5 Powerful Product Launch Event Ideas
5 Powerful Product Launch Event Ideas
We all know that events are great for exposure, but they’re also a perfect way to show the world who you really are. Whether it’s a panel, virtual conference event or trade shows, events set the stage for exposure with an added human touch.
Product launch events can be a great tool to use in order to build interest in your new products and services. If done correctly, they can create immense excitement and hype around your products, leading to very positive PR, social media engagement, and credibility with prospective clients.
Companies can launch their product either through virtual event platforms or hybrid events platforms.
What are Product Launch Events?
A product launch is when a company brings a new product or service to market. A successful product launch starts well before the actual release date, and the effects of one will be felt long afterward. It will build anticipation, facilitate an initial influx of sales, and establish momentum that a company can expand upon.
With so many different creative ways to introduce your latest product, you can differentiate your product from the crowd and make an impact effectively.
5 Powerful Product Launch Event Ideas
Here are some of the best event planning tips for a grand product launch that in essence make it different from your average going away party though.
1. Create Buzz about the Event
Businesses have long recognized the value of using social media to announce a new product. Promoting such information creates excitement and connects your business with a larger audience, all while growing brand awareness.
2. Create Unique Hashtag
Encourage everyone at the event to use that hashtag when tweeting, posting or commenting about your event. Doing so will make it easier for followers to track what’s happening at the event and help you create buzz around your brand.
3. Organizing Contests
A well-organized and designed contest can be a great way to get people involved in your product launch. Encourage them to share their opinion or try to guess something about your product. Challenges are a great way of being creative when organizing contests for your products.
4. Do a Pre-Event Survey
As a host, you must be prepared with relevant data and information about your product. Get started with the pre-event survey and the results can give you answers to all those questions that have been on your mind.
5. Have a follow-Up plan
The launch of a new product is an exciting occasion and should definitely be celebrated. But, if you want to reap the maximum benefits from your product launch event, it’s important to follow up in the right ways.
As the necessity to accommodate remote and hybrid events grows, creating a memorable product launch event has become more difficult. However, that doesn’t mean you have to adhere to the same old dull tried-and-tested model that relies exclusively on your product to steal the show. An excellent product can be elevated with the appropriate buzz and become something that everyone wants.
If you are planning to host your product launch event through virtual or hybrid event platforms then there are some platforms like Dreamcast, vFairs, Almond Virtex, Hubilo, Airmeet that provide you with all-in-one solution for any and every event.
Virtual Events: 6 Ways to Reduce Your No-Show Rate
Virtual Events: 6 Ways to Reduce Your No-Show Rate
All events have a no-show rate—regardless of whether it’s in-person or virtual events. But sometimes, the no-show rate is higher for virtual events because your audience may not see the value of attending an event they can’t attend in person. Preventing no-shows is crucial to minimizing the number of missed opportunities but can be challenging in a corporate environment where powering off your laptop and walking away isn’t an option.
Why don’t people show up for events?
There are plenty of reasons why your no-show rate is high. Your attendees might have different priorities, or they might not feel a connection with the event’s topic. No matter what the case, you need to change this if you want more people to show up on time.
Here are six tips on reducing your no-show rate and ultimately having a better time at your events, no matter what.
Organize a Paid Virtual Event
A free event is easy to ignore. When attendees have no investment in the event, it doesn’t feel as valuable. This can lead your attendees to ignore or forget about your event. At the same time, your attendees don’t lose anything from not attending, so they may only participate if they get a reminder. This isn’t the case with a paid event. Attendees are more motivated to participate in the event and get their money’s worth.
Create FOMO
Creating FOMO (fear of missing out) is a popular way to market an event, mainly if there’s something particular drawing people’s attention. FOMO attempts to make the event attendees feel like they need to attend, or else they will miss out on something good.
One tried and authentic way of getting people excited about an event is the post-registration campaign, which will interest your current attendees while also reassuring them that they made the right choice. These efforts ensure that your attendees stay excited about the event, even after registering. Unlike pre-registration efforts, which often focus on building your website’s attendee list, post-registration campaigns are carried out exclusively on social media and email capture forms.
Virtual Event Bags
Goodie bags are a great way to acknowledge your virtual event delegates and give them a little something to look forward to once the event begins. Giving out goodie bags to your corporate event guests is not just cost-effective; it’s also an easy way to start engaging with your business network before your virtual conference actually kicks off.
