Virtual events are all the rage right now. The last couple of years witnessed over 1000% spike in demand for virtual events, mainly due to the effects of the pandemic on the event industry. Many individuals and businesses jumped into this space with all they had, hoping to get out from their reeling states. But not everybody hosting them is getting the desired results.
Are you thinking about taking your events online? In this post, we will show how event companies offering virtual event management services create a successful online event.
Let’s dive right in.
Set Your Goals
Online events are generally more singularly focused when compared to in-person events. With physical events, it’s possible to cater to multiple goals within one event. Conversely, you have to be clear about your top priority when creating virtual events. Here are some things that an online event can do for you.
- It can be an event for lead generation, where you are looking to grab as many leads as possible.
- You can try to gain revenue from an event through ticket sales or online registrations.
- Maybe it’s about brand recognition. An event that can get you the positioning you want for your business, product, or services.
- Maybe you are aiming to generate sales from the event. Not just ticket sales, but you want to sell your programs, services, or products to prospects.
- Another type of event you can put together is a continuing education event. Institutions and courses were closed temporarily during the pandemic. Many resumed via online webinars and virtual events.
In a live event, you can generally accomplish multiple goals simultaneously. With an online event, you have to define your top priority and structure your event around that. Once you’re clear with that, you can pick a secondary goal. For example, if you intend to create an event that generates revenue through registrations, you will have to do a lot more marketing than somebody looking for lead generation. It’s much easier to get a free registration than a ticket sale.
Marketing Your Online Event
You must adjust how much marketing you’re doing on the front end. You should also carefully price your event. People are less likely to pay more for an online event compared to an in-person conference. The best thing about a virtual event is that your overhead will be on the lower side. You don’t have to pay for the venue space, and that’s one huge chunk of the total costs that you generally incur with traditional events. Hence, your production cost is lower, and usually, you can afford to charge a lower ticket price.
The first step in marketing your event is finding the right partners. It can be easy to get many people involved in an online event, so you have to ensure they are qualified and experienced professionals.
For example, you might think that if you have a big-name speaker, your event will garner attention and bring in a lot of registrations. However, the big-name speaker might turn out to be reluctant to promote your event. In many scenarios, even if they say they would promote, they might not.
The right partner for you would be someone willing to do the work, use their visibility, and promote the event with you. For this, you should check out the micro-influencer space. They generally have a small but highly engaged following.
The third thing you’ll do is create your marketing assets. This will start with a landing page where people can go and register and affiliate links for all your partners and sponsors.
You should also send out well-written emails and ads that your partners can use to promote the virtual event. We recommend you provide them with templates for each partner’s social media posts, event graphics, and speaker-specific graphics.
Things That You Need to Produce Behind the Scenes
You also need a post-registration sequence that reminds your audience about the event, such as “Hey, thanks for registering. Here’s when it’s going to be. Here’s how to prepare. Here’s your link to join”.
Finally, you must have a nurturing conversion sequence. These are sets of emails that generate interest in people and gradually build loyalty. This sequence of emails shares your vision, explains who you are, provides great value, and makes your audience realize that they want to be associated with your event.
Conclusion
Be it a traditional event or a virtual one, you must be crystal clear about what you’re trying to accomplish to market your event well. Live events are great for selling high-end products and services, which is not generally the case with virtual events. However, virtual events can be great ways to present new knowledge and product enhancements, generate new leads, and build thought leadership within your industry.
