Event Marketing

So much has changed in the way we do events since the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual and hybrid formats have become the most popular choices to conduct events. This is a major shift that requires transitioning traditionally live and in-person events to a digital setting. Given these major changes, companies need to re-evaluate their event marketing strategy post-COVID-19 to ensure the success of their events. Here are some things they need to do.  

Adjust accordingly. Strategies are derived from a given set of data at a specific time. But since things have changed drastically over the last few months, they need to adjust their strategies based on the new data at hand. Re-target event marketing campaigns based on the most recent insightful data that they’ve collected.

Reallocate budget. For live, in-person events, a big chunk of the budget goes to the venue, food and drinks, booths and printed materials. But since these expenses are all eliminated in virtual events, they can reallocate the unused funds to digital apps and tools since virtual events rely on technology 100%. Invest in a digital event marketing strategy – SEO, email marketing, social media are expected to become a major part of your B2B event marketing.

Bounce back. After designing a new event marketing campaign, companies need to ensure they offer a high-value experience for their virtual attendees. Reach out to them in various digital channels and provide all the information they need to know. Address all factors that would hinder their full participation and inhibit a valuable event experience. Customize content to fulfil their business agenda.

Major changes in the event industry ask event planners to re-evaluate their event marketing strategies to align them with the new scheme of things. Re-evaluating strategies is very important to know if you’re getting closer to achieving your business goals and what adjustments need to be done to put you back on the right track.

Now that virtual events are becoming the norm in the event industry, event organizers have to think of ways on how to elevate the event experience in a digital setting. Many people think of virtual events as boring webinars. We need to debunk this misconception because there’s more to virtual events than those monotonous and dull video conferences.

Here are some tips on how you can offer exceptional virtual events.

1.       Use the right platform for your event. There are various digital event platforms out there. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses. Know what you need so you can decide which platform to use. Some events are okay with a streaming app while some may need more tools to incorporate elements of the live event into the virtual event. 

2.       Create engaging content. It is easy for your remote audience to lose interest, tune out, or leave your event once they feel like it. Make sure you offer quality content – choose captivating speakers, optimise the use of visuals such as videos and slides, and keep the presentations under 20 minutes to maintain their focus. 

3.       Mix it up. Use different formats such as live broadcasts, pre-recorded videos, roundtable discussions, and then breaking out into small group sessions. This will shatter the monotony and keep your audience engaged all throughout the virtual event.

4.       Personalize the event experience. Take the time to know your attendees. Then create event agendas according to each category. Offer different sessions and options so they can choose which one suits their business agenda. You can also make meaningful networking happen to enhance their event experience.

As an event organizer, you need to constantly think of fresh and exciting ways to engage your audience. Your connection and engagement with your audience will make your event stand out. 

Thanks to the resilience and resourcefulness of event managers, business events found a new platform using the digital setting. Now that events can continue offering a viable marketing strategy for businesses, the challenge for event managers is how to market their virtual events.

The coronavirus pandemic has changed how? when? and where? event managers can reach their target audience. It presented new challenges and different ways to market events. Here are some ways event managers can market their events amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

1.       Content Creation – Live events are more expensive. Event managers can enjoy the financial benefits of going online. They can reallocate their budget to create exceptional content. Content is king. It reigns supreme. The juicier the content, the easier it is to market the event.

2.       Social media and Search advertising – There is a high demand for these digital marketing platforms for event managers to reach their target market. These are proven to be cost-effective, flexible, and measurable – giving event managers immediate feedback regarding their event data.

3.       Influencer Marketing – Influences can encourage exhibitors and attendees to join your event. Consider getting the services of influencers who will talk about how important your event is and its impact in the industry. Testimonials of respected and admired personalities can convince people to register to your event.

4.       Tap into Technology – Digital events need digital solutions. Event managers can use technology and social platforms to market their events. They can use apps allowing live interactions to connect with their audience and offer personalized event experiences.

Event marketing in the time of COVID-19 asks event managers to adapt and innovate their marketing strategies to be able to reach their target audience effectively. This is the key to sustainability in the event industry. 

