Webinars are still a valuable driver for brand authority

Webinars are a great way to increase brand reach, awareness, and build credibility. No wonder 95% of marketers say webinars are essential to their marketing strategies. And the team at SME South Africa agrees; webinars are still valuable in 2025.

SMEs across South Africa who follow the brand closely know that the monthly webinars have become a fan favourite, eliciting excitement and eager anticipation.

“Webinars are the ideal way to position your brand as an industry leader while also building relationships with potential customers,” says Maryna Steyn, editor at SME South Africa. “Feedback from our audience shows that these monthly events have immense value.”

During webinars, brands have the opportunity to have conversations that address the real issues. “Topics that provide actionable insight into the challenges that business owners face mean that measures and strategies can be put in place immediately after a webinar concludes,” she elaborates. “Live attendees can interact with the speaker through the Q&A, seeking advice for real challenges that they experience every day.”

Steyn shares that these real-time interactions help grow the relationship that exists between SME South Africa and its individual audience members. “They get to know us as a brand that makes an effort to understand their hurdles and bring them solutions; We become a trusted advisor about all things SME.”

Highlighting SME South Africa’s commitment to entrepreneurs across the country, the arsenal of tools that it offers includes software reviews, funding solutions, articles, downloadable reports and e-books, as well as downloadable templates to help businesses improve their operations.

Webinar branding

A key factor in making a webinar successful, especially for partner brands’ lead generation goals, is to pay particular attention to the details of these events. This means ensuring that the landing page to the webinar, marketing materials and even the presentation on the day contain all the relevant brand information (logos, key messaging and corporate identity).

“Conveying a professional appearance that aligns with our brand values of 'people, purpose, performance, and profit' is vital to us,” Steyn notes. “Webinars are both a promotional and educational tool. It communicates who we are and why we serve the SME community.”

The brand drives live engagement during webinars via polls and a live Q&A session. “This helps us deliver cost-effective results,” she adds.

Building an intimate relationship with your audience

“We have a deep understanding of our audience. Because of this, we are able to help brands reach their audience members who can benefit from their expertise. More than this, we can guide the audience to the brand through lead generation that isn’t limited to the webinar registration form. The recording is available on our website for anyone who may be interested.

Being introduced to a product, brand or solution by a reputable brand such as SME South Africa means that there is a measure of trust already involved.

“During the registration period of the webinar (the approximate three weeks of marketing before the webinar takes place), the event is promoted across all media channels, including social media and newsletters. We use this opportunity for lead generation and enhancing the overall customer experience, collecting insight and tailoring future webinars to the audience’s preferences.

“Some people might feel that webinars are a lot of work with no real value, but we have seen firsthand how invaluable they truly are. Whether it is receiving feedback through post-webinar surveys, or on the day engagement, our entrepreneurs are more than pleased by the quality of content – the over 450 registrations received on our most recent webinar can attest to it!