It’s safe to say that event marketing has evolved immensely, even in the last few years. Attracting people to an event is one thing, but keeping them engaged is becoming increasingly difficult. With shorter attention spans and more distractions, events need to entertain, provide relevant information, and create a “shareable” experience.
Hybrid events are the new norm, it’s all about your online presence. So how do you succeed with your event marketing in a hybrid world?
Here are our top 3 tips:
1. Respect deadlines and pay attention to the budget
This may seem obvious, but don’t underestimate the importance of staying on time and on budget. If you clean up your business and do the little things, the big things will take care of themselves. That’s why it’s so important to stay on time and pay close attention to your event marketing budget. We’ve found that focusing on cleaning up the financial side of your marketing can save you up to 50% of your budget! That’s not a statistic to ignore.
2. Don’t be afraid to do things differently and make a change
Humans are creatures of habit. This carries over into how we do our events and marketing, and that’s fine, but it’s even more crucial that we bring new ideas to the table from time to time. Building a diverse marketing team can naturally push you to do new things and make changes as you work with a variety of ideas and perspectives.
Don’t be afraid to ask associations or other event marketers why you can’t do something different. If they can’t answer, you’re opening up opportunities to be on the cutting edge and innovate in the field. Don’t be afraid to try something new and be willing to take risks. 9 times out of 10, you’ll be better off than if you stayed the same.
3. Use virtual and hybrid tools to reach your audience
These days, engaging with virtual tools isn’t just fun. You need to be connected in multiple ways to have the greatest impact and reach. Make sure you have something to offer on virtual and hybrid platforms as well as in-person. For virtual experiences, remember to keep them simple and easy to access. People are bombarded with virtual messages all day long and what they’re looking for is simple, clear, and eye-catching engagement. How can you connect what you do in person with your online audience? Think about what feeling you can replicate in a new medium. If you’re most successful with social media, find a way to integrate it into your in-person event. Don’t just have engagement on both platforms. This will help you reach a wider audience and double the success!
Virtual is part of the new normal
Like it or not, virtual is here to stay. If you’re not engaging with it, you’re missing out on a huge portion of your audience. That’s the reality. The industry is constantly changing; those changes are happening in real-time in virtual environments, which is why it’s so important to engage with it.
If you feel like you’re getting overwhelmed, you can think of it like any other sales and marketing tool. You can learn how to use it, or you can find companies that know how to build tools for you. Work with experts if you need to! They can help you create a sales marketing tool that’s tailored to your very specific goal. A great starting goal for virtual engagement is to get your customers talking about the in-person experience. If you’re on your own with virtual engagement, keep it simple. Remember, it can just be an extension of what’s already working well for you.