Marketing Tactics & Tips for Virtual Life Science Events
we have established the landscape we are operating within virtual events - but do we know how to promote our events?
We’re aware of how we got here and now that we are here, what virtual events entail for life science marketers to be successful and demonstrate ROI looking to produce as many opportunities are possible for follow up conversations away from the virtual event.
A previous post looked at promotional considerations around virtual events, but let’s go to the virtual event and review the tactics and the strategic actions that direct the promotion of the virtual event presence to influence our objectives.
Some of the tactics might be relevant, with some not so, with others worthy of reviewing and combining with another. Every organisation and virtual event is different. But to gain traction pre, during and post-event, the more you do the better your event outcomes. In this post, we offer 13 ideas to do just that.
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13 TACTICS AND TIPS FOR VIRTUAL LIFE SCIENCE EVENTS
1. CREATE A DEDICATED WEBSITE CONTENT/WEBSITE SECTION
Everyone visiting your organisation’s (main) website will need to know about your virtual event or your virtual event presence just, just like you would promote physical events initially. Creating a dedicated area or page on your website, signposted via appropriately positioned CTAs and banners, will inform your visitors of this area. The section itself should promote the content - along with a little about your life science organisation - and activities taking place at the virtual event. Use the section as a teaser with the aim of assisting those visitors to hand over their details for something so you can conduct email marketing on the run-up to the event, as well as during.
2. USE REGISTRATION/LANDING PAGES
Registration and landing pages will allow the capture of contact details of the visitor in order to engage in a two-way dialogue. Building up a mailing list of subscribers interested in the event will enable you to increase your engagement levels during the virtual event when the various event-based content becomes available. Building waiting lists for this content, or even an early-bird list who can access snippets of this content also eases the pressures for life science marketers to demonstrate ROI. These are still the same leads that you would develop at the event itself so they are still fully attributable to the virtual event - without the event content, no leads would have been generated.
3. BUILD AN APP OR CAMPAIGN SITE
To go one step further would be to create a stand-alone campaign site for the event or series of virtual events would you would be exhibiting at or running. Campaign websites can be created without large resources and would be the home for all event-based information. With the rest of 2020 looking to be mostly virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rest assured this is an investment worth making. Once the website is fully integrated with a marketing automation system, meetings can be booked automatically, content can be accessed (and tracked) anytime and email marketing jobs could be triggered. You could go a step further again and commission an app that would achieve the above but would be more accessible from a mobile context.
4. CONDUCT REGULAR EMAIL MARKETING
As a B2B life science marketer, it will be obvious to you that email marketing will form the majority of your event tactics, certainly from an engagement perspective once you have prospects on your mailing list. It’s possibly the most effective channel for event promotion - physical and virtual. Your virtual event-based email marketing strategy will include save the date emails, reminder emails, content notification emails and well as agenda-based emails to current subscribers that might not have signed up via the event landing page itself. Create as many of these emails as possible; and send out as many as possible.
5. SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is a key component in our everyday lives. It has turned into the platform we go to find news and information, whether we are casually browsing or otherwise. Just like email marketing, social media should be one of the first channels you turn to promote and begin discussions around your virtual event. This is the case pre-event, during and post-event. Set out a plan: a content calendar is a great way of planning social posts and the time they should go out for the entire campaign, just like you would with scheduled emails.
6. CONSIDER FEEDBACK LOOPS
I like to think of survey and feedback as loops: a system in which some portion of the system's output is used as input for future operations. In practical terms, according to TechTarget: “In customer experience, a customer feedback loop refers to a business strategy where product developers use customer opinion to determine future actions.” This is along the lines of what we are looking to achieve. By publishing a system that allows your users to give feedback on content, you are able to quickly segment and serve more relevant content to that user, as well as better serve content in the future. So, in the context of virtual events, we can generate feedback from subscribers and website visitors on which events are more popular and what sort of event-based content is most wanted. Asking what delegates want from the event is likely to get a response that forms the beginning of the conversation. With the loop mentality in place, depending on the answers, those prospects are then places into segmented lists to market to more effectively. If you do anything, ask questions.