For example, you could send goodie bags with essential promotional items and branded merchandise to your prospects before their virtual event; this is also called a lead nurturing tactic. Or you can use event bags as part of your event registration process by sending them out to your registered attendees.
Gamification
Learning is all about fun. But what if it could be a game too? If you’re following the latest trends in event marketing, you’ve probably heard the term gamification gets tossed around quite a bit lately.
A Gamification strategy is one of the best ways to get your attendees to engage with one another. And the good news is that there are a bunch of different types of gamifications in the virtual event platforms you can use. Deciding what kind you want for your event depends on your goals.
Live Polling and Q&A
Live polling allows you to interact with your audience during the event. Audience members can reply to questions, comment on content, answer polls, and even submit questions. Also, this feedback is available in real-time, so it’s easier to see what’s working and what isn’t as your event unfolds.
And it’s not hard to do – most virtual event platforms like Almond Virtex support these tools.
Personalized Event Content
Content planning is a big part of any successful event. Deciding which speakers to book, topics to cover and specific content you want to cover is critical to making the event successful.
Focus groups can help you understand and reach your audience more accurately. Focus groups are set up at many events to test and evaluate specific products or services. But why do that when you can ask your audience what they’d like from you? Focus groups will help you figure out what kinds of speakers would be most successful for your event, the types of content your attendees want the most and, depending on how you structure the sessions, what topics people would like to see covered.
How can brands market their product in Metaverse
How can brands market their product in Metaverse
We’re living in a golden age of virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. This enables brands to market their products much better than before. Marketing by virtual event platform means can offer a more cost-effective method for brands looking to reach audiences outside their physical locale. With the emergence of platforms such as Fortnite and Roblox taking advantage of this, it’s becoming more feasible than ever for brands to be not just a part of the conversation but leading it with new forms of advertising through immersive activities.
What is Metaverse?
The Metaverse is a term that refers to the concept of connecting physical and digital objects in a virtual space. Essentially, it helps us live outside the bounds of our earthly existence. It’s a revolutionary concept because it helps bring people closer together more effectively than ever.
A metaverse has many uses in marketing and business, but the most prominent one is advertising. If you want to know how to use metaverse marketing to build your brand and make money behind it, continue reading the information below.
5 Ways to Market Products in the Metaverse
Metaverse marketing is a new-age concept that allows brands to sell more than physical products, creating an immersive and engaging experience for their target audience.
The following are some of the ways brands can promote or sell their products in the metaverse.
1. Create Gamification Experience
Games will be a prime aspect of the Metaverse. As a brand, you have an opportunity to increase your presence and engagement through games. There are several ways to use games to build your brand presence – giving away physical rewards for playing games, providing rewards when avatars wear certain brands of clothing, and even implementing digital goods sales by selling virtual apparel items on a virtual marketplace.
2. Product Development Demo
In the world of e-commerce, product demo brings the power of virtual reality to one’s doorstep. Product development showcases in the Metaverse offer a new experience for global consumers. The 360-degree experience allows shoppers to visualize the products in 3D before making a purchase, which means they can learn more about the product and better understand its features. This translates to higher conversion rates and an exciting experience for customers.
3. Create a Community of Consumers & Influencers
Brands should create influencer communities, where these influencers can engage with customers across the globe under one metaphorical roof within the Metaverse. Their recommendations act as social evidence for your brand’s potential customers. For example, Prada announced its own virtual influencer ambassador, Candy, to relaunch their Prada Candy fragrance in their ReThink Reality campaign 2021.
4. Build Loyalty in the Metaverse
Brands should create loyalty programs in the metaverse where you can offer discounts or some rewards to audiences that not only engage them with your brand but also increase sales of your product in the real world. Don’t just focus on how you will get customers to buy your products – focus on engaging customers with your brand in the first place. Ensures that you get your customers to the next level by offering them immersive digital experience, unique content and other rewards that draw them back again and again.
5. Leverage Virtual Properties
Leveraging the influence of big influencers will help you raise your digital presence in the metaverse. If influencers have bought virtual land, brands can buy digital hoardings within influencer’s metaverse and also some brand integration.
