What Accounting Marketers Can Learn from Smarter Webinar Strategy

Webinars have become a cornerstone of modern accounting firm marketing. But as attendance grows and expectations rise, many firms are discovering that their old platforms can’t keep up.

If your webinar process feels clunky, time-consuming, or disconnected from your growth goals, you’re not alone. In this episode of Amplify, Meg Hoevener, Marketing Manager at McGuire Sponsel, sits down with Lindsay Sherrill of Schneider Downs to talk about how her team transformed their webinar strategy—and what other firms can learn from their experience.

Why Schneider Downs Switched from GoToWebinar to ON24

Before the pandemic, Schneider Downs was already exploring new webinar platforms. But when COVID hit, the need for a more reliable, scalable solution became urgent. Their existing platform, GoToWebinar, was plagued with technical issues—from polling glitches to attendee caps—and lacked automation for CPE tracking.

“We were turning around webinars in 48 hours,” Lindsay said. “We needed something predictable and easy to use.”

After evaluating several options, including Zoom, WebEx, and event platforms like Cvent, they landed on ON24. The deciding factor was based on their main concern of automating the CPE process.

Automating CPE and Scaling Engagement

For a firm like Schneider Downs, it was important for them to be able to automate the CPE tracking, especially when they were having 800 attendees in some cases. Some firms use webinars as not only a business development strategy, but also as a client relationship strategy. It becomes vital to have the automated reporting to support those efforts.

Getting Buy-In from Presenters and Attendees

Switching platforms can be daunting, especially for presenters. Lindsay’s team tackled this with hands-on training, pre-event walkthroughs, and a strong support presence during every webinar. “We’re always online in the background,” she said.  She also emphasized the importance of training the presenters up front. A presenter will be more at ease if you show them what the attendees see, give them familiarity with the platform, and remind them that, when on camera, attendees probably aren’t focusing on their video square.

Lessons for Accounting Marketers

Whether you’re running webinars for 20 people or 1,000, Lindsay’s advice is clear: Be prepared, train your presenters, and choose a platform that supports your goals—not just your current process.

Listen to the full episode of Amplify: “Webinars That Work: How Accounting Firms Can Drive Growth with ON24” on our website, on YouTube, here or wherever you get your podcasts.