One of the fastest growing areas of business is the Virtual Event arena. As many companies look for ways to cut costs yet boost company promotions they find the best answer lies in the world of virtual events. It just happens to work out that as more people look to cut costs in their own household, many people opt to attend virtual events from the comfort of the home instead of forking over the big bucks for a plain ticket, hotel, gas and the many other numerous costs of attending an event away from home.
There couldn’t be a better time for companies to start diving into the world of virtual events and virtual event marketing. With the incredibly low cost of putting on a virtual event the risk is minimal plus companies have a larger pool of possible attendees to promote an event too.
If your company is on the fence about holding a virtual event for your business, here are five simple reasons why it’s time to get off the fence and get to planning.
- Cheap, cheap, and cheaper. The first and most obvious reason of course, it saves you money. With virtual events there are no expenses for air travel, catering, event venue rentals, hotel and time away from the office, the average virtual event can save almost 80% on what a live event would cost.
- Higher Attendance. A recent survey commissioned by ON24 of 5,000 marketing executives found that 63 percent were more likely to attend a virtual conference than an in-person event. People are much more likely to attend an event online then spend the money traveling to the event and covering all the associated costs. Not to mention, some people just can’t. With virtual events you’re opening the door to a people all over the world who would otherwise not be attending.
- Social Media Tools. Using the social media tools that are already in place, Twitter, Facebook, Ning, LinkedIn, etc. you can draw on a community that’s already set in place. Within the virtual world you have an entire set of tools that help you target and promote your event to the very people who want to hear about it.
- Greener is Better. On top of the struggling economy there is currently a struggling environment as well. By using virtual events many companies are able to greatly reduce their carbon footprint Sixty-six percent of marketers polled said they plan on implementing or have already added a Green Initiative, up from just 32 percent in 2007. Good for business and for the environment.
- Information. One of the most difficult parts of any event is getting feedback and a true idea of the ROI. Virtual events offer an easier way to track those things and then integrate that data into a CRM program.
Virtual Events are truly the wave of the future. It’s no longer a matter of when your company will jump on the bandwagon; it’s a matter of when.