Takeaways
Metaverse is the new marketplace therefore brands should start using it to promote or sell their products. Brands can extend to any location, product or even to the metaverse itself. In other words, if you have a project that involves a set of virtual properties — a product or service — then essentially ‘your’ Metaverse becomes your new shop front. In this regard, businesses can raise brand awareness and sell products as well as provide users with massive experiences using their digital assets.
There are few of Metaverse enablement companies in India such as OneRare, Almond Virtex, and LOKA that are using Metaverse platform to market their products and to increase brand visibility.
Build a More Diverse and Inclusive Candidate Experience with Virtual Recruiting
Build a More Diverse and Inclusive Candidate Experience with Virtual Recruiting
As competition for top talent becomes more intense, employers invest more time and money in the candidate’s experience. That’s because organizations that successfully create a great candidate experience will become standouts in today’s highly competitive market.
Virtual recruiting can play an increasingly important role in creating a great candidate experience as many participants are looking for more than just ‘just another job’; they want to learn more about the organization and be able to talk honestly with recruiters about the current state of their careers and the challenges they will face in each job.
Host virtual career fairs adding tools like Gamification in Virtual Event Platforms so that participants can connect with the content and become engaged. But before we understand how to improve the candidate’s experience, let’s clarify some basics.
What is Virtual Recruiting?
Virtual recruiting allows employers to reach far beyond their geographic footprint while providing a better and more engaging candidate experience. Also, it opens your recruiting strategy to a much larger, more diverse candidate pool, primarily if you recruit globally.
How does Virtual Recruiting Improve Candidate Experience?
Virtual Recruiting gives candidates more options, making the recruitment process more accessible. Imagine being able to schedule a virtual interview at any time and from anywhere using virtual recruiting platforms like Airmeet, Almond Virtex, Hopin, vFairs, that make your career fairs more engaging and informative and will attract more candidates.
Virtual recruiting events can allow candidates to vent their concerns and hear first-hand from employers why they should choose them to work. This can be especially useful for candidates who have a lot of competing offers and want to know more about an organization before making a decision.
How does Virtual Recruiting Support Diversity and Inclusion?
Recruiting through virtual event platforms can be a more personal and direct experience for a job seeker, meaning they can interact with an employer in several ways. Some of the reasons for which job seekers prefer virtual recruiting are mentioned below:
Geography
With virtual recruiting, you can reach diverse candidates even if you’re not in an area with a lot of diversity. This means that you may find more qualified candidates than job opportunities in your area and then reach those candidates with the ease of a video interview via multiple locations.
Flexibility
Virtual hiring events, recruiter sourcing, and online interview tools allow a broader range of people to attend your hiring events and help you avoid delivering a poor candidate experience due to logistical concerns alone.
Reach
A virtual hiring event allows you to reach a broader audience, extending more opportunities to a diverse group of people. Choosing the right virtual job fair to put on is a matter of deciding what kind of event will best reach your audience. Consider the size of your network and look at the general population and specific groups you would like to attract.
Accessibility
Candidates with physical disabilities or other constraints may not feel comfortable in roles that are within easy reach. Whether you operate a local or remote business, virtual recruiting events make it easy for all candidates to attend from a space where they feel comfortable and supported.
Sensory
Candidates need to focus on the interview and not on the environment. Virtual career fairs through virtual conference platforms are an excellent way to connect with a large number of candidates in a confined space and still manage distraction.
Key Takeaways
Virtual recruiting offers several benefits over traditional in-person recruiting events, but virtual interviews are only one part of the equation. Because you’ll be using digital tools to conduct those interviews, there’s an endless opportunity to improve your candidate experience through feedback capture and analysis.
While there’s no doubt that face-to-face interactions can be effective, they are sometimes not as cost-effective or time-efficient as other recruitment channels.
How can Brands Use Metaverse
How can Brands Use Metaverse
In a world where almost, everything is disrupted for use by the masses, virtual worlds are emerging as a new way for brands to access high-potential consumers. The metaverse allows global brands to enter spaces once only available to tech companies and other prominent cultural entities.
Consumer goods companies, media, sports and entertainment organizations, social networking service providers, financial services and insurance firms, retail brands, and virtual event platform providers are among the early adopters interested in Metaverse as a challenger to existing platforms and as a potential partner.
Brands can interact with their customers or channel partners virtually through metaverse platforms such as Exvo, Party Spaces, Almond Virtex 3.0 for immersive experience and real-time communication.