In light of the Coronavirus 2020 pandemic, most shows and events are either postponed or cancelled. This is a huge blow to event organisers who’ve invested a lot of time and energy to put things in order.

Tickets holders anxiously await advice if the events will push through and when or if they still want to attend at all risking contact with possible carriers of the virus. With the exhibition on hold, the exhibitors’ marketing strategy is also on standby. Precious time is lost and ROI is uncertain.

Is There Any Solution?

Brace yourselves because O2OEvents has the solution! The shows will go on! You ask how? We take the conferences and exhibitions online.

How Could An Event Happen During Current Circumstances?

Event organisers should be O2O Ready. When you’re O2O ready, you’re CoVid-19 ready!
You’re immune from infectious diseases like what the dreaded Coronavirus brings. You can hold your event in a safe environment, uninterrupted by what’s going on in the outside world.
O2OEvents offers a secure platform for your events. It is the digital solution that the event industry needs right now. It’s no surprise that the event industry has taken such a huge blow from the CoVid-19 pandemic. People are advised to stay indoors and avoid social gatherings.
O2OEvents responds to this current situation by offering fully virtual trade shows. Since the people can’t go to the events, O2OEvents has found an ingenious way to take the event to where the people are – right at the comfort of their homes.

What Do We Offer?

Those who are concerned about the event experience being limited need not worry. O2OEvents assures everyone – event organisers, exhibitors, and attendees, that they’ll feel the real exhibition experience and have access to a real business platform making it a win-win situation for everybody. It is powered by cutting-edge technology which helps us offer a personalized event experience for visitors. We have an excellent event marketing and engagement platform that assures businesses of higher revenues given our smart B2B and B2C matchmaking.

What Event Tasks Could Be Managed With O2O?

Everyone can enjoy the full spectrum of O2OEvents products and services from event registration, ticket sales to meeting scheduling, meeting management, smart matchmaking, smart B2B meetings, visitor intelligence, the marketplace, and multilingual communication for a successful event management solution. If anything, we can only assure you that the event experience is just going to be even better with all the elements in a tradeshow combined with lightning speed, real-time video and audio communication, and advanced data sharing technology.

We can’t wait to see you in our virtual trade shows!

Our world is getting smaller. With developments in transportation, it’s easy to go from one place to another, even when we’re talking about the other half of the world. Communication technology has made it easier for people to connect with each other no matter where they are. Event managers can make use of these advancements in transportation and communication to make their events accessible worldwide.

You can go two ways about it. First, hold an international conference and invite attendees from different parts of the world. Or you can choose to live stream your event so that more people all over the world can view it.

Global Meetings and International Conferences

Holding an international conference can be more challenging. There are many things to consider – the destination, travel, accommodation, budget, requirements, and most of all, the culture in your chosen location. As the event manager, you’ve to think about the convenience of travel for your attendees and making your global event cost-effective. Of course, the safety of your participants is always your top priority. You’ve to make sure there are no medical outbreaks, severe weather, or any serious threat to the security of everyone who’s joining the event. Despite the challenges, global meetings and international conferences are still viable options. The idea of traveling, especially to a nice destination, encourages other people to join the event. They can travel not just for business but for leisure as well. It’s still a golden opportunity to have everyone in one place and meet different kinds of people face to face. 

Live Streaming Your Event

If you really want to make your event accessible to a lot of people worldwide, then live streaming is the way to go. It simply means that you transmit a live feed or video of the event that you’re holding on the internet for other people to see.

Advantages of Live Streaming

There are so many uses and benefits of live streaming your event.

1. Huge Audience Potential

Your number of attendees won’t be confined to the maximum capacity of your venue. Now, thousands and even millions of people all over the world would be able to view and experience your event. This in itself is a huge factor. When you’ve got a larger audience, you’ve got a bigger customer base.

2. Engage More Attendees

Live streaming allows you to know how responsive your viewers are to the content that you present. You can engage them via chat, polls, feedback surveys, and you can even think of other creative ways for them to join the sessions. You can also create a virtual community that’ll facilitate networking opportunities for everybody.

