Hybrid Events: The Future of Event Marketing
In-person events are back, but virtual events are here to stay too! When pandemic restrictions made event marketing a challenge and organizing in-person events became near impossible, B2B marketers and event managers adopted virtual events as the go-to event strategy to fill the gap.
As the markets gradually reopen, many attendees are keen to participate in physical events with face-to-face interactions. However, others still prefer to join virtually to avoid traveling to venues. This has led to a hybrid event strategy that blends both worlds – in-person and virtual.
According to a Forrester survey, 58% of marketing leaders agree that in two years all key B2B marketing events will follow a hybrid model. The survey also revealed that in 2022, 63% of organizations plan to host the same number or more virtual events.
A great opportunity for B2B marketers and event managers to engage with their audience.
Hybrid events, when planned strategically, can deliver better ROI than organizing in-person or virtual events exclusively.
See how the power of SpiceWorld and Spiceworks Community helped Scale Computing achieve 55x ROI from closed/won opportunities generated.
Read this success story
Five Ways Hybrid Event Marketing Can Deliver Better ROI
1. Find more opportunities to improve engagement rates
For events to be successful – whether in-person, virtual, or hybrid – the biggest factor is immersive engagement. B2B marketers can use different engagement tactics, tools, and technologies, to improve audience interaction and engagement. Some ways to create engagement and connect audiences in hybrid events include:
- Running polls throughout on-demand and live sessions to get audience feedback
- Conducting question and answers sessions to promote audience participation
- Conducting post-event surveys to assess performance of the event
- Providing live chat function to keep conversations going and to enhance networking
- Creating light and interesting, yet thought-provoking quizzes to foster more participation
2. Leverage event analytics to boost performance
The power of virtual events in a hybrid event marketing strategy lies in the ability to track and assess performance. Virtual event platforms support better attendee tracking and insights. These provide B2B marketers and event managers with information about successful sessions and those that were not so popular.
While scanning badges at booths at in-person events is a good source of information for lead follow-ups, tracking what audiences are clicking on in virtual events can give more chances of capturing the preferences and behavior of the target audience. This information helps modern marketers get a better understanding of what resonates with their audience and informs their content, product, and sales strategies.
Also, keep in mind that every event platform is different and not all have the ability or built-in analytics to capture rich information. Therefore, it’s also important to choose the right platform to ensure that information captured – across touchpoints for in-person and virtual audiences – is relevant to evaluating and improving future event marketing strategies.
Highlights: What Event Analytics from SpiceWorld Virtual 2021 Revealed
- During the 30-minute sessions, sponsors received between 100 – 450+ live streams on average. These quick and to the point sessions resonated well with IT decision makers (ITDMs). However, sponsors should keep in mind that content needs to be interesting and relevant for ITDMs. Sharing information about how your technology helps them, how it solves their real-world challenges, and new technology you plan to launch could be better than a conventional demo presentation.
- The keynote sessions were popular with higher viewership. Steve Wozniak’s session garnered 1,041 unique live streams, and Hacker Valley Studio’s session received 589 unique live streams. Sponsoring keynote sessions is a great opportunity to get your brand in front of attendees.
- We observed that sponsors who chose to participate in the Passport to Prizes program had significantly more booth traffic. Participating in programs like this is a great way to amplify attendee engagement, make connections with ITDMs, improve brand visibility, and drive traffic to your booth.
3. Scale your reach with access to a wider audience
Hybrid events allow attendees to choose how they want to participate – in-person or virtually. Offering attendees a choice increases the number of participants and reduces no-show rates worldwide. No longer restricted by the size of physical venues, hybrid events also allow marketers to extend their brand reach and increase the number of prospects to connect with.
4. Drive content marketing strategies
Developing content for a hybrid event requires a holistic brand engagement strategy. The aim of content marketing for in-person events is to attract audiences to booths on the show-floor, while content for virtual sessions needs to be designed for a wider audience.
One way to approach this is to capture the initial interest of in-person attendees by creating an engaging session or delivering a dynamic physical booth experience. Capitalizing on this interest, marketers can encourage attendees to explore virtual content as well. In this way, they can drive back interest to relevant resources in a virtual booth or supplementary content in a speaking session.
5. Customize hybrid event strategies to get in front of your audience
Developing a hybrid event strategy can vary based on different business requirements. A great way to engage your audience and get them talking while boosting your brand’s presence is by customizing your strategies – whether using mobile applications, adding gamification, providing brand entertainment, or using email marketing. Keep an eye out for part two of this series for some examples of how you can customize in-person and virtual sessions.
Quick Tips to Make a Hybrid Event Successful
- Combine in-person and virtual events into a seamless experience.
- Give equal attention to both in-person and remote attendees.
- Consider a smart gifting strategy for both audiences. If you’re providing refreshments for in-person attendees, send a gift package to virtual attendees before the event.
- Bridge the gap between in-person and virtual attendees by facilitating networking with curated sessions such as speed networking, one-on-one meetings, or breakout sessions.
- Leverage mobile capabilities to offer in-person attendees to easily navigate the event and network with peers at the event and virtually.
Hybrid Events: Get the best of both worlds
A hybrid event strategy solves the needs of different subsets of the audience interested in attending the event – those who want to attend in person and those who are keen to join virtually. Hybrid events serve as a midway point for marketers and event managers to navigate audience preferences, regulations in different regions, and contractual commitments with venues. Validating the shift to “virtual-first” event models, Gartner predicts that by 2024, 30% of technology providers (with revenue of at least $100 million) will complement in-person events with digital elements and independent virtual events, to broaden their reach to a wider audience.
Interested in being part of a hybrid B2B event? Whether you prefer in-person or virtual events, you get to choose, because this year SpiceWorld 2022 is hybrid! You can attend our in-person event in Austin, Texas and connect face-to-face with IT buyers, or join the conversation online through our virtual event. No matter what you decide, SpiceWorld is a chance to witness the tech marketplace come to life and make authentic connections with ITDMs. We look forward to seeing you there. Register now or see our sponsorship opportunities.