The Economics and Merits of Virtual Events
To date, virtual events have proven to be a highly effectively means of extending the benefits of physical shows as well as generating additional sources of revenue for show producers, exhibitors and sponsors. The online platform's ability to reach greater audiences (on a global scale) and provide a single destination for unlimited amounts of information on a specified topic is second to none. For these reasons and countless others that this short article cannot go into, it is time for you to consider adding virtual events to your sales and marketing mix.
A virtual event has the flexibility to exist for a short period of time (a single day, for example) or forever, with no projected close date. Furthermore, its online nature ensures the "show floor" is open around the clock. This enables geographically dispersed individuals to visit the show at any time, without having to leave their home or office.
The core value of virtual shows is in their ability to generate highly targeted leads, add new sources of recurring income, get up and running quickly and easily, and create a highly engaging and ongoing dialog with customers and prospects.
Targeted Sales Leads
Many of today's leading platforms feature sophisticated and automated attendee profiling and lead-scoring capabilities to hone in on prospective customers. This enables show producers to enrich their value proposition to exhibitors and sponsors, while offering their clients precision-based lead generation opportunities.
Additional Revenue
Virtual tradeshows afford a number of revenue-generating opportunities for producers, exhibitors and sponsors alike. A few examples include:
- Booth rentals
- Sponsored content
- Ad placements
- Online banners
- Pay-per-view content
- Fee-based online workshops
- Show attendance fees
Quick, Easy Self-Provisioning
Leading virtual tradeshow platforms offer easy-to-use drag-and-drop tools to self-provision an entire show or a single booth. This allows producers and exhibitors to get online fast and without calling in any IT resources. Once online, virtual shows and booths are designed to run themselves, without staffing and with very minimal ongoing maintenance requirements.
Highly Engaging Visitor Experience
Virtual tradeshows can feature a multitude of multimedia content to really bring the visitor experience to life and effectively engage attendees. Many platforms support online video, webinars, breakout sessions, keynote speeches, product demonstrations, executive interviews, downloadable files and more. All of this rich content can attract would-be customers and also help producers and exhibitors create cross-over traffic between their physical and virtual shows/booths.
Conclusion
The time has come to seriously consider the value and potential of virtual trade shows. While they were once a nice-to-have, they have quickly become a valuable and necessary component of the trade show sales and marketing arsenal.
About the Author:
Randy Selman, President & CEO of Onstream Media (NASDAQ: ONSM), provider of the MarketPlace365™ virtual tradeshow platform and live and on-demand Internet video, corporate web communications and content-management applications.