3. Budget-friendly

There are live streaming apps that you can use for free. Attendees from the other side of the world don’t have to spend on flights and accommodation. The logistics is much easier to manage, it saves time for everyone, and when you consider the costs involved, they’re much lighter on the pocket.

4. Increase Your Revenue

You can contact sponsors who want to advertise their products and services during your live streaming. This’ll provide you with a source of additional event revenue. Aside, of course, from your opportunity to promote your own products and services to a bigger audience.

5. Event Marketing Strategy

Live streaming is an event marketing strategy. When your virtual attendees see how engaging the event is, there’s a probability that they’d want to attend your future events in person.

Live Streaming Apps

There are different platforms for you to feature your event live to your audience. You can go live on Facebook or Youtube. Livestreaming on these social apps are free. Make sure you use the right keywords and hashtags so that your followers can easily find your event. Open Broadcaster Software and YouNow are also free. For paid apps, there’s Live and XSplit.

Depending on the app you use, you’d be able to feature your event in HD, make it compatible across different devices, reach a huge audience potential, send out invitations for viewing, and engage your viewers via live comments. That’s why it’s important to test out these apps for yourself to see if they’re a good fit with what you need for the live streaming of your event. Run a demo off the air so that you can test your camera, audio, and bandwidth. Check the features using different devices so that you know how your event would look like to various viewers and the possible concerns that could arise when using these apps. You want your viewers to have a great experience watching your event so make sure you’ve got all these covered.

Wrapping It Up

Making your events accessible worldwide is now easier. You can hold global meetings and international conferences or you can opt to have a live stream of your event. Whichever method you choose, it is exciting to know that your event can now be experienced by many people across the world.

Event planning involves different types of skills that event planners need to master in order to be successful in the industry. The work isn’t easy. Every step of the way needs to be treaded carefully or else, all efforts put into the planning will go to waste. Nevertheless, there are still those who consider entering the business.

Choosing to be an event planner

There are many reasons why people want to be an event planner. For one, there are those who think that this is a glamorous job. They think that event planning would give them a bigger connection and influence in any industry.

There are also people who simply have a passion for event planning and they want to make a career out of it. Of course, let’s also not forget those who simply want to try it out for the experience. No matter the reason, one thing is for sure – any person who wants to enter the event planning business would want to stay on top of their game. They don’t want to fail and they want to be recognised above all. But in an industry that is very competitive, how do you usually stand out? How could you make yourself popular and how could you be a leader? Here are some ways that’ll truly make an impact.

• Be unique

Sounds easy, right? But really, very far from it. In a world where people might’ve seen it all already, creating an event that is the first of its kind is a tough job. This is where the creativity of an event planner should come in. An event planner should be to create something new that’d be a breath of fresh air to both attendees and exhibitors alike. It can be in the form of venue design, program arrangement, or even the breathers incorporated in the event that you’re going to organise. But whatever that is, it should make an impact and it should retain subliminally in the minds of the event participants. Together with this, you should be able to leave your signature behind. With one glance, this will remind people who attend your events over time that this is your work and will allow easier name-recall whenever necessary.

• Know how to adapt in the face of change

Nothing is permanent in this world except change. Cliché may it be, but this has never been more true in event planning. As an event planner, you should be able to stay on top of the latest trends, be able to embrace it and make it yours. It goes without saying that event planning is very dynamic and we don’t only mean the actual process of coordination. Different styles get old easily as new technologies are being discovered to make everything easier, smoother, and faster. If you’re not open-minded enough to improve your planning style with these changes, you’ll get left behind. This is why it’s important to stay updated. Research a lot and attend seminars about your craft whenever possible. Learn from colleagues and always go out of your comfort zone.

• Continuously improve with your clients

The only way you’ll learn and improve is by knowing where you’ve gone wrong. Who better to tell you that than your customers who’ve experienced firsthand what you have to offer. It can hurt sometimes, yes. But being able to accept constructive criticism and doing something about it is the best way to climb to the top. This can also give you an idea of what doesn’t work so you can continue to improve your succeeding events. Do this by getting customer feedback on every event, exhibition, and even conference that you organise.

