What's the secret to engaging digitally-distracted buyers? Simu-live events.
Smaller, bespoke events of under 30 people have always played a key role for B2B marketers. Nothing beats face-to-face engagement and relationship-building to create and accelerate pipeline and win and keep more customers. In the past, these events (i.e., dinners, sporting events in box seats, or cocktail-infused receptions) were sub-optimized and typically managed by field marketing teams as one-off events outside of a coordinated targeted account program.
In the wake of COVID-19 and the cancellation of in-person events, frontline marketing teams are reinventing these small events for a digital-selling market. Here are three revenue-generating reasons to double-down on high-touch virtual events in Q4, 2021 and 2022.
#1: Accelerate the Buyer Journey
In our new digital-first marketplace, marketing now owns more for the lead-to-revenue cycle. As part of this shift, frontline marketing teams are expanding their remit beyond top-of-the-funnel to now encompass the entire buyer journey. For B2B marketing teams currently tackling digital transformation, managing the entire buying journey can feel daunting.
From acquisition to advocacy, bespoke virtual events play a critical role in engaging and advancing buyers through every digital touchpoint of their journey. Early to late-stage virtual events include account-specific customer meetings, regional events, customized demo days, briefing centers, and customer breakfasts with Grubhub delivery.
#2: Small Audience, Bigger Pipeline
Several years ago, I planned and promoted a webcast on a very generic topic to my entire database. The event netted 1,600 signups, 700 attendees, and zero pipeline. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed, and a bit confounded.
A few weeks later, I hosted a topical webcast on a specific subject to a targeted segment of accounts. The webcast netted 75 signups, 26 attendees, and five opportunities valued at $1m. What's the lesson here? Today, building a predictable pipeline requires extreme focus. When you know who will attend your virtual event, you can customize the right content and programs that will ultimately fuel pipeline growth.
As a bonus, a small and targeted event of like-minded peers fosters community-building and networking. When your audience can learn from one another, magic happens.
#3: Simu-live Events: A Better Way to Engage Digitally-Distracted Buyers
The pandemic accentuated the already short attention span of digitally distracted buyers. Over the past two years, B2B vendors digitized their canceled in-person events and conferences. As a result, B2B buyers and customers are feeling extreme digital fatigue. Attendance on the go-live day is no longer an accurate benchmark for success. What if you could record a session and replay that session twice a week as if it were a live workshop or seminar?
Simu-live events are the perfect solution for digitally distracted and -empowered buyers. Specifically, the simu-live format allows frontline marketing teams to pre-record a virtual event. The recorded event is played later (as if it were live), concurrent with live chat or video from the presenters. Later, these simu-live sessions can be accessed on-demand. Simu-live use cases include weekly product demo sessions, sales-driven events, or educational workshops.
The emergence of simu-live and on-demand event formats underscores a B2B buyer journey where buyers will chart their course for self-discovery and education on their terms and timetable.
Learn How High-Touch Virtual Events Can Boost Your Pipeline in Q4, 2021and 2022
On November 3 at 10am PT/1pm ET, join Folloze, Steve O'Neil, Director at Agent3 and Andrew Gaffney from the Demand Gen Report, where we will discuss best practices for executing smaller, high-touch virtual events. Click here to register and save your spot.
