Lead Generation with Virtual Events

networking stands

Leads generation is the top priority for a company’s marketing specialist. After all, attracting potential clients and sparking interest in services or products is one of the most crucial parts of a business.  

However, nowadays the market is constantly changing, and customer behavior does not scape this tendency either. As time goes by, users demand different necessities and search for alternative ways to find solutions. 

For that, even if the marketing teams count with powerful tools to generate B2B leads, it is necessary to make the extra effort to find new strategies to generate potential clients. These alternatives should be innovative and give added value to the client’s experience.  

Here is where virtual events and fairs have immense potential to attract leads and successfully make the final conversion. Without geographical barriers or time limits, these types of meetings ensure a wide information exchange and have become a gold mine for marketing lead generation.  

The advantage of these tools to create leads is that a virtual fair can be used as a strategy on its own or as an extension of an omnichannel marketing strategy. That is, once the company has connected with its target audience through other methods, a virtual exhibition or some kind of online fair can help attract and consolidate potential clients. Thus, it provides an important competitive advantage even in a slow market.  

Advantages of Virtual Fairs to Generate B2B Leads

Virtual spaces have opened uncountable opportunities for businesses to commercialize and present its products and services. The greatest exponent can be found in virtual fairs, an option considered as a very powerful marketing tool, able to optimize the engagement of the event attendants and to effectively generate leads. 

Its capacity to create solid and lasting relationships between the users and the company, as well as the opportunity to increase the engagement between the brand and the consumers, has fostered the perception of virtual fairs as something positive, efficient and profitable, in comparison to other in-person marketing activities. 

All these objectives can be achieved thanks to the advantages that it offers compared to in-person events. These are the main advantages:

  • Greater audience: Geographical and time barriers are a great limitation when organizing an event. However, virtual spaces facilitate the attendees to access them remotely from any computer or device with internet connection.

  • Great cost reduction: Saving money with virtual fairs is one of the characteristic advantages of virtual events in general. The profitability of these events is lower, as it eliminates recruitment and transportation costs, as well as anything related to the accommodation of the assistants. 

     

  • Attraction over the assistant: Virtual fairs are designed to innovate and for innovation, thus, it would not be comprehensible to have virtual events which don’t provide unique alternatives capable of getting the attendees’ attention. 

In that sense, the approach offered by Virtway Events is particularly interesting. These are platforms for virtual fairs designed using the latest technology to create unique experiences. Namely, they offer the possibility of using interactive 3D avatars to represent each of the event participants.    

  • Increase in visibility: When it comes to promoting an event, digital environments allow reaching a bigger audience with a lower investment, and the divulgation speed of online media gives access to hundreds of people which will, later on, even become possible loyal fans of the product or service of the company. 

For that, commercial virtual fairs are the best to get more followers, something that has an incalculable value for companies within their strategies to generate new leads.    

  • Multiple virtual environments: Online fairs enable creating custom-designed events for the company to please future clients, and the environments where these events can take place are almost limitless. 

Interactive chats, live webinars or immersive rooms are only a few examples of places where a virtual fair can show all its potential to provide attendees with exceptional experiences in digital environments.    

  • Measurable results: Everything that happens in a virtual event can be measured during each of its phases. Real-time access to all the data regarding the participants enables the company effective information about ROI, which allows to study and improve the quality of present and future events.   

How to Ensure Lead Generation in Virtual Events

Thanks to all the advantages given by an event of this kind, exhibitors are able to attract a larger audience and increase their chances of generating leads.  

But, how do they achieve this? The following points will help you achieve this goal: 

  • On-demand content: One of the most successful elements of a virtual fair is that its content can be made-to-order. This possibility allows creating a richer experience and generating interest 

For this reason, it is important to present a great number of opportunities for them to get to know the products and services that are being exhibited through photos, videos, demos, leaflets, electronic books and all kind of digital materials that can be downloaded and checked at any moment.   

  • Interactive chats: Live chats allow the exhibitors to interact with the fair attendees. Through real-time conversations, the company will be able to provide details about the product, answer questions and exchange commentaries. 

This connection creates a closer relationship and exponentially improves the image of the company and its products or services, thus, being closer to its future clients.   

  • Immersive rooms: Virtual fairs will always include spaces designed for their guests to interact, both with the company and with each other.  

But it is not a traditional interaction, therefore, it is necessary to offer the possibility of participating in immersive activities aimed for training. This is the best way for all the attendees to actively collaborate and make their experience even more satisfactory.  

Lastly, to ensure lead generation in virtual events, it is necessary to define a follow-up strategy for after celebrating the fair. Then, you will be able to follow potential clients that have attended and know their impression and experience. This is the last step to improve the client’s engagement and create effective leads. 

