Promoting your next virtual or hybrid event: the complete guide
Not sure how to promote your next virtual or hybrid event? Please read our complete guide with practical tips for a perfect organization.
Promoting your next virtual or hybrid event will become child’s play by reading our complete guide: follow our step-by-step in planning an event in all its aspects and find out the winning marketing strategies to promote a digital or hybrid event.
Every self-respecting event needs to have a real marketing strategy behind it: whether it is an event in presence, online, or in a hybrid form, without the right promotion, your event will not have the success it deserves.
How to promote your next digital or hybrid event?
The keyword is baking.
Planning means having an impeccable organization and giving due attention to costs and timing: when it comes to events, especially digital events, budget, and timing are essential.
Each action has a cost that must be considered, and must also be performed within a certain time window, which is why it is essential:
- draw up a spending plan to avoid overstepping the available budget;
- schedule each activity in detail and according to precise timing.
But planning also means much more.
First, a phase of research and study of the markets is necessary to intercept the target audience’s needs and ensure that the event responds to these needs, more or less expressed, more or less latent.
Once this work has been done, it is possible to identify:
- the theme around which the event will revolve, which is the response to the macro-need of the target audience.
- the objectives of the event, in terms of the results, to be achieved.
How much time and effort does it take to promote an event?
When we talk about timing, a mistake often made is to leave late. If, on the one hand, the times for promote virtual eventscan be considered shorter than those necessary to promote a physical event, on the other hand, one cannot procrastinate indefinitely.
The ideal time to promote a digital or hybrid event is about six weeks: a reasonable period to sponsor the event and collect a good number of subscriptions.
Furthermore, just like for any other marketing activity, it is necessary:
- take care of the creation of content (content is the king, also in marketing linked to events);
- Entrust the technical work to a team of professionals who can respond to all the needs of the case, both in terms of skills and competencies and in terms of the quantity of personnel.
Another mistake that many event managers make is to underestimate the commitment that the organization of an event entails and believe that you can do everything yourself, when instead, for a good organization. It is necessary to make use of the contribution of several professional figures, each specialized in her sector.
Promote a digital or hybrid event: marketing strategies
Each event is different, but the marketing strategies to promote it are always the same. To identify the winning mix, you need to evaluate some parameters:
- the type of event (whether in presence or hybrid or completely digital)
- the number and type of participants
- the purpose of the event and the objectives defined in the strategic phase
The most popular marketing activities include social media marketing and email marketing.
Social media are used to attract and make the event known to a wider target audience. Email marketing, on the other hand, works very well on existing customers to ensure their participation through ad hoc loyalty campaigns.
In these cases, automation and integrations with software can reduce the effort and maximize the results obtained, especially about lead generation (i.e., obtaining contacts to which it is possible to send communications and initiate a relationship).
And when the event is over? There is post-event marketing
The marketing of an event does not stop with the event’s conclusion. Especially if we are talking about digital or hybrid events, planning follow-up activities is essential to collect feedback from the public.
Emails and satisfaction questionnaires are useful tools for gathering the opinion of the participants, leaving a good memory of the event that has just ended, and setting the Bayes for participation in future events.
But that’s not all: the follow-up activities also serve to collect data on the event’s success, understand what worked and what didn’t, review your virtual event marketing strategies and make sure to optimize the results of future events even more.
Promoting your next digital or hybrid event: conclusions
Setting in motion the machine for the promotion and realization of an event, as you will have understood, is an activity that requires time, energy, and above all, experience: thinking of doing everything alone is a utopia!
Relying on professionals in the sector is the right choice to organize and promote your next digital or hybrid event.
Also Read How to Design an Event Experience Using Translation Technology.