How to Get Your Online

Event Off to a Great

Start
Events aren’t always attended in person. In this day and
age, many events are attended from a living room, or
anywhere in the world – as long as there’s an internet
connection. The best part? Online-only, or “virtual
events”, give you the opportunity to reach many more
people than just those in your geographical location.
That’s an opportunity to expand your brand awareness
and engage an audience you may not otherwise have
been able to connect with. Thinking of hosting an event?
Why not make it virtual?

The benefits of hosting an online event

Many businesses choose to host an online event, like a virtual
workshop or webinar, because they’re cheaper and easier to manage
than in-person events – while still being extremely effective. They can
also help you expand your network, and build your list of contacts.

Fewer logistics

You don’t need to print and send invitations, sell physical tickets,
or spend time looking for the perfect venue for an online event.
Virtual events are easier for your attendees as well. They don’t
have to jump in the car and fight traffic to make it in time.
With a virtual event, you can also send around a recording to
registrants afterwards, so they don’t even have to attend live to
benefit from the content you’re sharing.
Real-time engagement
Another benefit of hosting a virtual event is the variety and amount
of engagement with the attendees. Because this audience has
your full attention, you can encourage them ask or answer
questions.
It’s not uncommon for people to get nervous during in-person
events, and sometimes they feel more comfortable asking those
same questions during a virtual one.
Depending on the online event tool you use, you can even use
polls, or ask people to send you a response via a chat window.
The information you collect from your attendees is invaluable, and
can help you build or refine your business strategy in the future.

Lower budget
Physical events tend to be much more expensive than online-only
events.
Think about the costs associated with providing food for 300
people, printing out promotional materials, or hiring staff.
Online events can be run with much fewer people, promoted
online with email marketing, and attendees can cater for
themselves in the comfort of their own homes or offices.
Ideas for your next (or first) online event
You can have different goals when hosting an online event.
Although many virtual events are for awareness purposes, you
can also use them to build leads, promote products, raise
funds, or to sell the content itself, with attendees purchasing
tickets. Whatever the case may be, your event needs to have
enough value to drive registrations.

Here are some examples of virtual events to help you choose the
type that works best for your business or non-profit organisation:

➢ Teach a workshop on your business expertise

➢ Interview an industry influencer

➢ Show how to make your most popular cupcake

➢ Host a series of courses on perennial gardening

➢ Run a question and answer session about your business

➢ Demo your brand new product

➢ Run an awareness webinar prompting attendees to donate to

your cause
How to promote your online events
As mentioned above, one of the many benefits of hosting a virtual event
is the ability to do all of your marketing online.

With online marketing comes marketing automation – streamlining all

of those typically manual marketing tasks into easy, automated
processes, like email marketing. Here are a few ways you can promote
your virtual events online:

❖ Send out an email invite to your contact list

❖ Promote your event on social media

❖ Ask guests to register or buy tickets online

❖ Add your event registration link to your website and email

newsletter

Don’t worry – “automated” does not mean “robotic”. In fact, email

marketing automation allows you to personalise and target your
communications to provide the most relevant content to your audience.
A great way to use email marketing is to create a series of automated
email messages that are sent out over time. An example of an
automated email series could be:

Welcome emails
Thank customers for joining your list after they register by sending them
an automated welcome email that reminds them of the event details,
provides contact information for your business, and offers any current
promotions.
Invitation emails
Set up an automated email series of invitations to your event, prompting
your prospects to “sign up before it’s too late.” These can become more
urgent as the event gets closer.

Reminder emails
In the weeks leading up to your event, send an automated series of
reminder emails to make sure your registrants have all the information
they need to attend.

Follow-up emails
Send out a “thank you for attending” email that includes a recording of
your virtual event, and invites them to future sessions. Registrants will
appreciate the extra engagement, and are more likely to attend your
next event.