We’ve all had to adapt significantly during these last few months, none more so than the networking and events industry.
In the past, we’ve talked about networking events being a really powerful place for small businesses to grow. So, as we went into lockdown you could have been forgiven for having a moment of panic about how you were going to cope without those vital networking opportunities and face to face connections.
Well, I think we can all agree that we’ve adapted somewhat. During this time, we’re sure you, like many other businesses have attended and benefited from the talks webinars and virtual events such as the fantastic accounting event – The Virtual Summit and the recent London Festival of Architecture. What they now have in common is an event that people worldwide can take part in – not just those in London.
So, the question is, do we see these virtual events continuing? If so, how do we get the message out there more widely when we’re doing our marketing so that attendance skyrockets?
Tips for marketing your own webinar
What virtual events have given businesses and networking groups is potential of a wider reach.
We love a networking group and have spent many a great session at the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) events with other amazing members.
We’ve all become much more adept to conducting business with colleagues and clients via screen. So as more and more of us look to create our own webinars as a way of talking about products and services, here’s a few tips to remember when setting up your virtual event.
Be clear on the event details
As with anything you are promoting, be clear about what your event is about. Just like any other marketing you want to be targeting the right people to attend to ensure that you have quality leads.
Promote on all digital marketing channels available
Promoting the event through all channels available to you is essential. So, from social media through to email marketing, obvious presence on the homepage of your website and reminding colleagues to all share details of the event to their network.
Create a marketing tool box
If you have other speakers on your panel then make sure they have marketing information from you. It’s one of those things you can easily overlook but it’s key to encourage people to share the relevant information. It also ensures that your event has a consistent look and feel. Make sure your panellists have the following:
- Share the specific event details so that everyone is saying the same thing
- Make sure all involved have the right website address for registering so they can share to their contacts. You can also ask them to use a specific trackable link
- Event images / videos – keep consistent. Ask people to use the images you supply
- Share the relevant social handles and hashtags to promote the event
Our client Symphony was a speaker at The Virtual Summit and the organisers provided a suite of images to use, sized per social channel as well as links. This meant that well over 40 speakers and their companies had the ability to share to their own networks at the touch of a button. This could be one of the key reasons that led to the event having over 14,000 registrations and over 4,000 tuning into our client’s session.
Segment email marketing lists
If you’re sending out email marketing, then remember to segment your lists so you know the different target groups and demographics. You can then personalise information sent so that by being targeted you are likely to encourage more sign ups.
Partner up
If you’re not too good with technology and think that working in partnership would be better for you then why not look at what networking groups such as LCCI have been doing. We’re proud members and had the privilege of running a session on growing your business through online lead generation. Therefore, perhaps you can approach a local business or join a networking group and see about getting your business on their fixtures of upcoming webinars.
Virtual events – the new norm?
Let’s address the elephant in the room, we don’t think this is the death knoll for physical events. We can safely say that the need for face to face contact and engagement still exists. However, we do see a shift occurring.
At exhibitions there’s often many streams of different talks happening simultaneously. So, you really have to pick and choose carefully. So, will we start to see seminars with more recordings being offered post event? This is a great way for marketing to continue after the doors have closed. By having information in a gated area, you can gather contact details to add to your database for ongoing communication.
However, this must not impact the numbers attending an event. So, there’s still a need for those exclusive happenings at summits and exhibitions such as the keynote speaker whose presentation won’t be available unless you attend.
Extend the reach of your business
We’ve talked about how a virtual event can help extend the reach further. This is the same for digital marketing. With 81% people conducting online searches for products and services, if you don’t already have a website now is the time to reach potential customers and clients. The website is at the centre of your online marketing strategy. This is something you own so that all your marketing can lead back to your website.
If you’re hosting a webinar a website is where you want to be holding all the details for it. By pushing all communication back to your website it helps with search engine optimisation (SEO) and will help boost your rankings in online search engine results.
We’re a digital marketing agency in Croydon, if you have any queries let’s chat further. Book a consultation.