Do webinars actually work? (Exit Five Newsletter)

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TOGETHER WITH AIROPS

🔎 AI Is Rewriting the Search Game. This Scorecard Shows If You're Still in It.

AI is eating search.

You’ve noticed it in your personal life, and I am sure you’re noticing at work too. You just ask ChatGPT. Maybe Perplexity. Or if you're on Google, the AI Overview probably answers it for you right there in your search.

The way buyers find and evaluate your company is changing fast.

The tricky part? It’s not easy to tell if your site is actually showing up in those AI answers. How do you influence those search results?

Here’s a great free resource for you:

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Bonus for Exit Five readers

AirOps is also giving access to their Visibility → Actions Dashboard to 10 companies reading this newsletter. This tool shows not just how you rank, but the concrete actions you can take to fix it. If you want in, apply here and mention Exit Five.

🎥 Webinars Still Work, You Might Just Need a Better Framework

Every marketing team is running webinars. But do yours actually work? In today’s newsletter, we're sharing a framework for turning webinars into revenue drivers, including a system for attracting the right buyers, engaging them, and converting registrants into actual sales opportunities.

These lessons come from Bob Hanson, the creator of the Must-See Webinar System that's helped brands generate over $1B in ARR, and Nick Salvatoriello, a podcast host and seasoned emcee who's worked with companies like HubSpot and Drift.

Why Webinars Still Matter

Most of your competitors are putting on generic events without any real strategy (if they’re doing anything at all). And honestly, most of them suck. But they don’t have to.

You could be growing from $1M to $20M ARR in 36 months using primarily weekly webinars. Seeing 500 qualified sales appointments from a single event. Sounds crazy right? But it has happened. This playbook has helped real companies get these exact results.

Oh, and you don’t need a $500K budget to make webinars work. Just good strategy and solid execution.

The ABC Framework: How To Crush Your Next Webinar

There are really only 3 things that matter when it comes to putting together a webinar people are excited to come to. Nail these and people will actually show up.

A: Attract (But Make It Narrow)

Back in the 70s, there were only 3 TV channels. So shows like The Brady Bunch had to appeal to everyone, the lowest common denominator. But if any of those shows were on today, they'd bomb. There aren’t 3 channels anymore. People can fill their time with infinite channels specific to their interests.

Your webinars are the same. If you broadcast to everyone, no one will pay attention. But if you narrowcast to the right people, they won’t just show up, they’ll convert.

The Narrowcasting Rules:

• One specific objective (not "brand awareness")
• One specific audience (not "decision makers")
• One specific problem (not "digital transformation challenges")
• One specific funnel stage (top, middle, or bottom)

Real Example: Instead of "iPhone Accessory Company Presents: The Future of Mobile," one of Bob's clients hosted "Get a Sneak Peek of [Hot New Product Launch]" and recruited the actual product team to present. They got 2,500 registrants without spending a dime on marketing.

B: Engage Buyers

You know what you’re up against when it comes to getting attention. Slack notifications, emails, LinkedIn, social, and everything else on their computer.

Start with their top frustration, hope, dream, or fear. Here's a real opener from one of Nick's presentations:

"They asked for this event, said it was crucial for sales, but then nobody showed up."

Every marketer in the room immediately thinks: "Yep, that's exactly what happened to me."

Story-driven content: Humans are wired for story. Instead of jumping into product features, share:

• "I know your situation because I've been there"
• "Here's what happened when another company faced this exact problem"
• "Let me tell you about a customer who made this mistake"

The Production Playbook

Don't just plan content. Plan engagement. Your run of show should include:

• Polls and Q&A: Events with interactive elements are significantly more engaging
• Chat: Make chat participants the stars of the show
• Live elements: Surveys, breakout rooms, real-time challenges
• Big moments: Something only the live audience gets

Pick 2-3 engagement tactics that serve your specific objective and audience stage.

The Pre/During/After Strategy:

• Before: Social promo kits for speakers, sales enablement decks for your team
• During: Planned interaction points, run of show timing, backup plans
• After: Follow-up sequences that extend the conversation

C: Convert (Registrants to Revenue)

The 3 Conversion Tactics:

1. Exclusive offers for attendees
   • Next-level events (for top of funnel to mid-funnel progression)
   • Limited-time deals with urgency
   • Access to exclusive content or consultations
2. Same-day follow-up
   • Send the recording within hours (not weeks)
   • Include next steps in the same email
   • Strike while attention is hot
3. The Jeff Method Bob discovered this by accident. His best sales rep would get the webinar leads by Thursday and immediately call the hottest prospects with one simple question: "Why did you register for our webinar?" This simple approach converted more deals than any complex nurture sequence.

Real Conversion Examples:

• Low stakes: "Connect with me on LinkedIn" with QR codes
• Medium stakes: Temporary Slack community
• High stakes: An exclusive 24-hour offer

The Narrowcasting Workshop

Let's get tactical. Think of an upcoming event and answer these 4 questions:

1. ICP: Who exactly needs to be there? (Get specific about title, company size, situation)
2. Main pain point: What's the ONE problem this event solves? (Not three problems, ONE)
3. Buyer journey stage: Are they problem-aware, solution-aware, or vendor-aware?
4. Primary channel: Where will you focus 80% of your promotion efforts?

Once you have these answers, you've essentially created a webinar brief that beats 90% of B2B webinars.

Tactics from the Trenches

The Speaker Leverage Play Don't just book speakers. Give them social promo kits. Pre-written posts, branded graphics, and clear CTAs. Their network might be the primary reason you're hosting the event.

The Sales Alignment Reality Make sure sales knows exactly why people should show up to this event.

Create a 2-3 slide deck for your sales team explaining:

• What the event covers and why it matters
• Who should attend (with specific customer examples)
• How to position it to prospects
• What's in it for them (easier conversations, warmer leads)

The Recording Strategy Send recordings the same day. Not next week, not after editing. The same day. Put the CTA in the bottom half of that email while you’re still top of mind.

The Follow-up Design your follow-up system before the event. Don’t wait til it’s over, when you’re completely fried.

What Not to Do (Common Failures)

• The Brady Bunch trap: Trying to appeal to everyone
• Tech obsession: More tools ≠ more engagement
• Pitch-fest: Just product demos disguised as education
• Follow-up failure: No systematic conversion plan
• One-and-done: Events should be systematic programs

Your Next Steps

1. Audit your last event against the ABC framework. Where did it fail?
2. Pick ONE upcoming event to apply narrowcasting principles
3. Design your run of show before worrying about content
4. Plan follow-up systems while you still have energy
5. Test in low-stakes environments (August and December are perfect for pilots)

The Bottom Line? The companies winning with webinars aren't trying to be everything to everyone. They're laser-focused on one specific audience with one specific problem at one specific stage of their buying journey.

Your competitors are still putting on Brady Bunch webinars. Your opportunity is to create something that makes your ICP stop scrolling and think: "This is exactly what I need to hear."

– Dave

PS. I know people love to hate on webinars, but I think they can be a great channel in marketing. It’s like anything else - WHY should someone give you an hour of their day? It all comes back to having a deep understanding of your customer and coming up with a great hook/story/offer to get them to spend virtual time with you.

What is your POV on webinars? Reply back and let me know; we read every single response. And maybe we’ll feature you in a future newsletter.

Writing this email today and we’re 12 days away from our big event Drive in Vermont. I can’t lie, I'm starting to get nervous. Excited. But also nervous…See you there?

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📚 LATEST CONTENT

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