Beyond Investor Updates: 10 Ways Financial Services Teams Can Use Webinars

When you think about webinars in Financial Services, investor updates are probably one of the first things that come to mind.

And understandably so. Webinars and webcasts give organisations a practical way to communicate important information to audiences wherever they are.

But that's only one use for them.

The same technology can be used for everything from educating clients to keeping internal teams informed. And not every event has to be a huge production either. Sometimes a focused 20-minute update is exactly what you need.

So, if you're looking at webinars as part of your wider communications programme, here are 10 ways you could use them.

1. Investor updates

Let's start with the obvious one.

Webinars are well suited to investor communications because you can bring presenters, slides, video and audience interaction together in one place.

Depending on what you're communicating, that might mean running the whole event live. Or you might decide to prepare some of the presentation in advance and broadcast it as Simulive.

The important thing is choosing the format that works for the event rather than assuming everything needs to happen live.

2. Market updates and commentary

Markets move quickly. Sometimes you simply need a way to get the right people in front of your audience without organising an in-person event.

A shorter webcast can work really well here.

Bring in one or two of your experts, focus on a particular topic and give your audience an opportunity to submit questions.

And remember, it doesn't necessarily have to be an hour long. If you've got 20 minutes of genuinely useful content, run a 20-minute webinar!

3. Client education

Some Financial Services topics aren't particularly easy to explain in an email or PDF.

That's where webinars can be useful.

Your specialists can talk through a subject properly, use slides or other media where they help, and answer questions from the audience.

You can also make the recording available afterwards, giving clients who couldn't attend live another opportunity to watch.

4. Product and service updates

Launching something new? Or changing something your clients need to understand?

Rather than relying entirely on written communications, a webinar gives you space to actually explain what's changing.

You can walk people through the important information, demonstrate something where appropriate and give attendees somewhere to ask questions.

5. Adviser and partner communications

Your external audience isn't always your end client.

Webinars can also be used to keep advisers, intermediaries, partners or other professional audiences informed.

That could be a product update, training session, market briefing or regular programme of shorter events throughout the year.

If you're communicating with the same audience regularly, this is where thinking beyond the individual webinar becomes particularly useful. A consistent format and familiar registration experience can make the whole programme easier to manage.

6. Internal communications

Not every Financial Services webcast needs to face externally.

Town halls, leadership updates, company announcements and internal briefings can all be delivered online, particularly when employees are spread across different offices or locations.

Access is obviously an important consideration here. If the information is intended for employees only, you'll want to think about how people access the event and who should be able to view it.

7. Training and professional development

Webinars also give you a way to bring training to people without everyone needing to be in the same room.

And this doesn't have to mean somebody talking over 60 PowerPoint slides!

Video, different presenters, polls, questions and downloadable resources can all help break up the session.

You can also make useful sessions available on demand afterwards, so the content continues to be accessible beyond the original broadcast.

8. Thought leadership

Financial Services organisations have a lot of expertise sitting within their teams.

Webinars give those people somewhere to share it.

Rather than making the event about your products or services, choose a subject your audience genuinely wants to understand and bring together the people in your organisation who know it best.

You could even invite an external guest and turn it into more of a conversation.

Keep it natural. Nobody wants to spend an hour listening to somebody read from a script.

9. Lead generation

Yes, webinars can generate leads too.

But we'd put the emphasis on creating something worth registering for first.

A useful discussion, interesting speaker or genuinely helpful session gives people a reason to hand over their details. From there, your webinar data can help you understand who registered, who attended and how people interacted with the event.

If your webinar platform connects with the systems your Marketing and Sales teams already use, that information can also form part of your wider follow-up.

Just don't make the mistake of turning every attendee into an immediate sales call. Give people something useful first.

10. On-demand content

Finally, don't forget about what happens after the live event.

A good webinar doesn't suddenly stop being useful because the broadcast has ended.

Make the recording available on demand. Pull out useful moments for social content. Turn audience questions into ideas for future webinars. Use the discussion as the starting point for a blog.

If you're running webinars regularly, you can also start building a library of useful content rather than leaving individual recordings scattered across different pages.

One webinar can go a surprisingly long way.

So, where should you start?

You definitely don't need to do all ten.

Start with what your organisation actually needs to communicate and who needs to hear it. From there, think about the format, the people who need to be involved and what your audience will find useful.

You might need a fully live investor webcast with several presenters and audience Q&A. You might need a pre-recorded internal update. Or you might simply need one expert and 20 minutes.

They're all online events. They just solve different problems.

At WorkCast, we support Financial Services teams running webinars, webcasts and wider digital event programmes, with options for live, pre-recorded and Simulive delivery.

Learn more about WorkCast for Financial Services