You already use webinars to generate leads. More than half of marketers who responded to the 2021 DemandGen Report survey said that webinars are the top-of-funnel content that delivers more leads than any other type of content.

But did you know that webinars work just as well at other customer journey stages, too? From building awareness to creating happy customers, webinars help you:

• Build credibility and expertise in your niche.
• Develop meaningful relationships with leads.
• Educate highly qualified leads about the benefits of your product.
• Support new customers with onboarding tips and tricks. This way, they'll get the most out of your product—and stick around for longer.
• Nurture customer relationships by keeping existing customers happy and engaged with your brand.
  

Here are the 12 types of webinars you should host at every stage of the customer journey, so you can make the most out of a content format that delivers.

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Webinars to Host at the Awareness Stage

Here's where webinars shine. Like your other content marketing efforts, webinars build awareness of your brand. Because they're such a great way to develop leads, awareness webinars are perfect for delivering thought leadership content that connects with future customers.

Thought leadership webinars showcase your brand's stance on relevant topics to your ideal customer. Your webinar should move the conversation forward, provide evidence to support your claims, and offer tactical solutions to a real challenge. 

Remember: 70% of B2B professionals seek tips, tricks, and best practices from webinar content. Thought leadership is a great way to establish your company as a leader in the field, all while educating and inspiring your audience and giving them the insider knowledge they crave.

To broaden your reach and generate more leads, consider partnering with a like-minded brand partner, an industry influencer, or an entire panel of industry leaders to deliver webinars. These include:

• Partner Webinars: Partner with a like-minded organization or brand to deliver thought leadership content that piques prospective customers' curiosity or helps them to solve a problem.
• Industry Influencer Webinar Webinars: Team up with an industry influencer who shares your organizational values. Like a partner webinar, your content should focus on prospective customers' needs and challenges.
• Industry Panel Webinars: A great way to host a roundtable discussion with other industry leaders or to take listener questions in an "ask me anything" (AMA) format.
  

Each of these webinar formats helps you own a topic and boost SEO, which will enable more prospective customers find you through organic search. By partnering with other organizations or influencers, you'll also extend your reach and gain exposure to their audiences. This mutually beneficial relationship is a great way to develop exciting content, forge new relationships with like-minded brands, and find new customers.

Webinars to Host at the Consideration Stage

Once you've captured a lead's attention, it's time to nurture them through the sales pipeline and move them closer to the decision-making stage.

Webinar formats at the consideration stage include:

• Case Study Webinars: Demonstrate how your product has worked for an existing customer. This webinar format works like a live testimonial. Be sure to focus on a topic or case study that also centers on the primary challenges, pain points, or needs of your prospective customers. 59% of your B2B audience is actively looking for case study content to shed light on their problems. Why not deliver this helpful deep dive in the form of a webinar?
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• Workshop Webinars: This format is a little more time intensive and works best with highly qualified leads. To get feedback or help in solving a challenge during the webinar, webinar attendees must submit questions or work samples ahead of time. Is networking or community a major part of your brand presence? Workshop webinars can be a great format to showcase any existing community or networking infrastructure you have. 
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• Report Summary Webinars: Build off your existing content marketing efforts by developing a webinar around published reports, market trends, or white papers. This can be a great, easily digestible format for leads who are curious about your research but may not have hours to dedicate to reading a full report.

Even though you'll have plenty of time to discuss the particular benefits of your product, these webinars should still be educational and support your leads' real challenges. It's a way to showcase how well you understand the customers who use your product—and why you're the right fit for the leads in the room.

Webinars to Host at the Decision-Making Stage

As leads make final decisions about your product, they want to see how well it works. They may also be comparison or price-shopping between your product and another. Now is the time to show off everything your product can do and why they should invest in your solution to solve their challenges. 

Webinars are the perfect way to demo your product or provide a memorable experience that turns a lead into a customer. This includes:

• Product Demo Webinars: Showcasing your product benefits helps leads imagine themselves in the driver's seat. Even better? Open up the floor to a question-and-answer session. 67% of webinar attendees want a Live Q&A session with the speakers—no matter where they are in the marketing funnel.
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• Experiential Field Events: With a bit of planning, immersive experiences and experiential field events can be done well in a virtual format. Engage your prospect's senses with hands-on activities, executive dinners, or roundtables accelerating sales and bringing your deals across the finish line.
  

Whether you need to answer final questions before your prospect signs on the dotted line or show them a good time, webinars convert leads into happy customers. Just don't forget to send along any relevant marketing materials after the event is over. Leads are 60x more likely to convert once they receive that final packet of information.

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Webinars to Host at the Conversion Stage

Congrats! You've nurtured your leads and closed the sale—thanks, in part, to all of your incredible webinar content. 

Once customers purchase your solution, you can continue to use webinars to educate them about your product. By providing easy access to onboarding content or explaining new features, you'll turn a first-time customer into a long-term advocate.

Consider hosting webinars like:

• Onboarding Webinars: Developing product-specific educational content that gets new customers up and running quickly.
• Customer Appreciation Events: Keep customers happy by offering them delightful perks, access to special content, or opportunities to connect with one another.
• Product Roadmaps: Get customers excited about new developments in your product by showcasing where your brand is heading next.
• New Feature Launches: Ensure that customers get the most out of a new feature by developing webinar content to support them every step of the way.
  

You worked hard to win over prospects and close deals, which is why your work doesn't stop once your lead converts. Now, it's up to you and your customer success team to keep customers happy, engaged, and delighted with your product. What better way to do that than through the high-quality webinar content that won them over in the first place?

Planning a webinar? Check out the Webinar Best Practices Guide to ensure your webinar program is a success!

Final Thoughts

Most B2B professionals use webinars to stay on top of trends and best practices. This might be awareness content, but that doesn't mean webinars are only helpful at this point in the customer journey!

The webinar format works equally well across other stages of the marketing funnel. It could help you close more deals and keep customers satisfied long after their purchase. 

Welcome is a webinar platform built with B2B marketers in mind. Host webinars that will engage your audience, generate revenue, and keep your customers happy—no matter how far along in their customer journey they might be.