• Make your clients your priority every single time

What’s wrong with many event planners nowadays, especially those with years in the industry, is that they think that they already know it all. They assume that they know best so they don’t really listen to what the customers want. Always keep in mind that the steady influx of customers is what will allow you to expand in the business so it’s important to prioritise their ideas and make it happen. Even if you think what they want is weird, you should be able to adopt it and make it work. This will make your client feel important and want to come back again. Also, in every event that you do, you should be able to anticipate your clients’ needs. This is one way to show them that you care and to build credibility that you know what you’re doing in this business.

In a business where competition is high, an event planning leader should always be on top of things and should be able to stand out. Always be updated and never be afraid to try new things. Otherwise, you’ll be left behind. Make sure to also partner with O2OEvents for a more efficient event planning service.

The use of social media is on the rise. Every day, more and more people sign up to have their own social media accounts so that they can connect with other people.

According to reports, there are 3.80 billion social media users worldwide in January 2020

If you’re an event planner, you’d see this as a golden opportunity to expand your event promotion and engage your target audience prior to the event. Intelligent event planners know that they should maximise the use of social media for a successful event to happen.

And why not? Most of their target audience is most probably on social media and there are free tools for you to utilise on these platforms making it efficient and cost-effective at the same time.

Event Promotion on Facebook

Facebook has the most number of active users among all social media platforms.

That’s why it’s always a good idea to use it for your event planning. Make an Event Page. Make it look interesting. You should have a banner for your event and make it as your cover photo.
Provide all the information required such as event location, dates, registration, pricing, etc. Make sure you tag your event under the right category and use the proper keywords for your event as FB needs all this information for its algorithm that would help promote your event to your target audience. You can also boost your promotion via Facebook Ads for you to reach more people and increase your ticket sales.

Event Promotion on LinkedIn

If your target audience is professionals, it’s best that you use LinkedIn for your event promotion.

While it may not have an Events Page feature like Facebook, you can send a direct message to your contacts who’d be interested in your event and you can politely ask them to spread the word around to their friends and colleagues. Of course, you can also update your profile and status with all the event information. You can also post your invitation on LinkedIn Groups especially to those whose interests and characteristics match with your target audience. You can improve your event promotion by getting LinkedIn Ads for better audience targeting options, sponsored content, and text ads.

Wrapping It Up

Facebook and LinkedIn are just two platforms on social media that you could maximise when you’re planning for an event. Remember to use the same theme and motif for all your social media promotional campaigns for your event. This will help you with your branding. And use the same keywords and hashtags across all your social media accounts for posts related to the event. This’ll make it easier for your followers and those interested to access posts and information regarding the event. It’s also important for you to engage your target audience prior to the event by posting an interesting mix of content with photos, videos, infographics, and related articles that’ll build up their curiosity and excitement regarding your event.

Event management is made so much easier with the help of technology. From registration, ticketing, meeting scheduling, to data management, event technology can simplify tasks that previously needed days to accomplish. Another important contribution of event technology to your event’s success is your access to insightful data. This will give you a better understanding of what your attendees want from you to make it the ultimate event experience. It will also provide analytics to drive revenue for your sponsors and exhibitors thus making the event a success for everyone involved.

So, what is event technology? It is how organisers incorporate the use of technology in the entire event management process. It can be in the form of hardware or software. Here are some event technologies that can help you make your events successful.

Online Registration

This is a very useful tool during your pre-event phase. An event registration software will eliminate the bulk of administrative tasks. This will allow you to create registration forms for your participants, control pricing, customise booking options, assign seats, accept online payment, offer discounts and a whole lot more.

Email Marketing

Most companies find this technology valuable, especially in their marketing strategy. There are just so many uses for this software.  It can help you in personalising their marketing campaign, quick delivery of your messages, and notify you about open and undeliverable rates. Experts say that companies get better response rates from this mode of communication. Organisers can also send reminder emails to their attendees regarding the upcoming event, meetings, and other related activities. Plus it is eco-friendly – no printing on paper needed!

