Outdated webinar lead generation tactics are still everywhere.
You’ve probably seen them: a catchy title, a 30-minute presentation, and a download gate that promises “leads” but delivers low intent, low engagement, and minimal pipeline.
At Cognism, we’ve tested just about every format. We’ve found that webinars can work, but only when they’re built for buyers, not just your database.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to rethink your approach and design webinars that actually generate revenue, not just registrants.
Let’s get started.👇
You may have heard of Cognism CMO Alice de Courcy’s book, ‘Diary of a First-Time CMO.'
It details all the reasons why marketers shouldn’t invest in creating MQLs but instead focus on creating demand and hitting a revenue number as a goal. This will ultimately lead to better sales leads and more satisfied customers, increasing revenue overall.
Alice says, ‘Marketing today is not the same as marketing in 2010.’
Meaning:
Our focus as marketers shouldn’t be on how many webinar leads we can bring in for sales to qualify and nurture. Instead, we should focus on the value we can provide to potential buyers.
B2B Marketing Manager at Potentiam Ltd, Ashleigh Frank, agrees. She said:
And as you can imagine, the Cognism team has put a lot of effort into testing what structure works best for generating leads from webinars.
Amy Collins, Demand Generation Content Manager at Cognism, said:
Here’s a more detailed look at using quality content to drive hot leads and create demand:
With that said, is webinar lead generation still valuable for B2B marketers?
Yes, but the focus should be on sharing quality ungated content rather than pushing B2B buyers into a sales funnel when they aren’t close to making a purchasing decision!
Before planning your next lead generation webinar, read the chapter on ‘Going from Lead Gen to Demand Gen’ in Alice’s book.
Click the banner to jump directly to it 👇
Instead of focusing on creating webinars to generate leads, you should implement strategies that create brand awareness, increase your reach, and enhance your customer relationships.
Think about this:
When you organise a webinar, you share your expertise with your audience.
They’re there to learn more about specific topics, and they often have questions that only you can answer.
To give your potential customers the best experience, you must plan your lead generation webinars around these four integral questions:
The more value you provide, the more likely they’ll want to share your webinar and brand with their network.
This will increase your reach. Opening your brand up to new audiences you may not have considered approaching before.
You may find that your next webinar will have even more registrants as word spreads.
Here are five proven strategies for hosting successful webinars:
The first step to any lead generation webinar is to get your ideal customers to register.
You’ll need to establish your ideal customer profile and create an email list for when you want to tell them more about your webinar.
This list can also help you create targeted ads on LinkedIn and Facebook to ensure the right people are aware of the event and excited about it.
You can also utilise intent data if you want to get really granular. With intent data, you can get the names and contact details of ideal customers actively researching a product like yours.
Sales intelligence tools like Cognism or Kaspr can give you access to intent data and a GDPR-compliant database to help you build your perfect webinar lead generation lists!
💡 Here’s an interactive workflow showcasing how tools like these can get you more webinar registrants.
Now, whatever you do, don’t fall back into the trap of the MQL hamster wheel. Just because a prospect is attending your webinar doesn’t mean they will immediately enter your sales funnel, but it will ensure you remain top of mind as they explore all their options.
Think of your webinar topic as your marketing hook.
You want to keep it short and straightforward.
This way, you won’t risk going off-topic or running over time.
Finding a topic means looking back at your published blogs to see which one did the best or scrolling LinkedIn for trending conversations.
Even better, send out a survey to see what your current customers want to know.
If you choose a classic topic like cold calling, think of a new, engaging, and fresh way to do it. At Cognism, the demand gen team tries to make each webinar a unique experience. They test topics, experiment with formats, and speak to their audience to ensure they don’t repeat themselves and that their content stays as engaging as possible.
Amy said:
By having a great topic your audience is interested in, you aren’t only impacting how your company is perceived but also engaging with potential customers in a way that isn’t pushing a sale.
What’s more, you’re showing prospects that you value their relationship, have much to offer them, and are an expert in your field.
This will do more for your revenue numbers than overdone lead-generation webinar tactics.
Ashleigh added:
The key to building an engaging lead generation webinar will be the quality of the content and the speakers.
You’ll want to invite industry leaders, LinkedIn influencers, and experts from other B2B companies to drive the discussion.
Ashleigh advised:
But reaching out to thought leaders isn’t always easy, especially if you don’t have a great partner network. This is why so many of our clients love Cognism. It helps them find fantastic industry speakers. And we use our tool, too!
Liam Bartholomew, VP Brand & Customer Marketing at Cognism, said:
This is also where networking is key.
The more you build relationships with other industry experts, the easier to invite them as guest speakers.
Liam advised:
👇 Turn your future webinars into a success with quality B2B data from Cognism.
You aren’t going to get many attendees if you don’t promote your demand webinar.
When should you start creating hype?
Two to three weeks before the big day is best.
And this typically starts with sending out emails to let your audience, old and new, know what’s on the horizon. Here’s an example:
Liam explained how we do it at Cognism:
For outbound leads, the demand gen team generates a list of people based on job title, job join data or industry and automates a custom campaign for them. They’ll also check to see if anyone has searched for the webinar’s topic and will send out another campaign based on that intent data.
