Webinars as Top of Funnel Product Demos
Shanna Leonardi, content manager at EditShare, on the webinar engagement process
This shows webinars acting less like a closing tool and more like a product demo that widens the top of the pipeline. At EditShare, the live event is mainly a way to get prospects to see the software, ask a few questions, and raise a hand. The real distribution happens after the event, when the recording is reposted on the blog, emailed through Wistia, and gated through HubSpot for additional lead capture.
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EditShare runs webinars roughly monthly, treats them as product oriented awareness content, and has barely used them for middle funnel nurture. Product webinars draw the strongest signups, with 80 to 90 registrations and roughly 30% live attendance.
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The recorded webinar matters more than the live session. EditShare sees about 10 times more post event engagement than live engagement, then republishes the recording on its blog and uses Wistia plus HubSpot forms so viewers can watch part of it before submitting their email.
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This fits a broader pattern in webinar software. Wistia sees webinars as usable across the funnel, but says the most common positioning is middle funnel, while also emphasizing that customers already upload webinar recordings for on demand viewing, lead capture, editing, and analytics in one workflow.
The category is moving toward webinar systems that treat the live session as raw material for a longer running content and lead engine. The winners will make it easy for a small marketing team to run an event once, turn it into clips, blog embeds, gated replays, and follow up data, and keep collecting intent signals long after the calendar invite ends.