs to be able to speak clearly and articulate your message effectively.

These may seem like minor details, but they are vitally important when creating a successful webinar.

Beat Your Competition

There’s a good chance your competition isn’t using webinars effectively, if at all. Many building product manufacturers rely on face to face meetings between their product reps and clients. Some manufacturers utilize only face to face lunch and learn presentations or online anytime courses. Both these approaches are highly recommended; however, webinars aren’t utilized nearly enough for product specification. If your competition is delivering webinars, participate in one of their events and evaluate it. What could your company do to set it apart from your competitor regarding webinars? Maybe your competitor delivered a great presentation but there were barely any designers there to listen to it. Participation is crucial to make a webinar a successful investment.

If your competition is not currently offering webinars, this new tool could be an effective way to beat them in the marketplace. This strategy may not be a secret for long and your competition may try and copy your marketing plan. Regardless, implementing a webinar program should be high on your priority list this year if you want to increase brand awareness, educate architects about your products, and beat the snot out of your competition.

Does your company utilize webinars?