Events aren’t just a way to bring people together anymore. When produced effectively, they can be a major asset to your business marketing strategy. Events are an ideal way to feed your pipeline with people who want to buy your products and services. Plus, individuals who want to engage with your community to help grow your brand. Simply put, leads! A lead is someone that’s interested in what you have to offer. In fact, over 90% of consumers share that they have more positive feelings about brands after attending events and experiences. That’s a major indication that you need to be using events to grow your business and generate profitable leads. For the benefit of both you and your event sponsors! So how does lead generation look different in today’s hybrid event environment? Today, we’re going to cover all the ways you can get ROI on your hybrid event.
Lead Generation in a Hybrid Era: Is It All That Different?
Nearly ¾ of marketers use events to generate leads for their business. So, does that look different now that events aren’t fully in person? While many say nothing can compete with face-to-face meetings when it comes to creating connections and valuable interactions, 89% of event organizers say that even though face-to-face meetings are resuming, virtual and hybrid elements will remain critical to their post-pandemic event strategy. This means one thing, you now have double the opportunity to generate leads with your events, that’s the difference with hybrid lead generation. Don’t let that opportunity go to waste. This is the key to generating ROI on your hybrid event.
Hybrid Event Lead Generation Avenues to Try
These are just a few of the many lead generation opportunities that could help your team produce ROI on your hybrid event investments. Start here and then grow!
Registration Data
This is a given, but you need to use your registration data as leads! They’re not necessarily qualified leads, they may not buy tomorrow, but it’s your job to engage them after the event to cultivate them a bit more to get them to that point. If they signed up, they must want something you have to offer!
Intentional Networking Opportunities
Many businesses today (and your sponsors, can’t forget about them) are valuing quality over quantity. Intentional networking event opportunities are a way for event participants to cultivate meaningful relationships with hot prospects and leads, whether attending virtually or in person. Set up one-on-one speed-style networking cocktail hours where your team gets paired with both virtual and in-person attendees. There are great AI tools out there that will logically pair people up with minimal effort on your part. Offer product demos that are in small group settings with Q&A at the end. Create opportunities for real, impactful conversations that will lead to ROI for your business or your sponsor’s business.
QR Codes Throughout the Event
While many thought QR codes were a thing of the past, with the more digital-first approach to events they’re making a strong comeback. You can put QR codes on all your on-site print materials offering a deal for attendees to claim with email. Or feature them for gamification opportunities that attendees can participate in if they download an app that requires them to input their personal data.
Interactive Technologies On-Site
On-site technology is a great way to capture greater information from your attendees. Create touchless displays that provide some sort of output that your audience will want. One great example of this is Cisco produced a gesture-based interactive screen. When attendees walked past the screen, they were able to bust a move, then the screen turned their moves into a virtual GIF that they could receive via email after inputting their details. It was fun, entertaining, and a great way to capture attendee information!
Use Your Virtual Event Platform to Spark Data Points
Facilitating features like polls and agenda building will allow you to gain even more insight into your virtual event participants, and some of your in-person participants. This will help you qualify the lead far more than the registration data alone.
Opportunity to Download Recordings Post-Event
Why should the lead gen stop when the event is over? Offer non-event attendees an opportunity to download event presentations for a fee or an exclusive offer, that way you know they’re interested and can capture their contact details.
The Success Lies in the Follow-Up
The key here though is not necessarily just in the lead generation. For your leads to produce ROI for your event, you must have a solid follow-up strategy to engage those leads post-event.
Think call campaigns with your inside sales team, email marketing campaigns to engage and get them to purchase products, etc.
Use these ideas to get started creating your lead generation strategy. Then, devise a solid follow-up plan. You’ll be on your way to generating a million-dollar event portfolio in no time!
Struggling to Cultivate Leads that Produce ROI? Let’s Chat.
If you’re producing hybrid or virtual events and aren’t getting more than a new email subscriber here and there, you may need to tweak something when it comes to your lead generation strategy. There could be any number of things that you can do to ensure that you’re meaningfully connecting with your audience in a way that encourages them to engage, whether that means sharing your content, purchasing your products, registering for one of your courses, the list goes on. In order for your events to be successful, you must start cultivating qualified leads. And our Eventistry by Alecia team can help you identify where you may be falling short, leading you in a direction that will help your business grow. Let’s chat!
