Webinars have got a major branding problem.
They’ve become synonymous with “someone’s going to try and sell me something for an hour.” And if that’s how we think about them as attendees, the idea of running one isn’t exactly ‘appealing,’ is it?
And yet, for some entrepreneurs (mentioned below), these free sessions are one of the most lucrative growth activities in their business. The difference?
Their ‘webinars’ don’t feel like ‘webinars.’
I share this because most founders I speak to know they should be running free sessions. They know it could build their audience, fill their pipeline, and build the kind of trust it would take years to create on LinkedIn.
But they don't. And I think there are three reasons for this.
Fear of no-one showing up 👻
Few things more humiliating than presenting to an empty room.Webinar concept apathy 😕
If your webinar looks and feels like every other webinar that no-one wants to attend, you’re not going to be excited by it.Dreading the ‘sell’ at the end 🤮
As though ‘the sell’ is a compulsory requirement! (It’s not)
And when I say most founders, I am of course, speaking about me. I haven’t run a webinar in over 5 years!
So over the past few months I’ve been keeping an eye out for people doing this well (like REALLY well).
Turns out, you can break down successful webinars into three categories.
Type 1: The Knowledge Session 🧠
What is it? You teach something specific that your target audience needs.
Example: Borrow Everything I know about growing a newsletter.
Speaker: Lucy Werner
Attendance: 888 attendees
Why it works: This session gave unfiltered inside track. Not a framework, not a theory, but exactly what she did and what actually moved the needle.
—Type 2: The Working Session 🧱
What is it? You help a specific group of people build or complete one specific thing in 60 minutes. Everyone leaves with something done.
Example: 10 Upgrades to Make Claude more Powerful (it’s happening in 13 minutes - see you there?!)
Speaker: James McAuley
Attendance: 279 attendees and counting!
Why it works? The value is in carving out time to get something done. The title is a delivery promise.
—The Connection Session 🤝
What is it? A session where you bring together a group of people to give them a stake in a bigger conversation.
Example: The "no obligation" breakfast brainstorm for an Online Business Embassy (a session I attended in lockdown!)
Speaker: Oli Barrett
Attendance: circa 40 if I remember correctly
Why it works? The people in that room are self-selecting as people who care about the same thing you do. I’m still in touch with some of the people I met there.
Today we’re launching our July sprint inside MicDrop called One Big Move.
The concept? Do one thing that's going to have a compounding impact on your business ahead of the summer holidays.
No doubt, for many it will be to come up with and deliver a must attend webinar - what a great way to build some momentum ahead of the summer holidays.
See you next week!
Alex
MicDrop is my community for founders that speak.
We help help them drive revenue from talks, podcasts and workshops.
We're not taking on any new members until October, but if you're interested in being part of the next intake, head to my bio to join the waitlist
