Our Webinar Marketing Strategy for Moving Upmarket
Directive is on pace to break $30 million in revenue this year. But getting here required us to change how we market the agency.
For years, direct response campaigns helped us grow. We’d offer gift cards in exchange for introductory calls with the right people at the right accounts. That strategy worked until we reached about $22 million and growth stalled.
As we started pursuing larger enterprise accounts, we realized those buyers needed a different way to engage with us. They had more complex buying committees, longer sales cycles, and weren’t necessarily interested in booking a call right away.
That’s why we started investing in a monthly webinar marketing strategy. It’s become one of our most effective ways to educate buyers, create pipeline, and get in front of the enterprise accounts we’ve always wanted to work with.
Why We Started Running Monthly Webinars
A lot of agencies only give prospects one way to engage with them. Book a call.
But what happens when someone wants to find a new agency in Q1, and their current contract doesn’t expire for another four months?
They might be interested in your expertise today, even if they’re not ready for a sales conversation.
That’s where webinars come in.
We run 45-minute monthly webinars to educate current clients, introduce prospective buyers to our capabilities, and give our sales team something valuable to invite prospects to.
Webinar registration is an intent signal, not a lead. But generating an immediate sales opportunity isn’t the primary goal.
We want people to understand how we think and what our team can actually do.
And importantly, I’m not the one hosting these webinars.
We have strategists, middle managers, VPs, and managing directors leading the conversations. These are the same people our clients would work with if they hired us.
After each event, we add the recording to our on-demand webinar library so people can continue learning from the content. Check out our latest webinars in the Directive On Demand library.
Our Webinar Marketing Plan
The way I think about webinar marketing is pretty simple. You have a finite audience of accounts you want to work with. Your job is to find as many relevant ways as possible to communicate with that audience.
For example, say you have 10,000 target accounts across software, manufacturing, and other industries you serve.
How many different touchpoints can you create with the right people at those accounts?
Here’s how we’re currently marketing a webinar at Directive.
1. Cold Outbound Email
We invite contacts at our target accounts to upcoming webinars through outbound email.
Instead of asking someone to book a meeting with our sales team, we’re giving them an opportunity to learn something relevant to their role.
2. Email to Our Existing Database
We also promote webinars through HubSpot to subscribers, previous prospects, and people who have already engaged with Directive.
This gives us a way to keep communicating with buyers who might not be ready to make a decision today.
3. Meta Advertising
This has been one of the more interesting parts of our webinar strategy.
We initially tried promoting webinars on LinkedIn, but the advertising costs were significantly higher.
We’ve seen LinkedIn CPMs approach $100, while Meta CPMs have remained under $5.
So we’re using Meta for webinar advertising, combining native targeting with account-based targeting through Primer.
Primer allows us to upload our target account lists and reach those same audiences through Meta.
And it’s working.
There’s a misconception that Meta only generates low-quality B2B leads. We’ve had CMOs from some of the largest software and manufacturing companies in the world register for our webinars through Meta ads.
You absolutely can reach enterprise buyers on Facebook and Instagram.
4. Website Promotion and Retargeting
We promote our webinars through a banner across the Directive website and run some additional retargeting on LinkedIn.
Combined with outbound email, subscriber email, and Meta advertising, these channels are driving strong webinar attendance.
Why We’re Using UGC-Style Ads
One of the webinar marketing best practices I’d recommend testing is having your speakers record their own promotional videos.
Our webinar hosts record 30-second, vertical videos directly on their iPhones.
We use those videos as ads across Instagram and Facebook.
They’re simple, native-looking videos featuring the actual people who will be presenting.
We’ve seen tremendous success with this format. It’s also another opportunity to introduce prospective buyers to the people behind the agency.
What We’re Seeing From Our Webinar Marketing Strategy
The results go beyond registrations and attendance.
We’re generating leads, creating pipeline, and getting people who attend our webinars to request conversations with sales.
But the bigger development is what’s happening with our enterprise accounts.
We’re seeing larger organizations fill out our forms and engage with webinars as part of their sales process.
We’re also seeing our average contract value increase.
That’s especially important because moving upmarket has been one of our biggest priorities.
The webinars are helping us communicate our expertise in a way that makes us a better fit for organizations with larger budgets and more ambitious goals.
Should Your Agency Invest in Webinar Marketing?
If you’re trying to move upmarket or reach buyers who aren’t ready to book a call, I’d recommend testing a recurring webinar program.
You don’t need to make every event a lead generation campaign. Give your audience access to the people doing the work, teach them something valuable, and create multiple opportunities for them to engage with your agency.
Webinars are working for us like they worked 10 years ago.
And if you’re looking for a practical webinar marketing strategy to test at your agency, this is where I’d start.
Ready to Take Your Agency to the Next Level?
I’m sharing what’s working as we scale Directive, including the strategies, lessons, and decisions behind our growth.
Connect with me on LinkedIn for more insights, or explore Agency Academy’s coaching and mentorship programs if you’re looking for hands-on guidance to grow your agency.
