Posted on April 28, 2020
Online events have many benefits both to companies and attendees. And in order to sell them to prospects and current clients, showing them a thorough analysis that prove your knowledge about their businesses and markets can open many doors. Thus, in this article will discuss all the benefits of online conferences marketing, why you should do it and how.
Planning a persuasive sales pitch to sell online conferences:
Just before we go straight to the point, it’s worth highlighting a few touch points that, if well followed, have the power to transform your sales pitch in a pocket show, capable of impressing and enchanting any client. Those points are:
1. Research what your competitors are doing
Research what your competitors are doing when making your virtual event plan. Above all, search for hot topics and see who’s organizing similar occasions. For instance: you can use ideas from some of the best companies and see where you can go from there. In addition, use your competitors’ efforts to see where you should focus your efforts.
2. Show your customer how helpful a virtual conference is
Showing the customer how helpful a virtual conference really is can be the tipping point between simply being attracted to it and hiring you to organize their online events. So, give a step-by-step review. In other words, walk your consumer through testimonials of your work. It increases both their confidence and your authority, which means more chances of closing a deal.
3. Include examples
Include examples, videos, screenshots, and other visual mockups. Use this content to visually show your prospect that you have done it before and that it will work.
4. Offer freesbies to your prospects
Offer your prospect freebies to keep them coming back for more. As a result, this can be a real key to virtual events marketing success. Everyone loves a giveaway, and your generosity will make them more inclined to establish a long term relationship with you. Besides that, you can hook them with the chance of purchase-to-pay automation. Your initial investment is worth the potential return in future sales, as it is up to 70% easier to sell to clients that you’ve sold before.
5. Prepare a full version of the virtual event website
Show your prospect a full version of their virtual event website. As a result, they’ll have a beautiful and clear vision of what your recommendations are. It’s impressive and brings the idea that the project is already running. Also, state that any changes can be done according to their preferences. If you’re struggling to build an attractive online conference website, this other article of our blog might be helpful: 6 Elements Of A Great Online Event Landing Page .
6. Learn about the best virtual event format
If you’re absolutely new to virtual conferences, it’s also worth reading this 2020 Guide for Perfect Online Events. You’ll learn useful strategies and formats to attract and engage audiences.
7. Personalize your message
Personalize your message. Firstly, Marketing is all about targeting, remember? If you go for a massive blitz, you will dehumanize your storytelling, as well as make your prospects feel like they’ve been spammed.
8. Include mock ups and visual assets
Social networks are a crucial virtual events promotion tactic. Therefore, make sure you include mock-ups and viewers will become more engaged with your plan. In case you need to go further in this topic, it’s worth reading the article: Integrating events and social media to generate business.
9. Put on a big effort in the virtual event promotion portion
Put on a big effort in the virtual event promotion portion, just as you already do with in-person branded experiences. So this is all about the buzz and will benefit the future success of your deal. Once you preview the promotion phase of a virtual event straight during your event planning presentation, customers feel that the project is already real and not just an idea. Here you’ve got 7 ideas to promote your events and your agency, including 0 budget ones.
How to pitch solid Online Conferences to brands, sponsors and clients [40 slide deck presentation checklist]
Opening
- Your agency’s brand
- Communication Plan cover with your client’s brand
Section 1: Briefing
- Summarized debrief with three to four lines, including where and how long the plan will be executed
- You client’s business objectives
- Your Online Conference plan objectives
Section 2: Challenge
- Summarized scenario analysis, with 4 to 8 lines
- Competitors Matrix
- Benchmarking: Case 1
- Benchmarking: Case 2
- Question to generate insight (What can we learn from it? How can we do what they do, but better?)
Section 3: Methodology
- Targeted personas
- Targeted stakeholders
- How your event will connect them
Section 4: Branding
- Brand of the proposed event
- Vision, Mission, Values, Attributes of your event
- Positioning your event in a Price-Value Matrix
- Summarize your positioning: To…, chasing for…, we offer, in a way that…, helping… with our … Online Conference
- Unique Selling Proposition
- Tagline
Section 5: Strategy
- Summarized strategy: objective, tone of voice, approach, target, predicted reach and medias.
- Strategy Phase 1 Roadmap: How many phases does your strategy comprehend? For how long each one will last? What will be deployed on each one of the?
- For every subsequent phase (1 to 3 months) of your strategy, repeat slides 26 to 33.
Section 6: Mock ups
- Event App branded mock up
- Virtual Lobby branded mock up
- Landing Pages branded mock up
- Chat-bots branded mock up
- Gifts branded mock up
- Social Media branded mock up
- Online post event community branded mock up
- Branded Media promotion (OOH and Online)
Section 7: Metrics and KPI’s
- Summarized KPI’s that will be used to measure your online event success: registrations, leads generated, attendee feedback, engagement, brand recognition, etc.
- Team in charge of the project. No need to say names, but at least roles, including: project/product owner, project manager, media planner, producers, copywriters, proofreaders, UX/UI designers, graphic designers, video makers, art directors, cool hunters, consultants, sales executives, accountants.
- Predicted investment (total and per phase)
- Motivational phrase or quote said by a relevant personality
- Thank you + Call to Action, with your contacts (LinkedIn, email, free slots on your agenda, etc)
The bottom line
You already know the benefits of virtual conferences. But it’s crucial to be able to transmit that to your prospects and current clients.
They need specialists that make them figure out how to incorporate online and hybrid events into their lead and sales generation strategies. So take the time to do your research about what clients want to see, and put it out there for them. Overtime, you’ll see that the online conferences market will grow and so will your deals.
When trying to sell an online event for your clients, it is important to make it easy for them to buy. Regardless of whether your virtual event is an exclusive meeting or a massive conference, just remember to shorten the steps of your prospects buying journey.
Your future customers need to know they’re making a great choice – preferably, the best purchase they could ever do.
Keep learning! Take advantage of our free and always updated resources:
- The 2020 guide for perfect online events [and how to migrate your live event to webinars, virtual meetups and live streaming]
- Why you need these 5 digital integrations to sell more
- 23 Event Pros and Digital Marketing influencers to follow in 2020 [and their social media profiles]