Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

I'm not sure there is a pat answer for your question. What works best in some instances might not work as well in others. Addressing your dilemma a priori is going to be all but impossible.

That said, your second argument seems like a low-risk option. You can always experiment once the white paper is out there and tested. But once you've released the webinar, it's out there and you can't very well reverse the decision.

Hope this helps.

Generally speaking (the operative phrase here), neither is a good lead generation tool. Of the two, webinars are better.

White papers are designed to either establish thought leadership credentials, or to deliver detailed information at some post-lead stage of the cycle. They satisfy but rarely create interest.

Webinars are simliar, and require significant time and attention--and often, isolation--to view. In your case, you're going to attempt to take something that people signed up to see (meaning, high interest level to begin with) and hope that a recorded version works to also generate that interest. I'm skeptical.

Here's an idea. Maybe you could take the existing webinar and wrap it inside a specifcally lead-gen framework. You'd have to invest in some new content, with plenty of opportunities for people to respond, and merge it with existing content from the webinar.

Summing up: since the webinar exists and even if it doesn't work there's no risk to you and little cost . . . it's the better choice.

I agree with the comment that neither the webinar nor a white paper is a great awareness tool, going by the traditional look at the customer awareness cycle. Awareness is the first stage, where both of these are more in later stages of providing details. A press release, advertisement, or other form of announcing the webinar or white paper would be a better initial awareness step.

But that likely isn't what you are looking for - what you want is leads.

To me it comes down to a few things:
- is the current webinar obsolete, such that a new one should be made to provide the most recent data? If so, then the old webinar should likely be deleted after the new one is made. The new one would likely get a push of new leads from those that want to check out what is new (and because in creating a new one, you likely would also do other forms of marketing that are more in the initial awareness arena to announce this new webinar).

- if not, I would likely add a white paper and keep the webinar as is (or still replace with new so you can get that initial rush again). The white paper would be another chance for people to find information about you (and in another form, which some may prefer over the webinar).