3 Essential Webinar Tips for MSPs

Even though the pandemic restrictions have been lifted, an MSP shouldn’t immediately abandon webinars and go right back to groups, cocktail parties, golf tournaments, and event sponsorships. Even for small MSPs, webinars are cheap and efficient ways for an MSP to build a brand, attract clients, and inform people of upcoming trends.

Even before the pandemic, webinars were effective tools to building a community and keeping them engaged with brands. Best of all, these can be done for free through tools an MSP has access to.

Any MSP can do it, even if no one on their team is a design expert, excellent public speaker, or marketing wizard. All that needs to be done is to implement the following tips to the webinar.

Put On The Vendor Cap

Vendors at a store are people who will do anything to capture people’s attention. For sure, they are there to sell, but the vendor is also there to inform. In the case of the webinar, the largest barrier to entry is getting people to sign up for the webinar.

With that in mind, an MSP needs to think about what will get people interested in checking out a webinar. Here are some ideas that can work:

Collect and qualify leads. Webinar registrations are prime opportunities to collect and qualify people for services. Requiring users to divulge their biggest IT security concern or how many computers they have in their business before registering can help an MSP understand potential customers more on top of getting their email for further promotions.
Inviting guests to the webinar. This dramatically reduces work significantly for MSPs. This turns the MSP more into a host. Guests also are important overall as the objective of a webinar is to educate rather than to sell the business.
Asking existing client base to invite people they know. Clients know other entrepreneurs and businesses. A webinar is a prime opportunity for those clients to invite prospects and potential clients easily. Word of mouth is a great way to cut marketing costs.
Remember that registration is most important. Even if attendance is lower than registrations, that doesn’t matter. An MSP can begin the marketing process immediately once contact information is received.
Follow a formula when pitching the webinar. First introduce the presenters and companies in the webinar, followed by covering any housekeeping details (date, time, location), introduce solutions to the problem, explain what it was like before, what has happened since then, and what it’s like now.

Always Be Adding Value

Staying in line with the vendor thinking, the goal of the webinar is meant to inform users rather than to sell to them directly. Every MSP hosting a webinar should focus their sales pitch on getting as many people to register as possible.

With that in mind, adding overwhelming value in the webinar should be communicated in both the pitch of the webinar and in the webinar. To do this, consider what is the most relevant topic(s) in the IT world right now and how it ties to the community. Some examples of webinars to do are:

Teaching children and adults about online safety
Informing parents on how to set up parental controls for their kids’ laptops
Teach businesses about Multi-Factor Authentication or general security tips
Inform businesses about phishing, how to spot it, and how to deal with it
Teach gyms how to pick and use apps to help manage their registration desk

The list is endless, but the goal is to contribute to the community the MSP is involved in and not try to push any particular product or service.

These ideas are also important to consider as referral networks aren’t as solid and large as they once were. Mixing up different webinar topics can allow MSPs to interact in new circles and spaces that have different people.

Have Fun With The Format

Just because it’s a webinar, it doesn’t mean that the webinar has to take place in a boardroom for 45-minutes to an hour. Webinars don’t always have to be hour-long or day long sessions. They can be short and sweet.

Beyond this, webinars don’t always have to be one person speaking non-stop with others listening. Adding in audience involvement can make webinars fun and engaging for everyone involved. Ideas like doing routine polling, organizing a contest, offering free gift cards, or asking questions to the audience can help in driving engagement and collaboration.

Do note though that if an MSP is doing this for the first time or is using new hardware or platform, it’s best to do a trial run. Especially consider doing this when using new features or delivering new content.

About MSP Corp

MSP Corp understands you’ve worked hard to build your business and you want to protect it. With a mission to be a world-class business partner for MSP owners across Canada, we actively seek to acquire and partner with owners looking to secure the value of the business they have built and provide a seamless exit process that ensures business continuity and employee and client stability.