There is nothing particularly new and innovative about webinars. Surely you have been going to webinars for years. But, this does seem to be the Year of the Webinar. The reason is obvious: being stuck at home doesn’t obviate our need to learn. Webinars let us take in new skills during scraps of time from the comfort of our own desk. Since the COVID-related misadventures started shutting everything down in March, I have attended innumerable webinars hosted by people as close as the next city over and as far away as Australia.

Here is a question for you: has your business considered hosting a Webinar? I suspect that if I could see you at this moment, you’d be shaking your head and diving under your desk while reaching for the delete button. I get it. When we propose hosting a webinar to our clients, we hear all sorts of objections. “They create so much work!” “I don’t have anything to say.” “Who would come?” These are great concerns.

Let’s focus here on the upside though: Why should you host a Webinar?

You have ideas that should be put out there.

If you are an intellectually curious person who works in professional services (and if you’re reading this then chances are that describes you), you have a unique perspective on your industry and people would be interested in what you have to say.

It is a great sales tool

I am all for putting information out there just to make the world a better place. That said, webinars are not an act of charity. They are a great sales tool. Signing up for a webinar means expressing interest in the topic and handing over your email address. As the host, you can not only sell the prospect during the webinar, but you can follow up. Now be careful. If you don’t provide value outside the sales pitch, there are consequences. But, some selling is allowed and even expected.

Webinars are inexpensive

If you aren’t expecting a massive audience, putting on a webinar can be as simple and straightforward as using your existing Zoom channel to host and record. Really! It does not have to be a highly technical or expensive ordeal. Do not let financial or technological concerns stop you.

The content you create is reusable

Do you know what you can do with your webinar content after it is done? All the stuff. Record it and use smaller clips on social media. Use quotes from it for Twitter posts. Write a blog about the questions you receive. A webinar is a treasure trove of reusable content.