What is Metaverse?
The metaverse is a digital world that exists as an alternate reality or otherworld, and it is made of virtual representations of the real world and its inhabitants. The metaverse could be the next important step in advancing technology: it plays a critical role in bringing the human imagination to life.
How can Brands Envision the Potential of the Metaverse?
Brands are trying to reach younger generations already used to interacting with brands online. Metaverse is one place where brands can start experimenting with new methods of engagement and interaction with consumers.
Many brands will have to leave their usual marketing strategies and patterns to succeed authentically in the metaverse. Brands must forget about intercepting.
Here are some of the activities that brands can do in the metaverse to interact with customers and channel partners in new and innovative ways:
Create retail and shopper experiences within the metaverse with NFTs
Brands can now create realistic visuals and be owned and traded by consumers as an item in a virtual world. With NFTs, users can buy products, decorate their homes or store rooms within the metaverse, or even trade them like stocks.
Creating a branded experience within the metaverse is not only possible, but it can change the way brands communicate with their customers. An NFT could potentially be sold to users from the Ethereum blockchain, and the creator would then get a percentage of the sale every time an NFT was used in that product. This can incentivize creators to create more and build user trust for their brand using branded virtual assets (NFTs).
Empower influencers and customers to co-build experiences for other customers
Influencers, who have always been an essential tool for brands to tell their stories, are also considered a crucial audience in the virtual world. Influencers and customers can create virtual space within the brands’ metaverse that other customers will be able to access either directly or by invitation. They could also make their communities and businesses within the same brand metaverse, including companies unrelated to the traditional definition of brands.
These micro-influencers may have an audience they can influence through their qualifications, experience, and expertise. Metaverse is an excellent solution for brands looking forward to encouraging their consumers to interact with them on different levels.
Provide in-roads into the brand through Metaverse
With the growing use of smart glasses, digital marketing strategies and other platforms like metaverse and virtual worlds – engagements with brands are getting more interesting than before. Consumers and channel partners are actively engaging with their brands on these platforms and want brands to provide them with new product testing or even invite them over to their manufacturing plants.
Many businesses hosted hybrid events or virtual conferences to interact with audiences but now they are shifting to metaverse events.
Product training, onboarding, and real-time customer service
The metaverse can be used for various purposes, from product training to real-time customer service.
It’s a chance for brands to train new employees or channel partners about their products or services. Driven by AI and avatars, brands can provide global real-time customer service from their systems anywhere in the world. By creating a realistic 3D representation of a brand, it’s possible to showcase product features and use cases – a step closer to better customer engagement.
Onboarding employees is time-consuming and expensive, and it is also tedious, boring, and not engaging. Metaverse allows brands to organize their onboarding process in a way that is more engaging, efficient, and effective such as training onboarding employees (trainee) and then taking them through a 3D tour of the product/service while also giving them hands-on experience through games or interactive quizzes, real-time interaction with senior management, etc.
Key Takeaways
Metaverse is a new decentralized digital society built on the Ethereum blockchain that aims to enable all participants to own, control and exchange their assets individually. Those who can identify how Metaverse can be used in specific fields will likely have the edge over competitors who start with more general capabilities such as blockchain or e-commerce.
Also, the metaverse can be used to create brand experiences for customers, users and partners. In addition, it is also a good way to engage people with the brand’s values and actions.
In the last year or so, since it first burst onto the scene, NFTs have been gaining traction in the blockchain community. As NFTs get more exposure and influence, people tend to have lots of questions like how can NFTs change the landscape of the event industry when it comes to what this new technology can do for them.
The Evolution of Events and Experiential Industry: 2D, 3D and Metaverse Events
The Evolution of Events and Experiential Industry: 2D, 3D and Metaverse Events
With the evolution of technology, every aspect of our lives has been impacted, including how we receive and share information and how we see the world. Due to the abundance of gadgets and applications, the event industry has taken advantage of technology to communicate with visitors and promote events.
While virtual reality technology has brought many changes to the ways we live our daily lives, there is still a large space to be filled in creating a convincing and immersive metaverse. This is because combining all of the existing XR programs and tools into one place will likely experience it as one big open world instead of thousands of individual online games. With this understanding in mind, it allows you to decipher how people use these different types of technologies.