Virtual Event Marketing: How to promote your online event

Event Marketing Virtual

Event Marketing describes the process carried out to promote an event, whether it is a presentation, a seminar or a fair. No matter the kind of event, its characteristics, or its aim: if we do not know how to efficiently promote it or get to our target audience, all our efforts will be in vain.  

An event offers a unique opportunity for users to interact with brands and get a clear idea of the approach, the perspective, and the personality of a business. In fact, nowadays customers are not satisfied with just an explanation of the advantages of a product or service: They want interaction in order to gain thorough understanding of the alternative they are being offered, evaluate and choose the correct option.  

 With that said, Event Marketing is crucial, as it combines an action strategy aimed to promote, with the objective of attracting a considerable audience and achieving high ROI. 

Within online events, there are several ways of carrying out virtual event marketing. Each of them has its own characteristics and requirements when promoting it, but all have been established on the same basis: the interaction of the attendees with the company.  

Virtual meetings eliminate physical boundaries, allowing for geographically disperse attendees to reunite and, thus, easily drawing a bigger audience. The most common virtual events and the greatest allies of marketing specialist are:

  • Webinars: Meetings based on presentations, debates or workshops which take part online. They can be in real-time or on-demand. 

In the former, interaction between participants is enabled and they are given the opportunity of receiving or discussing information concerning a certain topic through different web tools. 

  

  • Live Streams: These are meetings or presentations that take place in real-time and are streamed.  

Just like in webinars, these kinds of events also provide attendees with the possibility of interacting through chats or social media, thanks to which we can get our audience involved from the start. Although this is not true for every case, as there are occasions where participation is not possible.  

  

  • Virtual Events: These are the most comprehensive in terms of interaction. Virtual worlds are the greatest allies for event planners, as the irruption of this new technology in corporate events has caused the emergence of immersive, innovative, and unique experiences.  

We can find companies like Virtway Events, which use the resources provided byvirtual worlds in the best way possible, to recreate abstract situations while maintaining great realism. Thus, offering virtual events with interactive 3D avatars. These avatars mimic each of the participants and allow us to create interactive scenarios where it is possible to communicate. 

The advantages of virtual events, no matter if it is a conference, virtual training activities, webinars, online conferences, or any other more complex type of meetings, are endless. Likewise, endless (or almost) are the existing marketing strategies, which result in lower costs and a greater outreach than regular advertising campaigns.  

3 REASONS TO USE VIRTUAL EVENT MARKETING STRATEGIES

Companies choose to participate in an event for several reasons. Virtual events for businesses have different aims. A small business, for instance, may go for the possibilities given by a webinar to connect with its audience, while a bigger enterprise may need the face-to-face interaction that virtual fairs offer. 

However, all these events have three essential objectives that Event Marketing representatives pursue. These are the main reasons for a company to plan, organize and promote a virtual event:  

    1. Build and position the brand while creating awareness 

Virtual Event Marketing strategies are infallible tools to advertise your company and position it in an increasingly competitive market. Through virtual events, it is possible to increase brandawareness share ideas and communicate directly with our target audience.  

This is where social media takes on an important role. We can begin with the common Twitter and Facebook posts, but we should go a step further and take advantage of Instagram andTikTok potentials to give our audience a sneak peak of where the event will take place and who will be in charge.  

It is also interesting to use social media content to include information about the event through videos, connection tutorials, registration information or interactive guides.  

 2. Lead generation 

Another important reason for companies to participate in virtual events is to generate leads. This is the top priority for marketing representatives, and not in vain: attracting potential clients and stimulate their interest in the offered services or products is a fundamental step for any business.  

In this sense, planning a virtual event has an enormous potential to attract and generate warm leads. Without geographical barriers or time limitations, this kind of events ensure a great information exchange and has turned into a gold mine for Event Marketing.  

3. Create solid relationships with the clients and increase sales 

When promoting an event, the digital environment allows you to reach a broader number of users while requiring a lower investment, and the immediacy of online sources will allow access to hundreds of people which may become loyal followers of your company.  

In this respect, a virtual event offers a high level of commitment with the client, as it allows highly personal interactions despite the remoteness.  

Moreover, these events give us real-time access to the assistant’s data, which provides marketing representatives with useful information about ROI. Thus, giving them the chance to study and improve the quality of present and future events.  

All in all, virtual events should be part of every companies’ marketing strategies. And to advertise them, we should bear in mind some key objectives. 

The essence of these events makes it possible to achieve these objectives, thanks to the creativity, the level of interaction of virtual events, and the possibility of consulting results in real time. These elements ease the tasks of the Event Marketing representatives, not only when promoting these online events, but also for ensuring the highest ROI.