Social distancing and limits on large gatherings are increasingly becoming the new normal as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact societies and markets across the globe. In response to this restriction on person-to-person contact, marketing professionals are turning to cutting-edge technologies to reach their target audiences.
Communication in the form of riveting content that drives engagement continues to be key in establishing a connection with potential customers — and converting them to buyers.
One of the best ways to engage your audience in a post-pandemic environment is through the presentation of interactive content such as webinars and other virtual events. Nearly three-quarters of sales and marketing leaders feel that webinars are a great way to generate high-quality leads.
They, along with other virtual marketing tactics, can engage viewers in your brand story, offer dynamic ways to lead prospects through your sales funnel, and allow you to identify potential sales-ready leads.
Your Virtual Marketing Primer
There are many ways to plan virtual events that engage your audience and lead them successfully through your sales funnel. Here are a few things you should consider when planning your first — or next — virtual marketing event.
1. Webinar Basics
One of the first things your marketing team needs to do to create the perfect revenue-driving webinar is to brainstorm the right topic — the one that will get your target audience to sit up and pay attention.
Even with social distancing and remote working conditions in place, your team can get started using virtual conferences featuring teleconferencing technology to fuel collaboration and spark creativity.
Once you’ve found a topic that creates value for your sales prospects, your team should settle on a webinar service such as Zoom, ClickMeeting, GoToWebinar, or bespoke software that works for your industry.
At this point, engaging the services of a qualified IT provider is key to ensure you have the right technology — including hard- and software — to produce a high-quality webinar that invites engagement.
With technology solved, your team can focus on creating visually appealing and interesting content via live discussion, lecture, PowerPoint slides, or other methods that get your message across in an interactive way.
Then, simply set a time and date, promote your event, and don’t forget to follow up with your attendees after the event to keep them moving through your funnel.
2. Virtual Event Basics
Other virtual events such as virtual conferences and trade shows are another way to hit the mark with socially-distanced audiences.
With these events, it’s important to shift the thought process from producing a simple screen shared meeting to a high-quality broadcast like those you might see from a major television channel.
Bring in a well-known guest speaker or focus on a niche market and then prepare to interact with your audience to keep them interested in your broadcast. Again, having the right infrastructure — and bandwidth — to support the level of interaction and the magnitude of quality of a results-producing virtual event is critical.
Turning to the expertise of IT experts in advance of deploying virtual marketing solutions is crucial for ensuring your event is well-received and results in the conversion level your marketing team is aiming for.
Blue Technologies Can Help Your Marketing Team Communicate Virtually
Whether you’ve been working with virtual events for years or you’re just starting, our team of professionals is standing by to create a custom communications solution that will help your marketing team produce solid, results-producing virtual events.
Because we understand that one size does not fit all, we partner with an array of leaders in the communications industry such as Cisco, AT&T, Lifesize, Mitel, Microsoft, and Panasonic to bring you a suite of options that can be custom-tailored to your needs.
Not only can we provide the communications hardware and software you need to create a successful virtual marketing event, but we even provide cybersecurity for virtual events to ensure your — and your attendees — privacy is respected and secured.
As the trend toward remote work, virtual conferencing, and virtual marketing continue to grow, our IT experts are continually expanding our suite of tools to bring you the latest — and most effective — technologies to support your marketing efforts.
Early adopters get the greatest benefits of any new trend. Get in on the ground floor of virtual marketing and watch your sales leads — and revenue — multiply. Contact a Blue Technologies consultant today to learn more.