In this article, we will look at how technology has changed the event industry over the last few years and how the metaverse events are different from 2D and 3D events.
What is the difference between 2D, 3D, and Metaverse Platforms?
Understanding the difference between 2D, 3D, and Metaverse platforms is important. Let’s explore this concept and see how they differ to determine which one is better for you.
2D Event Platform
A 2D virtual event platform comprises a flat grid layout, which combines graphics and labels. The flat design leads the user through the space in an intuitive, step-by-step process. These event platforms offer users an online dashboard to organize their events, collaborate with other team members, send out invitations and RSVPs, track and manage the attendance, and more.
Some 2D hybrid event platforms such as Hubilo, Almond Virtex 1.0, Hopin, and Airmeet are web-accessible, making it simpler for participants to participate in the event from a desktop or smartphone.
3D Event Platform
3D virtual event platforms create a dynamic and engaging experience. With 3D virtual event platforms like Samaaro, Almond Virtex 2.0, and vFairs, you can retain your audience’s attention by creating life-like spaces in a virtual environment. These virtual or hybrid event platforms are meant to provide a full-immersion digital experience for an audience.
Metaverse Events
As the popularity and frequency of events continue to grow, many event organizers are looking for more ways to provide an immersive experience. The Metaverse provides a major opportunity for such events by incorporating blockchain, AI, NFTs, 3D designs, and other digital technologies to power the event platform.
Using metaverse event platforms like Almond Virtex 3.0, Exvo can be extremely beneficial in terms of security, transparency, and trust to the event organizers and attendees.
Why is there so much hype around Metaverse?
Metaverse seems to be the hottest thing in tech these days. Google, Sony, and other giants are jumping into this space with all kinds of ideas. And many people are now talking about a metaverse as if it would be another internet that works inside a virtual environment.
The metaverse — a simulated 3D environment that allows users to interact with one another and their surroundings — promises to be a game-changer for the events industry. As a utility, metaverse can be used as an effective way to communicate information and ideas and for education.
What’s next?
Can you imagine walking up to a keynote speaker or an industry giant on the other side of the planet and asking for advice or just chatting with them? The metaverse can enhance the digital experience of going to an event and lead to more spontaneity for the event-goers. Physical construction costs or building codes don’t limit the metaverse. You can create events with an unlimited number of rooms and meeting places so people can attend events or interact with other attendees seamlessly.
Organizations will use Metaverse gatherings to enhance their brand equity, drive social media engagement, develop new customers, expand distribution channels and generate new revenue streams.
Tips For Improving Attendee Networking At Virtual/Hybrid Events
Tips For Improving Attendee Networking at Virtual/Hybrid Events
As more event marketers choose the hybrid way, there is an urgent need to understand the power of networking and how it can be leveraged at hybrid and virtual events.
Engagement and networking go hand-in-hand
It cannot be denied that, when it comes to networking, most virtual/hybrid events are unable to do as well as in-person events. However, it is essential if event organizers are to create engagement at their events. Networking is what encourages dialogue and conversation and delivers value to attendees.
One of the reasons for the lower success rate of networking in virtual/hybrid events is that as long as the event is going, there are different mediums of communication. However, once the event finishes, there is nothing to connect on. In an in-person event, however, attendees have the advantage of water and bathroom breaks, breakout sessions, or just chatting post-event.
In one of our earlier blogs, we looked at the different ways to blend in-person and virtual events. In addition to blending, there are a few other tips that you can try to improve networking at your virtual event.
1. The Platform
The platform you choose determines your event’s success to a large extent. A good hybrid event platform, that has several ways and means to introduce networking between in-person and virtual attendees is what you need.
Tools like one-on-one chats with speakers, Q&As, surveys, polls, and a virtual lobby where attendees can chat up with anyone are at the top of the list.
2. The Design of Your Event
If you’re hosting an event that is designed in a manner where speakers come, deliver their content, and leave, you’re not going to succeed in your mission.
So, spend some time in designing your event in a manner that strategically includes opportunities for networking. Draw up an agenda for each speaker and make sure there is enough time for chats and dialogues in between.
On platforms like Almond Virtex, vFairs, Airmeet, Hubilo, you can make use of ‘breakout rooms’ to send your attendees into a single ‘room’ that facilitates group discussions.
