Webinars are a great way to bring together hundreds of potential customers, with 61% of marketers now using webinars within their content marketing strategy. In 2020, video calls broke out into the mainstream, with everyone and their mums on Zoom for family quiz nights. With video tech so widespread, the webinar is very much here to stay.
Not quite ready to choose a platform but want webinar support? Check out our guide to running a successful webinar here.
HubSpot knows the value of webinars in a marketer’s content strategy, and the HubSpot App Marketplace offers no less than 5 native integrations to help you host the perfect HubSpot webinar:
Read on to learn the benefits and drawbacks of each, and get our verdict on the best best plug-in to choose for your next HubSpot webinar.
The one true winner of the 2020 lockdown, Zoom has the video call market tied down - and you won’t be surprised to hear that they’re pretty good at webinars too.
Zoom has three standard pricing tiers, which give you all the basic features you’ll need to host a HubSpot webinar. If you’re a smaller business looking to host short, snappy tutorial style events, the free version allows you to host 100 participants (including the hosts) for free - but you have a 40 minute time limit.
The best feature of Zoom’s webinar plug-in, however, is in the backend. Zoom will automatically build a sign-up workflow for you, meaning that once someone signs up for your event, they will get a confirmation email, a calendar link, and reminder emails automatically.
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Our verdict:
HubSpot’s Zoom webinar app is a great, all-inclusive offering. Use this if you’re new to webinars, or looking to host small-medium sized events. If you’re planning for thousands of attendees, however, you may need to look elsewhere.
Another popular webinar tool, GoToWebinar easily plugs in with HubSpot landing pages, and integrates data between both platforms, meaning you won’t have to export .csv files from one platform to the other.
There are 4 pricing tiers to choose from with GoToWebinar, and the top-tier ‘Enterprise’ option allows you to host a whopping 3,000 participants in your webinar - great for larger organisations looking to host big events.
The real stand-out feature of GoToWebinar’s HubSpot app is the depth of the offering provided in all pricing tiers. Even in the most basic ‘Lite’ package, you can host polls and Q&As, get automated emails to improve your sign-up process, and have access to custom branding, meaning emails will match your own branding and not GoToWebinar’s.
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Our verdict:
GoToWebinar is a great platform for larger organisations, businesses looking to host regular events, and those who need larger attendee capacity. If this isn’t you, then you’re going to pay a lot of money for unused functionality.
ClickMeeting is a webinar tool that’s best for smaller organisations looking to create workshop style events.
With three packages to choose from, ClickMeeting is a more limited HubSpot webinar plug-in for panel-style events. This app really comes into its own for interactive sales and eLearning webinars with small audiences.
One particularly helpful feature of ClickMeeting is its availability across HubSpot packages - you can install this app on the free version of HubSpot, which highlights its usefulness as a tool for smaller organisations.
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Our verdict:
If you’re a small business looking to host live sales-style events or short eLearning sessions, then ClickMeeting is for you. Otherwise, you should look elsewhere.
A simple and intuitive plug-in, WebinarGeek is a good all-rounder for businesses who plan on running small, regular events.
There are 2 standard pricing plans and a flexible custom plan. The Premium plan has some nice features, including a moderator dashboard for up to 3 people to easily access questions and comments during the event.
You can also include assessment tools for viewers to pass if you’re planning on running eLearning events.
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Our verdict:
WebinarGeek has a nice range of features, but the starter tier is very limited, allowing only 25 participants. This is a good tool for those who want to run small events regularly.
The big dog of the HubSpot webinar app world, WorkCast has it all… but will set you back a few quid.
To keep it short: WorkCast has all the best features of the plug-ins above, including automated workflows, customisable branding, and the range of webinar interactivity the others boast, plus more.
A particularly cool feature is WorkCast’s ‘Simulive’ events. This feature allows you to air pre-recorded events, which feature live engagement (including a live intro and outro, as well as polls and Q&As) - meaning you can potentially rerun pre-recorded events for different audiences.
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Our verdict:
WorkCast is the most complete HubSpot webinar app, but it’ll cost you the most to use. If you’re going to take advantage of it’s wide-ranging functionality, then this is the plug-in for you. If not, consider one of the cheaper options.
These 5 HubSpot webinar apps give you a great range of functionality to suit pretty much all purposes. Ultimately, the one you choose is down to your needs. As a general all-rounder that will suit most, Zoom is the winner for us. If you’re looking for the tool with the best functionality, then choose WorkCast.