Head of Marketing at All American Entertainment, the leading full-service speakers bureau that exclusively represents event organizers.
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As virtual events become more mainstream, smart event planners and organizers are continually looking for ways to monetize them. To see the highest ROI, virtual event sponsors need to go into the engagement with a winning game plan.
We recently sponsored a virtual event where I also moderated two panel sessions. Here’s how our team prepared to be a proactive virtual event sponsor.
1. Choose A Cross-Departmental Team
Select individuals across your marketing, sales and logistics teams to participate and represent your company, and give each team member defined roles — along with times to be available to help answer questions from attendees. Consider using an internal channel (chat, Slack, etc.) to centralize communications during the event. For example, when a prospect requests to be contacted, let your team know who will pick up the lead.
2. Build A Coverage Game Plan
Schedule your team to divide and conquer. Give team members a predefined time slot to participate and engage at the event. For our event, team members were scheduled to cover two-hour time slots at the event; they spent one hour monitoring the virtual booth and the other hour engaging in the main-stage chat. Additional team members were on call during the entire event. This schedule was shared across the team.
By planning and scheduling coverage, you can minimize confusion when prospects reach out. This also allows your team to continue managing their normal daily workload or attending other event sessions when they’re not scheduled to support your brand.
3. Create A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Resource
Include all of the possible questions that your team or a booth visitor might ask on an internal FAQ document to give your team members information about your speaking sessions, details on offers and giveaways, and where to find support in the event platform if needed. Define suggested messaging for driving traffic and engagement. Having an FAQ document that was available and centralized at our event helped our team be more effective and minimized back-and-forth questions about the event, platform and our participation. When visitors came to the booth and requested a meeting, we could answer questions and facilitate the handoff to our sales team smoothly.
4. Encourage Engagement
Define your desired traffic flow for event attendees based on a few potential conversion paths. Determine how you want attendees to engage with your brand. For our event, this included:
• Driving attendees from the main chat area into the booth to download information or request a meeting with us.
• Encouraging my day-one panel session attendees to register for and attend our roundtable session on day two.
• Inviting attendees to schedule a meeting with our team.
• Offering a gift card to those who booked an event with us at any point in 2021.
When you are sponsoring a virtual event, it is important to strike a balance between encouraging engagement and promoting your booth. To achieve your goals, it will take a concerted team effort to communicate to attendees while being true to your brand voice. This often means engaging in other conversations during the event so that not every communication that comes from your team is a sales pitch. An additional tactic to consider is using direct messaging to connect with attendees. Don’t forget to consider all possible ways to engage with event attendees; some may prefer an individualized approach.
5. Have Relevant Offers
When you understand your target market, you can create offers that will drive them to engage. If you are able, consider multiple offers that align with the intended objective. For example, if you are looking to drive booth traffic, incentivize that action differently than you incentivize requesting a sales meeting. As with any marketing campaign, the incentive should mirror the level of engagement you’re requesting from your prospect.
Make the most of your event sponsorship by being prepared, leveraging your team and — most importantly — enjoying the engagement with your colleagues and prospective customers. After all, nothing sells better than strong relationships.
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