3. The Accessibility of Your Platform
This ties back to the earlier tip we discussed. Not only should your platform have tools for networking, but it also should be easily accessible to your offline and online attendees. Certain virtual event companies have platforms that allow for wonderful networking between their in-person and virtual attendees.
4. Gamification
Gamification is by far the most effective way to improve audience engagement and generate conversations. Create teams that consist of virtual and in-person attendees and have a competition going. It’s going to be a lot of noise, fun, chatter, and networking!
5. Post-Event Networking
Once the event is done, don’t close communication. Enable your attendees to network even after the event is done. Make use of features such as breakout rooms and chat to continue dialogue.
It may seem daunting at first, but with the right planning, networking doesn’t have to be a challenge even in virtual environments.
Measurement of Event Satisfaction Using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Measurement of Event Satisfaction Using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Admittedly, planning and executing an event is a long and even arduous task. However, a lot of work still remains to be done once the event is done. In fact, most of the work related to an event happens after the end of the previous event. Today, with tracking and analytics, it is possible to evaluate and assess the success of an event and avoid repeating mistakes.
But what constitutes an event’s success or satisfaction? Is it growth in net promoter score (NPS), revenue generation, or better RoI? Here is where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) play a role. If you haven’t ever set KPIs for your event, then now is the right time to start. Work with your virtual event company to identify KPIs and work backward from there.
Let’s take a look at a few examples of KPIs that you can use to evaluate your event satisfaction.
1. Attendance rate
It’s not registrations or the ones showing interest that count. What matters is the number of people who said they would attend and actually showed up on the day of the event. It will reveal how many attendees were genuinely interested in your event and how many remembered to attend. If your attendance numbers are low, then you can work back to improve your promotional campaigns.
2. Social media buzz
Your event is incomplete without social media promotion. In fact, posting teaser videos is an emerging trend shaping the future of event technology. It is here that you can identify how audiences are engaging with your brand, their awareness levels, and their likelihood to recommend it to others in their circles. You can measure all of this through the changes in the number of followers, the likes, shares, views for your videos, and so on.
3. Sales revenue
The amount of sales you make can also reveal a lot about the effectiveness of your event, especially if you were looking for monetary gain. You can monitor this through the quantity of sales happening through different channels in response to promotional campaigns before and after the event. You can also look at whether the sales came in from new customers or repeat customers.
If you have a lot of new customers, then your event has likely succeeded in raising brand awareness. Repeat customers means good brand loyalty and a higher NPS. If your numbers are low, then you can think of new virtual event ideas.
4. Satisfaction
One of the reasons why any business would want to organize an event is to bring value to its audiences. And one of the easiest ways to measure this is to look at the overall attendee satisfaction.
Create an online survey that captures important information about the attendees, their likes and dislikes with respect to the event, their expectations from the future, and so on. All of this can serve as great preparation for your next event.
5. Publicity
If other businesses in the industry are talking about your event, or if it has been featured in the press, then you know your event did well. Media coverage can also help your brand find more awareness.
By using the right virtual event platforms like Almond Virtex, Hubilo, Eventcube, Airmeet tracking different event metrics for your KPIs will be a walk in the park. From your side, just be sure of the KPIs and leave the rest to the event platform.
Is The Market Benefiting From The Virtualization Of Real-World Events?
Is The Market Benefiting From The Virtualization Of Real-World Events?
Every time something new hits the market, the pain of making the transition from the old to the new is palpable. In a similar fashion, the event industry has had to move from the traditional way of conducting events to virtual and hybrid ways.
As is the case with most industries, new innovation always goes through its phases: starting from early adopters to growth to finally saturation. The so-called ‘virtualization’ of events that started probably even before the pandemic has finally found its rhythm for growth and expansion.
Virtual event companies are growing by the day and the business that they deal with might touch nearly $505 billion between 2021 and 2028. This figure could be arrived at if the market grows at a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.7%, a very good number by any means.
The birth of the end-to-end virtual event platform
When it first had to be done, virtual event planning was not on the top of any company’s list. However, today they don’t just serve as an alternative to in-person events, rather they have become a catalyst for businesses’ expansion and growth beyond geographical boundaries.
Virtual events enable businesses to touch new markets while maintaining strong engagement with their existing markets. Moreover, they can be organized at a fraction of the cost of in-person events. These advantages have spawned a wave of new virtual event platforms that offer everything from subscriptions to their services to bespoke event planning and management. This explains the massive prediction of $500 billion that we spoke of earlier.
