The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way events are planned and executed. Last-minute changes and unexpected developments are now par for the course — even more so than they were before — and digital audiences are suddenly at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
Event marketing is a big part of pulling off a successful event, and to help eventprofs navigate the “new normal,” XLIVE spoke with Sasha Pasulka, VP of Marketing at event marketing platform Splash, for insight on how the landscape has changed, as well as her top tips on how to navigate post-pandemic event marketing.
How Has Event Marketing Changed in the Age of Covid?
Pasulka notes that at the beginning of Covid, event marketers essentially had to become digital marketers, which was not something they necessarily had much prior experience with.
“They had to learn this whole new skill set around, ‘How do you create a virtual event? How do you do a webinar? How do you create connections and tell a brand story over a virtual event?’ and that was a really tough learning curve,” she says.
Now that many marketers have had several months to adapt to new ways of working, they’re capable of executing virtual, in-person, and hybrid events, and they’re in a position to take a step back and decide the most appropriate way to host any given event based on its goals and objectives. “The ability to include a virtual component has transformed access and connection in really exciting ways,” says Pasulka.
On the flip side, there is also currently a lot of tension around whether to have an in-person component. “It can be a really challenging decision,” notes Pasulka. “And if you do decide to go in-person, you then need to consider what protocols need to be put in place, and how to communicate those to your audience. There is an evolving set of best practices around that.”
5 Tips for Creating Effective Event Marketing Campaigns
Given that best practices around event marketing in our current reality are a bit of a moving target, eventprofs should always consider first and foremost what makes sense for their own event and audience.
That said, here are 5 event marketing best practices from Pasulka:
1. Make Your Protocols Clear Upfront
Health and safety protocols have become a necessary reality for events happening now and into the foreseeable future, and it’s vital for events to clearly communicate expectations with in-person attendees. Pasulka recommends that any event that intends to require vaccination, masking, etc. have mandatory checkboxes on the registration form for attendees to confirm that they are fully vaccinated, will bring their registration card, etc.
“Don’t let people register, and then later tell them they're going to have to wear a mask or they're going to have to be vaccinated. Make sure that information is communicated directly upfront, so they know that going in,” she says. In addition, it’s important to be very clear about any changes and communicate with attendees on an ongoing basis so that everyone knows the protocols that they will be expected to follow.
2. Communicate Your Refund Policy
As events are unfortunately experiencing another wave of cancellations, Pasulka emphasizes that it’s more important than ever to be clear about cancellation policies from the outset.
“If you’re hosting a paid ticketed event,” she says, “think through your ticket refund policy and clearly communicate what you plan to do if you have to cancel, postpone, pivot to virtual, etc. Make sure that’s not a secret when people are registering.”
3. Consider the Value You’re Providing to In-Person Attendees
For hybrid events, the virtual and in-person components will have different appeals, and will often need to be marketed differently. The first thing to do is to determine whether the event really needs an in-person component, or whether it can effectively be delivered online.
Events that do decide to include an in-person component should make it clear to attendees why they should be there live. “Are you doing giveaways? Are there networking opportunities?” says Pasulka. “What is the benefit to them? Will there be important announcements that they're going to want to be the first to know about?”
Promoting an in-person event is particularly challenging as many organizations still have strict travel restrictions in place and it’s becoming more difficult for attendees to justify the budget needed to attend an event in-person. Pasulka explains, “As a marketer, you need to distinguish your event and help your attendee identify the true value of attending meetings in-person.”
4. Have a Backup Plan in Place
Before you can communicate updates and changes to attendees, you need to be clear yourself on what your contingency plan is and the conditions under which you will activate it. Many events are switching to a virtual format last-minute after cancelling their in-person event, which is a much easier change to make if you’re prepared for the possibility.
“Consider what would have to be happening in the world for you to say we're cancelling this, or moving this to virtual, or we're pushing it back six months,” Pasulka advises. “If you can define those things up front, you don't have to have a whole bunch of arguments and moments of tearing your hair out in the future. You just know: If X, Y, or Z happens, we do this.”
5. Leverage Attendee Data to Improve Your Marketing Strategy
Data has been a big topic in the events industry since the proliferation of virtual events has made it easier than ever to collect large amounts of specific attendee data. This data is extremely valuable and can be leveraged in various ways, particularly when it comes to event marketing.
“First of all, you can use attendee data to get a better understanding of your audience as well as kind of what content and messaging works,” says Pasulka. “For example, what type of person registers for the event and watches it live versus on demand, or what type of person will attend in person? What messaging works to get people to a to a live event?”
The other advantage of virtual events and webinars is that you can easily use them as a starting point from which to create other pieces of content. For example, sessions from your event can be made into short videos on different topics that you can then promote to attendees who may be interested but couldn’t attend live. Sessions could also be repurposed as blog posts, white papers, etc.
“You can then look at what types of audiences engaged with your content to figure out what works for what profile,” explains Pasulka. In this way, you can repackage and re-promote different types of content to different audiences and use the additional data you collect to improve your future event marketing and content.