One of the biggest advantages of virtual events in marketing is the ability to reach multiple time zones around the world, which attracts new and bigger audiences for businesses. Not only do these virtual events benefit the organizers by creating an engaged community of attendees, but it also allows for a better ROI for both the sponsors and the exhibitors of that event.
However, when it comes to attracting relevant and new audiences, it takes a lot more than making investments in the right virtual event tech. While the right virtual event technology is there to make sure that all of the attendees have an engaging and memorable experience, that’s only half of the marketing equation.
The other half is full of promotional plans, marketing the event to new audiences, and making sure that the loyal attendees always return to such events.
The keys to building awareness and increasing the reach for virtual events are registration conversions, attracting a high number of people to the event, bringing in high-value sponsors, and ensuring a good overall ROI for the event.
Broad Target Audience
Most companies have an understanding of the people who attend their in-person events, which gives them a good idea of their target audience. However, that information also allows them to understand the motivations for why those people attend as well as where they’re traveling from.
When it comes to virtual events, companies have to take a similar approach to in-person events when it comes to identifying their target audience and why the business wants those people to attend.
If a company creates a targeted marketing campaign for virtual events, it’s able to maintain the quality of its overall visitor information, which can then help in attracting higher-paying event sponsors for future events.
That’s why learning about and identifying the extended digital target audience is so important, because it informs which channels the company should be targeting, which messages to use, and when to deliver content.
Promotion Timing
The timing of a marketing campaign is crucial because if a virtual event is promoted too early, the company risks losing the attention of the target audience, or even worse – annoying people with updates.
However, if it’s promoted too late, not everyone is going to have time to learn about the event and register to attend, which means there’s not going to be enough of a reach for the event.
A general promotional rule is to set up an event’s landing page about three weeks before the event itself goes live. That way, it’s far enough away from the event that potential attendees can add it to their schedules, but also close enough to the event that they can learn about the speakers.
