The Virtual Event Advantage | 4 Tips for Creating High-Impact Virtual Events
Virtual Wine Tastings are out….high impact Virtual Events are in.
Virtual events can easily fall flat. For one, driving attendance is tough. Even when you do get people to show up, ‘camera off’ is a buzzkill. We have all kicked off a Zoom call with a dozen or so black screens. There is really nothing worse than presenting to a room full of people you can not hear or see. On most virtual events, the information or pitch is presented with slides that fall flat and kill engagement. And then, what happens when the event is over? How and when do we follow up? At Acquire, we offer a full strategy to combat these hurdles, create powerful and memorable online events, and drive revenue.
Here's how:
Create a tasting package that offers an incentive to show up - Virtual Events are a gift that comes with an experience. Make the gift worth showing up for. Splitting bottles of rare whiskey and providing a taste of something like Pappy Van Winkle makes it a no-brainer for guests to say yes. Recently, we hosted an event for 25 guests and had to cap it at 75 due to such high interest. All attendees were prospects. One attendee said "I never attend demos, but offering whiskey made it impossible to say no! What a great event!”
Know your target audience - Are these folks top-of-funnel prospects? Are they mostly customers up for renewal? It is ok to mix audiences, but use that to your advantage! ‘Fireside chats’ are dated. Instead, ask a happy customer to organically say something during the event about how your product has helped make their life easier. Organic and natural testimonials are wildly powerful. Be sure you know what your audience likes. Create your tasting package with your guests' interests in mind.
Make it fun by offering something for folks that show up ready to engage, camera on - Make it clear what you are doing. Webinars say "I am here to listen and not engage." If you want to get to know people and drive engagement it’s ok to ask people to come ready to engage, with their camera on. We recently raffled off a bottle of high-end whiskey to attendees that showed up camera on ready to engage..here are the results:
Design the run-of-show to support the event goal - Whether in person or virtual, the run-of-show should support a clear event goal. If your goal is to get to know new prospects, make engagement the focus with ample opportunities for networking. If your goal is for the attendees to have a bigger takeaway than just ‘I learned about wine/spirits and had a product demo’ (which we HIGHLY recommend!) bring in a thought leader that can offer valuable insights that attendees can take back into their everyday lives. These touches make your events powerful, impactful, and most importantly memorable.
Craft a personalized follow-up - Crafting a personalized follow-up will make you stand out above all else and is the most important consideration to achieve maximum impact. For one, we create a customized video complete with our client's verbiage about what to expect next, what is in the tasting kit, and a clear call to action for guests. We have given them a wonderful gift and a well-thought-out experience. It is ok to ask for a follow-up call, at the very least, in return. We also take guest notes during all of our events and turn them over to our client just after the conclusion of the event. This is key for personalization. We use our events as information-gathering tools by drawing out information about our attendees. Our tools consistently drive results like this: a few months back we hosted a virtual wine tasting featuring a thought leader where 20 of our client's prospects were in attendance. Two months later, 20 opportunities closed with 9 accounts generating $850K in pipeline. The cost of hosting this engagement? Only $11K.
Virtual events are a powerful sales tool when done right. At Acquire, we are applying all of the tools and tricks we learned in Michelin restaurants to the virtual space to make these gatherings wildly impactful for our clients. We amplify your content while elevating your brand. Quite simply, we know how to make your goals our goals and more importantly, we love making you shine.
Get started planning your next virtual event today.