Survey Tools

The success of an event and even upcoming events rely on surveys. These are useful tools to know the feedback of your attendees. There are software that allow you to customise survey questions and send them directly to your attendees so that you can gather significant data for your event. You can use this feedback to improve your event management.

Engagement Tools

As we always say, engagement is very crucial in every event. Make sure you have the right tools at your disposal by getting this software. This would allow you to create live polls, Q&As, quizzes, or allow your audience to like the slides that you present. You can show the results real-time and in cool designs which will surely catch the attention of your guests. There are so many apps in the market that’ll help you keep your attendees engaged from pre-event to post-event.

Event Management Apps

When you need software that’ll help you with the entire event management cycle, then better get an event management app. It has everything you need to help you reach out to your exhibitors, attendees, and teammates. With this kind of assistance from technology, your event is guaranteed to be a success.

Wrapping It Up

Innovations in the event industry have led to technological advancements that help organisers manage events more efficiently and effectively. There’s a host of event apps out there. You just gotta choose the right one for you.

No matter how well you plan your event, things can still get awry. Events are complicated and dynamic and somewhere along the way, things are bound to go astray. It is best for event organisers to approach each event with this mindset. It helps keep them on their toes. As they say, do your best but expect the worst. Here are some common challenges that event organisers face when planning for an event.

• Budget Shortage

Money makes the world go round, right? You need money for printing. You need money to reserve the venue. You need money for catering. And so on, you get the idea. Sometimes we’ve an expected amount for the expenses but as the project rolls, you find yourself spending way more than you planned. This is why it is important that you track your expenses. Negotiate for the best deals out there so that you can stretch your budget.

• Last-minute cancellations

Your speaker can’t make it because his flight is delayed? Your staff can’t go to your event because he’s caught the flu? You can’t help it. Emergencies happen and these are out of your control. Breathe in, breathe out. Try to relax. What you can do is to prepare for such cases. Have back up plans.

• Uncooperative weather

This is another thing that’s out of your control. Even when you’ve chosen a date when there’s a 90% chance of sunny weather, there’s still that 10% that it would rain, right? If your event is indoors, then good for you. But if your event is outdoors, you better have a contingency plan in case the rain pours down. Weeks before the event, check the weather forecast and send advise to your attendees regarding the weather so that they too can make the necessary preparations.

• Lack of time

This is a common problem among event organisers. There’s always so much to do yet so little time to do all of them. Well, rock star event organisers thrive during crunch time. But of course, it would help a lot if you stick to your time plan. Never fall under the trap of procrastination. And if you find yourself pressed for time, you can always ask for help from the people around you to share the load and beat the time.

• Insufficient number of attendees

Aren’t you meeting your target number of attendees? Perhaps you’re not promoting on the right channels. Define your target audience and study where they can be reached. Present them a strong agenda for your event. Make your invitations interesting to encourage them to join your event.

• Travel and Accommodation Arrangements

If your location is quite far, then it is best to make travel and accommodation arrangements for your team, speakers, and attendees. Coordinate transportation arrangements from ports to hotels to your venue. Negotiate for a good deal from the hotel since you’re booking for a group of people. But just in case, check out other accommodation and travel options in the area so that you have a back up in case things don’t go as planned.

• Gathering and Interpreting Data

You need data all throughout the event cycle. Of course, these data will come from your attendees. But how will you collect them? There are event technologies available in the market that can help you in this crucial stage of data gathering.  They can even retrieve data from other sources – online and offline, to make sure that you have all the information that you need. Once you got the data that you need, event software will also be very helpful in providing you with insightful data and analytics that will help you maximize your revenues from the event that you’re planning.

• Lack of networking activities

Networking is a crucial component of your event. If your attendees do not interact with your exhibitors and other attendees, then there’s little point in organising the event in the first place. With the right software, you can check the engagement activities of the users. They have smart matchmaking skills that’ll initiate connections among exhibitors and attendees whose interests and characteristics match with each other. On the day of the event, you can also plan activities that’ll encourage networking among your guests like setting up social lounges in different areas of the venue, organising speed networking over lunch, or scheduling a happy hour after the sessions where everyone can all come together and have a good time.

