With corporate event management, marketing the event is not a simple task. Even if you book the best venue, get the best speakers on board, and arrange the best catering, your event will be unsuccessful if no one turns up. According to HubSpot, 26.4% of marketers are not aware of which online tool can help them best market their events.
Some great tools that event organiser companies can use to market events include videos and emails. While email marketing is being used quite frequently, video marketing for events is significantly underutilized.
There are several reasons why event organizer companies need to start using video marketing. According to research conducted by HubSpot, more than 50% of people want to see more video content from marketers.
Here are some tips on how you can leverage the power of video marketing and emails to engage attendees.
Create Hype with Event Promotional Videos
Imagine a trailer for a blockbuster movie and think of how it gets you excited for watching the entire feature film. Your event promotional video needs to work on the same lines! It should capture the highlights in one video to hype up people for your event.
When creating a teaser video for your event, you could merge snippets of the event. For instance, you could combine small interviews with the keynote speakers at your event, some statistics about how successful your previous event was into an exciting trailer.
This type of video in your email marketing campaign is going to work excellently, especially for first-timers. Moreover, if, for example, you use proper webinar email subject lines, your campaign will give better results. Potential attendees who don’t have a clear image of your brand and event will get a clear idea of what they can expect from your event.
Extend an Invitation through a Personalized Video
Individual outreach and hype generation are key tools to engage attendees. But what works even better is inviting people via personalized video.
Personalization engages people on a deeper level. Think of how valued you feel when you receive a uniquely personalized invitation to a wedding or a party. Well then, you should send out personalized invites to make your attendees experience the same joy.
Present Early Bird Offers
Everyone loves to save money! So, it’s a great idea for you to focus emails on marketing the savings to your contact list.
Early bird offerings are a standard in the events industry. By providing such offers via email, you’ll encourage attendees to register early. If you choose to go with discounts, these offers can help you cover overhead costs easily.
Another great Early Bird offer is bonuses. You don’t always have to cut back on your prices. Rather, you could give away some relevant bonuses to engage your attendees. For instance, you could have some amazing freebies for your early-bird attendees to make them feel valued.
Shoot A behind the Scenes Video
Such videos are all about showcasing the preparation process that goes behind your event. One way to make these videos engaging is to have some fun elements, like perhaps bloopers!
There is one major difference between an event promo video and a behind the scenes video. In a behind-the-scenes video, you can include anything ranging from the concept behind an idea or a product to introducing one of your key employees.
You can use your existing data to understand which of your potential attendees are going to best react to the video. For instance, you can use an event management software to segment your list according to the data you have collected from past events.
Live Stream Your Event
Live streaming the entire event, or even only the keynotes is an excellent way to engage people who couldn’t physically attend your event.
In 2018, Marketo live-streamed its Marketing Nation Summit which was viewed by nearly a thousand people. All in all, this helped to increase the event’s attendance by approximately 15% and made the Summit one of Marketo’s leading pipeline generation tools.
Moreover, the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care live-streamed 12 educational events and successfully doubled its attendees. According to the non-profit, live streaming of the events not only helped to increase engagement but also helped them save a lot of money on venue and catering fees.
While live-streaming your event can help to temporarily engage your audience, recording these live streams can even be used afterward. Once your event is complete, these recordings can become useful pieces of content to drive traffic to your website.
Have A Post Event Video
A video clip featuring snippets of previous events, along with the current event is a great means of advertising your brand and its offerings. This video email marketing is especially necessary if you want to engage first-time attendants to become repeat delegates.
A post-event video is an excellent way to exhibit your actions and the kind of events you can deliver. Plus, the past event video in your video email campaign can work as an explainer video and a soft reminder of the quality of your services.
Capture A Testimonial Video
Testimonial videos are great for engaging those people who have never attended your event and first-time attendants who aren’t certain if they want to come to your next event. You can even combine testimonial videos with influencer marketing for guaranteed success.
For instance, you could have a look at how selling on Instagram works. Bloggers and influencers are continuously promoting events, products, and services through videos. So, just imagine how you could boost your engagement by collaborating with an influencer with thousands of followers for a testimonial video.
Video marketing and emails are amazing tools to engage event attendees. They effectively capture excitement, fun, and emotion and need to be a key element in any event organiser company’s management plan.
If you follow the tips listed in the article, you’ll be able to better engage your audience in an effective, budget-friendly way.
Author Bio
Sarah Hill is a content writer at Seven Events Ltd, leading virtual event company offering virtual events, corporate event management and venue finding services. She started her career in the events industry almost a decade ago as time progressed she became an avid event blogger sharing her insight on corporate event planning.
