Why Virtual Environments Are Changing Marketing and Your ROI
The pandemic has changed the dynamics of marketing in a lot of ways. With live events on hold due to the risk of contracting the virus, marketing managers are now turning to virtual events to get the marketing campaigns rolling and their ROI flowing.
According to a survey from Wild Apricot, 2020 has seen twice the number of organizations holding a virtual event than previous years, most of which are geared towards keeping their customers connected.
49% of marketers also said that audience engagement is the biggest factor to the success of virtual events. But how exactly can these virtual environments help you achieve your marketing goals and boost your ROI?
· Virtual events are more cost-effective than live events.
As a marketer, you want to keep your event costs as low as possible while getting the most ROI from it. The good news is; this is now achievable with virtual events.
According to studies, hosting virtual events like 3D product virtual demos and virtual trade shows can reduce your marketing costs by up to 75%. This is because you won’t have to worry about paying for a venue, décor, food, travel costs and staffing.
All you need to pay for is your virtual meeting platform and you’re good to go.
· Virtual events have a global reach.
With most consumers having access to the Internet, it’s now easier to host virtual events that target a global audience. If you had to travel from one city to another just to hold live events before, you can now hold a single virtual event and share the link on your website or social media platform so more people can participate.
That means that you are reaching a bigger clientele without breaking your budget.
· Virtual events are measurable.
Unlike live events where you don’t really have a precise way of measuring the satisfaction of your participants, 90% of virtual event organizers utilize surveys to measure participant satisfaction and 38% of organizers utilize social media to get feedback for their events.
Having the data to measure the success of a virtual event is a huge advantage in making future events better and knowing if these participants will turn to customers that could help boost your ROI.
· Virtual events are flexible.
Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of virtual environments is the fact that you have more control over them than you would a live event.
Whether it’s making the event available in different languages or inviting different guest speakers, you are giving more leverage to your virtual event to catch the interest of more people and thus, getting the most ROI from it.
Virtual events are definitely changing the marketing landscape and this trend will continue in the coming year, especially with the pandemic still ravaging around the world.
So if you’re a marketer, this is the perfect time to embrace virtual environments into your marketing plans and enjoy their benefits including a bigger ROI and more potential for growth.