Wrapping It Up

Event organisers are constantly tested with different challenges as they plan the event. Rather than clam up, they should see these as opportunities to hone their event management skills. With every challenge that they’re able to conquer with their resourcefulness, quick and smart thinking, and all of the other tricks that they’ve up on their sleeves, they come out stronger and tougher in the event industry.

Visual content plays an important role in event planning. This can be utilised in many aspects of event planning to send a more effective message to potential attendees. When done right, not only can this attract the attention of your target audience but it can also create better response and engagement. Perhaps, no one would disagree that plain text in terms of marketing and advertising alone is boring and uninteresting. It leads to your ad not being given the attention that it deserves no matter how great the messaging is. As such, it’s a must to incorporate appropriate visual content to ensure that it’ll catch a second look.

There are many uses of visual content in the process of event planning and that include the following:

A means for good marketing and advertisement

Marketing and advertising are two elements that are never gone in the process of event planning. You need to gain as much exposure to your event as possible to ensure that you’ll reach your target audience. Event planners often use social media for this, they put up banners and billboards, and they event create different kinds of pamphlets so they can disseminate information about the event they’re organising. Just imagine how these advertising materials would look like without any images on it. A bit bland isn’t it? This is why they use nice photos and graphics that can best illustrate the event they’re planning. They make it as interesting as possible so individuals who were reached by these materials wouldn’t just chuck it like trash. Such visual content also provides a good way to communicate what the event is all about to the viewer. It makes them wanna look and explore more which could add to the exposure an event planner is aiming for.

A useful instrument for learning

Visual content is a good way to relay instructions to the attendees. For instance, with the use of proper visuals, you can easily communicate the location of the event to the confirmed attendees. You can also tell them the layout of the event and where what is located. Other than explaining this continuously as the guests arrive, you can just spread this information through a handout. This is less hassle on your part, and easier for your audience to follow.

Another good example of relaying instructions via images is when you use high-tech devices to your event. Particularly to those non-techie ones, they need assistance in navigating these things. A handout with infographics on the hows and whats will be helpful to them. Attendees can just follow this without any hassle at all. So rather than deploying a large part of your team to assist them every step of the way, you can just position one or two for this function because they already have a good reference material on-hand.

Promotes sales

An event sometimes is organised to promote new products of exhibitors. Even if the goal is to publicize and sell, not every exhibitor brings a lot of stocks with them to the exhibit. This is why event planners usually utilise a marketplace to encourage pre-orders so exhibitors can anticipate the orders coming in and they can readily bring it with them for inspection of the consumers on-site. How better for customers to have an idea of what they are getting their hands to than by exhibitors posting the right images in the marketplace? In this case, visual content can help boost sales and can also assist in creating business-consumer relationships.

A means to keep customers engaged

Whether you notice it or not, the lack of visuals can easily shorten the attention span of the audience. It causes them to get bored easily and to stop paying attention altogether which could have a negative implication on the overall success of your event. The visual content of any material you have in your event should be sufficient and should be interesting enough to keep the attention of your audience throughout. Otherwise, you’re gearing for a restless crowd or worse, you may see that halfway through your event, you’re left with less than the number of audiences you welcomed at the start. 

Relaying useful statistics

Reading numbers are by default boring and overwhelming to look at. But you can’t help it specifically if they tell you the overall success of effort for event organising or the lack of it. The best way to do this is to have them in graphs or other visual materials that are understandable. This way, this can be a good reference point in the future in case you need to look back and analyse or during instances when clients want actual results of the work you’ve done. You hit two birds with one stone because with the use of appropriate visuals, you can even create an interesting presentation.

No one can deny the usefulness of incorporating nice visuals in many aspects of event planning. Use it with the tool O2OEvents can offer and there will be no doubt that you can conquer the industry with the powerful weapons at your hands. Request a demo now.