There is no doubt that the entire marketing landscape has changed a lot recently, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, more and more marketers prefer virtual event services. These events are number 1 on their radar. But what is the reason behind the popularity of virtual events? Let’s find out.
Trends from the start of 2020 have shown that virtual events are smashing participation records, and there has been no decline in productivity. In fact, people are getting more competent at what they do! In the spring of 2020, the virtual summit held by Fashinnovation was attended by more than 120,000 people. This number is 60 times greater than the number of people who attended the physical event. In multiple industries, where marketers are hosting virtual events, companies are achieving great results. Read this blog, and you will find out why marketers love virtual event management services so much.
Why Do Marketers Love Virtual Event Services?
1. They Are Less Costly.
We’re sure you all know this already by virtual events cost a lot lesser to plan and execute than events that are held in person. Since no money needs to be spent on travel, venues, or hospitality, companies end up saving a lot from their budget. Consequently, the Return on Investment for virtual events is mostly significantly higher than for in-person events. More than one-third of marketers say that the average expense per virtual event attendee is only between $500 and $1,000.
Hence, companies can invest the money they save from their marketing budget or use it to plan even more virtual events. They can also use some portion of the extra funds for unique for fun virtual activities or gifts for event attendees.
2. They Link You to Prospects All Over the World.
Geography is always a limiting factor when it comes to in-person events, but virtual events can draw people from all over the world. Anyone with an Internet connection can attend a virtual event, regardless of where they are located.
If you are currently running a global business or want to start your own business soon, you can highly benefit from virtual events because they give you a chance to promote your ideas, products, or services. In addition, since virtual events connect prospects from all over the world, more knowledge is shared. Different opinions are conveyed, which can benefit everyone who is a part of the event.
3. They Enable Highly-Focused Conversations.
Since using an online event platform, is less expensive and allows you to attract people from geographically diverse areas, you can focus on niche topics to make your business much more profitable. Most in-person events just skim through the surface because the attendees all have different motivations.
With virtual events, you can focus more on what’s important and impress prospective customers with your in-depth knowledge. As a result, customers will be more serious about your product or service and more likely to purchase it or invest in it.
4. They Generate More Data and Insights.
Finding out how attendees experienced your event is 100% worth it and can allow you to meet customer expectations for a marketing campaign or your next event. When you hold an in-person event, it can be hard to tell how many people you are actually engaging and how many of those will actually turn into customers. Marketers who hold in-person events ask people to fill out surveys, but the entire process of analysing those surveys can be a big hassle.
However, with virtual events, you can get a closer look at how attendees engage with your event. Since every session and interaction during a virtual event is recorded, you can easily follow up with it later. The data and the insights collected can prove to be highly valuable to salespeople and allow them to follow up with prospects and marketers to develop new campaign strategies and hold more events in the future.
5. They Engage Prominent Speakers.
Finding great speakers for events is quite hard because such people are always in high demand. You may not even be able to get a board member, C-level executive, or VP from your own company if they have to travel a great distance just to be at your event. However, when you completely eliminate the need for travel by hosting an event on an online event platform, you open the door to several possibilities. For example, you might find it much easier to book a keynote speaker for a 90-minute session than a 2-day visit.
6. They Can Be Developed Faster.
If you need to let your customers and prospects know important information about a product or service in an interactive setting, a virtual event can be a great solution! You won’t have to spend months planning the entire event. There is no need to go about searching for venues, booking flights, arranging refreshments, etc. All you need to do is bring your customers together on a virtual platform and share what’s necessary!
Setting up follow-up conversations with customers is also quite fast. You can use and integrate appointment calendar technologies during your virtual event. As a result, you will be able to qualify leads more quickly and ensure they move through the sales funnel at a fast pace.
7. They Are Easier to Attend and Scale.
As we mentioned before, traveling for an even is quite a hassle, especially for busy C-level executives and board members or just about anyone that can’t make the time between home and family responsibilities. This is the reason why many people attend fewer in-person events than they want to. Today, however, with the development of so many virtual events, more and more people are attending events online and allowing their horizons to broaden.
Final Thoughts
As a marketer, you need to move at the pace of others in the same role as you. You need to be more accepting of online virtual events and do what’s best for your company and your customers. At the end of the day, all you need is more sales and for everyone to be safe (considering the pandemic).