If you’re not using a prospecting tool like Cognism, you can take a similar approach by segmenting your email lists for personalised campaigns.
Another useful marketing tool is Mailtastic; with this, you can share your event on your company’s email signatures. Here’s an example:
Not all hype needs to be a paid campaign. You can also:
Set up events on LinkedIn.
Share posts on Slack channels.
Create content for guests, and your team can share it across social media.
If you want high-quality leads from webinars, you must think about building brand awareness.
When word spreads that your virtual events are not to be missed, then more B2B buyers will sign up and become aware of who your company is and what you’re selling.
This leads to increased referrals, and your current customer base will continue to find helpful information they can use to achieve sales goals with your product or service.
Ashleigh advised:
Slide decks are great for slapping on a logo and reading from during a lead generation webinar. But you’ll lose your audience.
Ashleigh said:
You can combat this by making your webinars as entertaining as possible. Many webinar lead generation software includes options to create polls, ask trivia questions and more.
Do what you can to gamify your events, and you’ll receive a full house next time around.
At Cognism, we’ve been experimenting with live cold calls, which you can watch in this video 👇
As mentioned earlier, webinar lead generation is dead. What you do after the event is what matters most.
Yes, webinars can bring in targeted leads, but creating on-demand content and sharing your webinar content will be the driving force behind converting leads attracted to your brand.
Creating a follow-up email cadence is one way; lead qualification is another.
Let’s break these steps down into detail:
Gone are the days when gating content brought in sales leads.
Share your knowledge and expertise, and the hot leads will come!
And that’s where distributing your webinar content after the fact comes in, as Ashleigh explained:
The benefits and opportunities of hosting webinars are endless.
Just don’t think small.
For instance, what happens when your guests ask questions you don’t have time to answer?
You create content out of it, of course.
An older lead generation webinar tactic would be to create a drip email campaign that provides your audience with answers to those questions while building a relationship.
But, the more modern idea is to create LinkedIn posts, YouTube Videos and blog write-ups from those unanswered questions. That way, anyone who wants to find the answer can, even if they didn’t attend your webinar. Here’s an example of a LinkedIn post from Cognism:
Other repurposing ideas include:
Creating blogs.
Uploading podcast episodes.
Sharing snippets on social media.
Creating YouTube videos.
Liam added:
Remember that if any leads contact your marketing team after a webinar, lead qualification still matters.
Send any hot leads over to your B2B sales team so they can enter the sales funnel.
It’s an excellent idea to email a link to the recording to everyone who attended (and didn’t attend).
And if you can think of a clever way to do that, even better!
Some ideas include:
A Vidyard from one of the speakers personally thanking them for attending.
Ask if they’d be interested in any other content, like your newsletter.
Include a voucher for a coffee to say thanks.
Some of these ideas might be better suited to an ABM campaign, but they work wonders for converting enterprise leads.
💡 P.S. These B2B marketing strategies might inspire you!
Here are six bonus tips to help you reap the benefits of webinar lead generation:
Your guests will appreciate being able to see who is speaking to them, and you can also use the recording to create content later.
You need someone to be in charge of directing the conversation, watching the time, making sure that each person gets to speak enough, etc.
You’ll need a slide-by-slide breakdown of how the webinar must go so your moderator can see what’s coming next and guide the conversation there.
Besides your moderator, you’ll need someone behind the scenes checking the chat for questions and comments.
Then they can answer anything like, ‘Will there be a recording of this?’ and pass on any interesting questions for the moderator to redirect to the speakers.
Do your best to engage with your audience by including live polls, answering their questions, showing videos, or asking for reactions to trending tweets, etc.
Your webinar shouldn’t last longer than an hour. This way, you’re not taking up too much of anyone’s time, and you won’t have too many people leaving early.
Most of all, don’t stress too much.
If you can’t get to everyone’s questions, use it as an excuse to engage with them afterwards.
And have fun!
Webinar lead generation isn’t dead, but it’s evolved: Modern marketers should focus on demand creation and brand awareness rather than chasing low-intent MQLs.
High-value content wins: Share ungated insights, answer real audience questions, and use webinars as content engines for blogs, videos, and social posts.
Know your audience: Build webinars around topics your ideal customers care about, and use intent data and segmentation to attract the right registrants.
Collaborate with industry experts to boost credibility, reach, and engagement. Make it easy and rewarding for them to contribute.
Promotion is key: Start building hype 2–3 weeks ahead of time using segmented email campaigns, social media snippets, and internal tools like email signatures.
Don’t gate the value: Repurpose webinars into multiple formats to nurture leads, grow reach, and position your brand as a trusted authority.
Use tools like Cognism to identify and qualify leads, invite speakers, and power up post-webinar campaigns with accurate, GDPR-compliant data.
Webinar lead generation might not be the go-to for quality leads, but you can still drive demand with quality content.
And Cognism can help you do that.
Don’t waste any more time. Click the banner to book a demo with Cognism today 👇