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Virtual events are increasingly influencing digital marketing

Contributors
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(© Jirapas – stock.adobe.com)

Every so often, something new happens in the world of Digital Marketing that is transformative. Social media was perhaps the last seismic leap, and these days all small business owners are told they need to be on social media to reach customers. In 2020, virtual events became the new major trend in digital marketing.

Digital marketing helps businesses reach customers through the power of the internet. Whether its is through a website, email, social media, or traditional advertising, it has become a valuable asset to businesses. For example, if you operate one of the best casino online websites, you probably want people to know about it. Digital marketing can help!

In terms of virtual events, an uptick in the popularity of hosting virtual meetings has been beneficial to organizations. Most customers are now remarkably familiar with watching content through live stream. Furthermore, people are increasingly comfortable using communication tools like Zoom and Skype.

What virtual events do is combine the modern technology allowed by digital services and combine them with an old-fashioned marketing technique. Trade shows, exhibitions, and conferences are nothing new in the business to consumer relationship. Businesses have been using them for centuries to connect with potential customers.

However, traditional business events have some serious limitations. Firstly, they are location specific, so only people willing to travel will attend. Some major company events and industry trade shows attract visitors from all over the world, but still being location static is not ideal. The second limitation is capacity, even trade events in the biggest venues have limitations on how many people can attend.

Virtual events strip away both these limitations. Thanks to the power of the internet, online streams can host virtually unlimited numbers of people and are also location mobile, so everyone can attend. For organizations, they are also significantly more cost-effective than hosting an event in a physical space.

Imagine it yourself. If you are the online casino owner noted in our example above, you may want to host an event to showcase what you offer. However, the costs quickly stack up if you want to hire a hall or another physical space, while you will also limit who you can invite. If you instead host the event virtually, those problems are removed.

Another benefit of virtual events for digital marketers is the ability to interact with people in real-time. If your event is live, you can field questions, bring partners into a meeting, personalize content, and more. Even if you pre-record your virtual event, there is much more scope to speak to customers individually and answer questions more efficiently.

Digital markets are waking up to the potential of virtual events to reach consumers. Perhaps the only downside is a business will need to already have an audience. It’s unlikely a consumer will randomly watch a virtual event live stream for a brand or service they have no interest in.

That’s why virtual event marketing will go together with other digital marketing techniques, such as social media marketing.

Contributors

Contributors

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