7. COMPETITIONS/CONTESTS
Asking for feedback is an efficient method of generating engagement with your organisation, just like contents and competitions are. I wouldn’t run an exhibitor booth without a competition of some sort in a physical event environment - neither would I in a virtual event. Even in a life sciences virtual event, this sort of thing is worth doing as it draws attention to the exhibitor and its booth, as well as open conversations with the organisation that can turn into future subscribers of your content, leads and potential sales prospects.
8. CREATE A VIDEO PREVIEW (AND OTHER EVENT VIDEOS)
We’ve discussed videos at length on this blog over the last few years… so there’s no need to ponder the benefits of videos here; you already know its effect. You will likely be creating videos as part of the content which you will promote during the event itself, that is likely to be available after the event. Use some of this content to create teaser videos that provide enough information for the user to find out more. A short story that encompasses your organisation, its message, the virtual event (or event series) and subsequent content is enough. Keep it short and focus on the visual elements.
9. INTERACTIVE CONTENT
The virtual event, in some respect, loses the interactive nature of physical events. And creating content that sits within PPT slides and PDF documents is fine but it just doesn’t quite make the impression with users as it would as a physical booklet or brochure within a physical environment. So you need to get creative with your content. Content that requires the participants’ active engagement — more than simply reading or watching, similar to contests. Infographics, games, videos… you know the content types. Explore what works for your organisation and commission the creation of interactive content to make your booth stand out. This is the sort of content you can use throughout your virtual event calendar for the year.
10. SEND FREEBIES POST-EVENT
Who doesn’t like freebies at events? The answer is, nobody. Because everyone likes freebies. Physical event freebies often include items that can be used at the event itself, battery packs and hand sanitisers come to mind. And of course, we cant disseminate these freebie items at virtual events the same as in physical events. But they can be used to send to anyone who provides their contacts details. They can also be used - on landing pages and along with other gated content - to collect the details in the first place. We would say no to a loaded USB drives with event-specific content? Not many. And how hard is it to find the office address of a delegate who visits your virtual booth, once that delegate is known? Not very. Send freebies in the post after the event with a personal note - it will be a nice touch.
11. ARRANGE A KEYNOTE SLOT
No virtual event presence is complete without a keynote slot. Keynotes generate huge interest at events; keynotes may well be the first event area delegates go to see what’s going on. Therefore, as an exhibitor, you also need to be on this list. It’s likely your life science organisation will have subject matter experts that can deliver a relevant discussion. If not, find a special guest that can speak on behalf of your organisation that can also promote the keynote (and your organisation) on his or her own channels. Communicate with your speakers early on regarding how they can help promote your organisation at the event. If you’re working on a limited budget, these tactics are especially important. Again, these are likely to be pre-recorded or live presentations from the home desk which you can repurpose.
12. PARTNER WITH A COMPLIMENTING (AND NON-COMPETING) ORGANISATION
Sometimes, two is better than one. You are not alone in this new environment of virtual events, shows and meetings. Thousands of companies like yours, from industry sectors like yours, will have to change their marketing plans and invest within more virtual events than ever. Perhaps you lack resources, expertise and funding or even technical expertise? Consider teaming up with a non-rival organisation to share the heavy-lifting, as well as the leads generated? Also, sometimes, a joint exhibit is better than no exhibit at all. Drift state three things to consider when choosing partners for a virtual event: Content and value to the audience, similar audience or ideal customer profile, and rapport and professionalism.
13. UTILISE SPONSORSHIP/ADVERTISING OPTIONS FROM EVENT ORGANISATIONS AND RELATED MEDIA
Possibly the event-based tactics which will demonstrate the most return is the option which might not be considered due to its up-front cost. Some of the publishers we work with offer a range of solutions - such as dedicated e-blasts, directory listings and native-sponsored content, amongst a range of other solutions which we could provide (get in touch for full list) - to help promote your organisation and its virtual event presence and content. 10,000s of life science professionals can be accessed, by job title or organisation type, with your message put right in front of them via a trusted brand. Not everyday life science organisations can achieve this.
Speak to us for your full options.
