Companies worldwide rely on event marketing to build brand awareness, increase sales pipeline, and improve customer loyalty. In fact, a Harvard Business Review study shows that more than half of business leaders say event marketing drives more business value than any other marketing channel.
In-person events can be especially powerful for driving this value. As digital noise increases, consumers are craving more human connection through face-to-face experiences. It’s no wonder why event marketing grows year after year.
The reality, though, is that event marketing — just like any other marketing activity — still has plenty of room to grow. (That’s one reason we love event marketing: As it grows, it keeps getting better.) And although it may sound counterintuitive, one way to grow your in-person event programs is by blending them with virtual event options.
Your first thought might be: How does that not hurt in-person event attendance? Hear us out.
When Salesforce began live-streaming parts of its annual Dreamforce conference, they sought to give people who couldn’t attend in person a taste of their massive event. Over the years, they’ve added more and more virtual experiences — which are broadcast for free — and yet their in-person attendance rates continue increasing.
Coachella, the music and arts festival that hosts 250,000 people, sold out in three days before it started live-streaming the event in 2011. When it launched ticket sales for the 2012 festival, it sold out in three hours.
I realize these examples are enormous, internationally known events, but the underlying message is the same regardless of event size or type: Giving your audience the option to attend virtually is another promotional tool. And we all know that better event promotion can lead to event program growth. It’s a way to improve visibility and gain attendees who either haven’t heard of your event before or just can’t make it.
Offering a virtual event option with your in-person event can drive growth in other ways as well. By streaming your event online, you can invite others who may not necessarily be your target consumer, but who could play a crucial role in your future events — potential sponsors, for example.
Think about the last time you, as an event marketer, considered an event sponsorship. Along with event goals, attendee demographics, and financial commitment, you likely also thought about the event overall, its vibe, and how it aligns with your company’s mission — outside of what you can find on the event prospectus. Attending the event in question is the best way to find out if there’s a mutual fit. Offering a virtual event option is a cost-effective way to share your in-person event with those who could be potential revenue streams.
Another audience that would find a virtual event option incredibly beneficial is your prospects. If you’re hosting any events for your current customers, like user groups, those can be powerful sales enablement tools. Prospective customers want to know you can support them in various ways. By giving them access to the virtual event option, you’re showing them what they could expect as a customer and boosting their confidence in their purchase decision.
While it’s clear how blending in-person and virtual events can offer great value to a company, it begs the question: What are some best practices to make sure the effort of doubling up leads to event success?
Just because having a virtual event option can provide value doesn’t automatically mean you should go for it. Like every other decision you make for your event marketing strategy, you need to first make sure a virtual option makes sense. Ask yourself: Will offering a virtual option help achieve one or more of our goals? If there’s no clear connection between a virtual option and your goals, it may not be worth the extra effort.
At the same time, offering a virtual option doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing thing. There are situations where it may make sense to host only portions of your event virtually. If you do decide to host a virtual option — whether the entirety or a portion of your event — decide what experience you envision for virtual attendees that will help contribute to your goals.
For example, let’s say you are planning to host a panel discussion followed by networking and a cocktail hour. You are part of a newer company, so your primary event goals are to increase thought leadership and build brand awareness. You recognize that the panel discussion would be an opportunity for both in-person and virtual attendees to learn from your experts and spread your brand’s message.
So you decide to offer the panel discussion portion of your in-person event to virtual attendees. What next?
Now is the time to start creating a cohesive experience for all of your attendees, and it starts with your event marketing technology.
Whether people are attending on-site or behind a webcam, you have opportunities leading up to the event to create a consistent and seamless experience. First and foremost: Find an event marketing platform that works as a single registration tool.
Working in only one platform will make your life so much easier by maintaining all registrations and attendee data in one platform. If you had two separate solutions, that’s at least two versions of your email invitation, two lists to maintain, two lists to upload into your marketing automation and/or CRM systems, two tools to manage actual attendance … do you see a pattern here? Do yourself a favor: Don’t entertain the two-platform option.
Beyond registration, using a single platform starts the connected experience for your attendees. You never want one audience to feel segmented from the other. And since your event page and registration form are some of their first impressions of your event, it’s important to keep them all integrated. A single platform will ensure that your company’s brand and event theme are presented beautifully and accurately to every single guest.
With your attendees now able to choose the event registration type that works best for them, you can begin planning the event-day experiences. Like I said above, the experiences should be cohesive, meaning they should be connected and work together. But they won’t be the exact same experience. One important thing you can do to further blend them is to enable interactions and engagement.
Here are a few ways you can help your in-person and virtual attendees connect:
In-person events have certainly proven their value in driving business results and satisfying consumers’ needs for face-to-face experiences. But like every other marketing activity, event marketing is constantly changing. Blending in-person and virtual experiences to create an event hybrid is one way event marketers can lean into this ever-changing operation, reach new audiences, and explore new growth.