Newfound tracking and analytics mechanisms
For the first time, marketers and event organizers can track attendee data and derive actional insights from it. This is a huge step-up for businesses to bring more smart and targeted marketing to their customers.
At events online, businesses can measure the engagement of the audiences by identifying when they responded more, which booths they interacted with, what type of questions they asked, and so on. This development has encouraged more event platforms to upgrade their analytics dashboards, sometimes even by partnering with specialist organizations.
The new place for networking
The whole purpose of in-person events has been to create networking avenues for their attendees. What’s interesting is that with virtual events networking can be even better, thanks to smart technology. Platforms like Almond Virtex, Hopin, Eventcube, Airmeet, Hubilo are quickly developing to include topic-specific chat rooms, crawl attendee profiles and match like-minded individuals, generate ice-breakers to get conversations started, and so on. This is yet another emerging trend shaping the future of event technology.
Marketing repository
Virtual events are quickly becoming repositories of marketing collateral. With so much information being exchanged in such a creative and interactive manner, businesses are employing the best video editors and content creators to curate this content and upload it to their websites to be made available to attendees later. Doing so also enables them to reach out to those who could not or did not attend the event – yet another effective way to tap new markets.
Moreover, virtual events are much cheaper and faster to organize and the saved costs and time can be used to better marketing efforts. At the end of the day, marketing is about getting creative and there is no better opportunity than hosting a virtual event.
Six Different Ways to Blend In-Person and Virtual Events
Six Different Ways to Blend In-Person and Virtual Events
For years now, events have been the go-to strategy for most businesses to improve their lead generation, engineer a sales pipeline, build brand awareness, and enhance their customer loyalty. Six out of 10 leaders believe that event marketing is the most effective marketing tool in their marketing mix.
Picture any in-person event you may have attended in the past and you will immediately remember the beautiful venue, the sponsorship videos, exhibits, coupons and other offers, interesting workshops, speeches, and the networking, of course.
After 2020, all of this moved to virtual event platform, but in 2022, it seems like the hybrid model (combining in-person and virtual elements) will be the mainstay for businesses.
However, what is the best way to make this happen?
We have not one but six ways in which you can blend in-person and virtual events. However, before we get started, remember that you must know the goal of your event. Only then will you be able to gauge the real need and effectiveness of blending virtual elements. It makes sense only if the blending of your in-person and virtual events is in alignment with your goals.
1. Stream your events
From music festivals and product launches to weddings and birthday parties, streaming events have become one of the easiest ways to promote an event to virtual audiences in different corners of the world. If your content is good and has always been, rest assured that people everywhere will attend. And that is the reason why big conferences like Salesforce’s Dreamforce have attendance rates that continue to soar.
2. Use good hybrid event technology
There are several hybrid event platform in the market now but you need to choose one that works with your strategy and goals. If that needs some research, account for it and get started early.
To make things easier for you, ensure that the platform has a single registration portal. Working with two separate lists is time-consuming and unnecessary.
In fact, a single page for all your audiences will serve as a good starting point to make them feel connected through the same event agenda, games, and interactions.
3. Engage with your audiences
Every event is an experience and while the in-person attendees are usually touted to feel it better, there is plenty of room for engagement even on virtual platforms like Almond Virtex, Airmeet, vFairs. What you need is to communicate with your service provider and together create opportunities in the form of chats, quizzes, interesting games, and so on.
4. Use social media extensively
If you are wondering how to use social media to advertise a virtual event, then we have news for you. You need to learn, fast. Nearly eight out of 10 attendees are on social media and you can leverage it not just to promote but also to foster that connection between your in-person and virtual attendees like we spoke earlier.
5. Use the same promotional material
A great way to bring engagement up is by distributing similar promotional content before your event and using it to ask questions, create polls and general conversation with your attendees. It could be in the form of blogs, pamphlets, videos, etc.
6. Continue after your event
Once the event is done, you must continue to hold conversations that engage both types of audiences. The event itself is a common factor and how you leverage it to attract your audiences matters. Share your event in the form of post-event snippets, audio, podcasts, blogs, and encourage your attendees to participate in dialogue.
Just like everything else, event marketing too, has changed. All you need is a little flexibility and innovation to catch up and make the most of it.
