Virtual Events: A Different Means BUT the Same Goal for Face-to-Face Marketing

As Account Executives are fiscally forced to reconsider the remainder of their 2020 budgets, line items have likely been re-allocated to best reflect current reality and the fluidity of the environment—not to mention ever changing guidelines to reposition marketing efforts for Q3 and Q4.

Ad spend previously ear-marked for live event marketing campaigns have mostly been reallocated and replaced with digital channels, platforms, and virtual experiences. The latter hybrid channel is an attempt to still connect via “face-to-face” albeit virtually distanced…and this will likely remain the standard for event marketing for the foreseeable future.

If social-distancing has taught us anything, it is the reality that there is still very much a need to connect with one’s core audience. And though the traditional channels are not current options, brands and agencies have continued to creatively brainstorm within the confines of the current environment. Though the results have ranged from a nice attempt to a decent on-brand experience, recent virtual technology events like Shaq and Gronk recently participated in has brought some renewed life to a presently lifeless event industry.

Though the means have changed, the end goal remains the same: enhance the customer experience. The reason, put simply, is:  what you focus on is what you become. By focusing on customer’s needs and feedback, companies are able to add value, quickly iterate products and services, and efficiently and effectively understand what works AND what doesn’t to best serve the desired customer prior to any expansion to the masses. And those learnings—listening to the customer—are so priceless that in the process of serving one’s customer well, those customers in turn, will likely serve as a company’s best viral brand ambassador.

From virtual meetings to drive-in-settings to surprise-and-delight mail offerings to leveraging influencer platforms, companies will continue to creatively, strategically, and intentionally STILL TRYI TO CONNECT WITH THEIR CUSTOMERS in a unique and memorable fashion.