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Building Real World Business...Virtually
December 06, 2007
By Brent Arslaner
Today's virtual events are multi-faceted, easy-to-use, highly interactive, offer a realistic experience and deliver rich marketing intelligence. Technologies have advanced to the point where virtual events look and feel remarkably like their physical counterparts, while delivering similar knowledge-sharing and personal interactions through the following features:
• Live Conference Sessions: Keynotes, breakout sessions and panel discussions are delivered as if the attendee is there in person, complete with real-time interaction.
• Exhibition Floor: Sponsor and exhibitor booths offer collateral, product demos and live interaction between sponsors and visitors.
• Professional Networking: Combining the most business applicable capabilities of web 2.0 and social networking enables virtual attendees to search for people with similar interests in order to meet and develop professional relationships.
All of this is delivered via the internet with no special applications to download, no avatars to dress up and no new commands to learn. Using only their web browsers, attendees click a link and can simply navigate the virtual environment with their mouse.
Why Go Virtual?
People attend events for three reasons: 1) gather information and gain knowledge; 2) network with others; and 3) for the location. A virtual event can deliver on these objectives just as effectively as a physical event.
For attendees, it is much easier to gather information without a "booth vulture" physically pressing you for a business card. In fact, the majority of attendees are more apt to interact with an exhibitor, speaker or another attendee online than in person because a different set of social mores apply. New technology, including the most business-applicable elements of web 2.0 and social networking make it easy for professional networking to occur in virtual events.
As for location, when resources or time are constrained, there is no better location to attend an event than from the convenience of your own office. In fact, it is interesting to note that many virtual event organizers see many more C-level executives than at a physical show, where popping in for a couple hours is simply not an option.
Pre-Event Imperatives: Content, Promotion & Participation
Just as with physical events designed to draw leads and drive business, best practices for virtual events revolve around delivering compelling content, successfully promoting the event and securing the right audience.
Content is King
Perhaps it goes without saying that you must formulate an agenda that will attract your intended audience—both attendees and sponsors. The best content delivers value to your audience, and isn’t simply a marketing pitch.
While it is wise to begin lining up speakers early, one of the many upsides to virtual events is that it is much easier and cheaper to have speakers appear virtually than to ask them to travel. It is best practice to schedule compelling content throughout the day—putting all your best speakers in the morning may deter attendees from staying for the entire live event. And, it is very important to leave breaks between sessions to encourage attendees to visit the exhibit hall.
Promotional Prowess
Promoting the virtual event is vital. For attendees, mapping your promotional campaign to
event content is most effective. Emphasize keynote speakers, session topics and your sponsors. The usual arsenal of promotional tools should be leveraged, including web sites, newsletters, banner ads, e-mail signatures on company e-mails, direct mail, print ads, etc. Always start with your own email lists, as well as those from partners, before buying targeted commercial lists.
In your online outreach, use an event registration page or micro-site as the landing page when prospects click through to details on the virtual event. Because a long registration form can be a barrier to registration, keep the process simple by asking for only basic business card information and no more than three qualifying questions. Remember, you can collect additional information during the event using surveys, polls, live Q&A questions and interactions at exhibitors' virtual booths.
As always, it is best practice to track your campaigns in order to understand which tools are producing registrants. Your service provider should offer campaign tracking tools to simplify your job and support the promotional process.
Successful Recruitment
Virtual events are an emerging market, so educating sponsors is crucial. Best practice includes the creation of marketing materials to educate sponsors before recruiting them. Work with your service provider to train your sales staff on selling virtual sponsorships and ask them to supply sample sponsorship packages and sales tools, including a pre-show Web site and an interactive Flash sales demo.
Organizers shouldn't shortchange themselves in approaching sponsors, as virtual event
packages can be just as lucrative as those for physical events. As with physical shows, virtual conferences can be monetized in multiple ways—sponsors for the entire event, locations within an event or white papers area can all be sold. Remind sponsors that benefits include not only lead generation, but also branding value and visibility.
Live From the Virtual Show Floor
The organizer's top priority during the virtual event is to drive high-quality leads to sponsors. By keeping sessions to 30-40 minutes, you'll give attendees time to walk around, answer email or most importantly, go to the virtual exhibit hall. Another way to drive traffic there is to push a link on the screen after a session concludes, which sends attendees directly to the session sponsor's (or speaker's) booth in the exhibit hall.
In order to maximize leads per sponsor and lead qualification, entice attendees to provide more information with polls and surveys. Leverage professional matchmaking to automatically connect attendees with sponsors based on interests and experience. These types of activities produce a wealth of valuable information that is difficult to obtain from physical events.
In the virtual booth, the goal of the sponsor is clearly to convert leads into sales. To do so, virtual booths must be adequately staffed. Fortunately, booth duty at virtual events simply means asking co-workers to spend time at their computers chatting with booth visitors about their interest in your solutions. Booth staff should also take care to point visitors to downloadable white papers, or datasheets or other collateral that reiterate key points.
It's Not Over When It's Over
Virtual technology is not only useful prior to an event, but also long after an event has concluded. Presentations and collateral can be archived to play "on demand," providing an ongoing destination for attendees and sponsors. This offers an added convenience to attendees or to those who were unable to attend, while generating even more leads for sponsors. In fact, the on-demand period typically generates 25 percent of total leads.
Service providers should offer online tools that rank actionable leads to maximize value for sponsors. For example, hot leads may go to direct sales, medium leads to telesales and cool leads to marketing for further nurturing. Service providers should also help sponsors generate reports that demonstrate ROI, and produce detailed prospect profiles and preferences. And as always, it's smart to conduct a thorough ROI analysis that compares the upfront plan to actual results.
Evaluating the Virtual Value
Clearly, corporate events are organized to produce leads and generate business for the organizer and the sponsors alike. Today the marketing data that comes from a virtual event is the richest available because the anonymity of prospects evaporates. Sponsors receive detailed marketing data about attendees, including what presentations they attended, what booths they visited and what questions they asked.
For the host, virtual events are a more economical way to bring thousands of attendees to an event. Fast time to market and attendance by senior-level decision makers are also attractive advantages.
For attendees, the benefits are clear and simple. They gain access to valuable information before, during and after an event. Even if they can’t attend in person, they are afforded the opportunity to learn and network through virtual participation.
If you understand and follow the best practice "rules," virtual events are a win-win proposition—they not only provide a unique, cost effective alternative or extension to a physical event that demonstrates innovation and leadership. And, as professionals in the business of building business, a virtual environment can extend reach in a highly measureable manner.
Brent Arslaner is Vice President of Marketing at Unisfair.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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