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6 Reasons Why Face-to-Face Events Still Matter

Posted on by Alice Momo

You probably don’t need us to tell you that COVID-19 did a number of face-to-face events.

In the wake of the pandemic, businesses have leapt with both feet into the world of virtual events. Yet as things begin to trend back to normal, do face-to-face events still hold an appeal? We think so.

Here are six reasons why face-to-face events still matter.

1. The Intangibility of Sociability

Many intangibles govern our social interactions—more than we often realize. Everything from micro-expressions to the way we stand can influence the opinions of the people we speak with.

Digital events can make all interactions that much harder as a result. Conversations can come off stilted and awkward, and not everyone feels comfortable negotiating that digital interaction space.

Put simply, face-to-face events are more natural to us, which completely changes the way we interact. We’re all still apes, in the end.

2. We Like Stuff

That ape thing? It applies in other ways, too. For instance: we love to touch things.

The digital world is dissatisfying to us on an instinctual level because it doesn’t accommodate that instinct. At events, there are tangible things to look at, interact with, and take home. All of these things stick better in the memory—and are more fulfilling—than virtual interactions.

3. The Happenstance Factor

Some of life’s best opportunities come from happenstance.

There’s very little room for happenstance in digital events, though. You’re unlikely to bump into your next major client or have a mutual acquaintance hook you up with a new business partner. Digital events are typically too structured for this and lack the human element of chaotic interaction.

For these unplanned but incredible occurrences, face-to-face events remain the king.

4. Building Communities

As digital living has taken over our lives, community spirit has waned. That’s as true in the business world as it is in our daily lives.

Face-to-face events are an excellent way to reverse that trend. By meeting in person, we can network, interact, and built strong business communities that benefit everyone. In a way, this is the long-term, big picture outcome of the points above.

5. Projecting Your Identity

One big problem facing businesses suddenly forced into a mostly digital space is the loss of identity. The talking heads of a Zoom meeting can feel neutral, void of business personality, no matter how exciting your employees are.

When attending face-to-face events, you get a real chance to put your brand’s personality out there and make a statement.

6. They’re Fun!

No matter how much we love our jobs, we all enjoy some time out of the office now and then. Face-to-face events aren’t just a chance to do business, they’re also fun and a chance to get away from everyday operations.

By contrast, digital events can feel like just another virtual meeting. They don’t offer that variety and, in a world where we’re increasingly glued to screens, they don’t offer a chance to get away from things.

Why Face-to-Face Events Still Matter

If you’ve wondered why face-to-face events still matter in an increasingly digital world, then wonder no longer. If digital had all the answers, we’d have all made the switch a decade ago—so it’s clear that face-to-face events still have their place.

Looking for an event marketing upgrade? Check out our events & activations services today.

Digital Marketing Executables and KPIs

Posted on by Alice Momo

Welcome to the last article in our seven week series, “The New Digital Marketing.” Over these past weeks I’ve lead you through the steps of developing your own online marketing strategy from start to finish. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar business getting online for the first time – or have had your digital ducks in a row for years… the world has changed and we are adapting. Let’s do it together. This is the fun part – let’s look at your “Digital Marketing Executables and KPIs.”

 

If you’re just joining us, don’t miss the first six pieces in this series:

Week 1: Realign and Get Online

Week 2: Virtual Meetings and Conferences

Week 3: Engage to be Engaging

Week 4: Digital Strategic Planning

Week 5: Empathetic Marketing

Week 6: Organizing Your Digital Presence

 

———————

 

Wasting money on marketing. 

It’s a common problem many businesses face. Not because marketing doesn’t work, but because their marketing efforts are often more reactive than proactive. 

They put out a Facebook ad here and a Google ad there, without even tracking how effective each campaign is or if they are even getting a return on their investment. Without a sound marketing strategy in place, your business might be missing out on great opportunity after great opportunity. When this happens, your revenue and profit can dry up, and you may even go out of business.

You need to develop SMART marketing goals for your business. Today, I’ll look at what SMART goals are and what you need to create and achieve them. Here is your four-step plan to set up your SMART marketing plan for your new digital marketing… 

  1. Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Bound) marketing goals. Before, we look at how to come up with SMART marketing goals, a quick note about the difference between business goals and marketing goals. A common business goal is to drive more sales. Your marketing goal to achieve this business goal would be to increase website traffic, drive more click-throughs from paid ads, grow your email list, and so on.  Your business goal is a “big picture goal.” Your marketing goals are what you need to do to achieve your business goals. It’s important to make sure that your marketing goals are aligned with your overall business goals.

    The following are the five components of SMART marketing goals…

    Specific. Determine what you want to accomplish, then make it specific. For instance, don’t just say “my goal is to increase my subscriber list,” say “my goal is to increase my subscriber list by 50% by November 15th of this year.”

    Measurable. Your goal itself should answer the question “How will I know when I have accomplished this goal?” When you’re able to measure the success of your goal, you’ll be able to track the progress you’re making towards the achievement of your goal. Plus, when your goal is measurable, it makes it easy to communicate success to everyone involved.

    Attainable.  Figure out the effort, time, resources, and skills needed to achieve each goal. Use your past performance (if available) to determine the attainability of your goal. For instance, if you average a 1% response rate on your marketing campaigns, it might not be realistic to set a goal of achieving a 10% response rate within the next six months.

    Relevant. What problem is it solving? How high of a priority is the problem? What’s the expected ROI of the goal? Does it align with your other needs? Your goal must benefit your business and be important to both you and your target audience. It must also align with your overall marketing and business objectives.

    Time-bound. Parkinson’s law says, “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” To avoid that happening, you need to assign timelines and deadlines to your goals. When you add set dates for completion, it creates urgency and inspires action. It motivates you to do whatever it takes to meet your time commitment. So, determine what is the most reasonable amount of time you need and then stick to it. 
  2. Determine your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs for your marketing initiatives relate to sales growth, profit, market share, lead generation, new customer acquisition, lifetime value of your customer, conversion rates, website metrics, social media engagement, SEO performance, etc.  Assign deadlines, numbers, and metrics to each one you’re focusing on. These are the benchmarks you will use to determine if you are successful or lagging behind. You’ll want to continue to develop and increase your KPIs going forward. Put together 30 and 90-day KPI plans and then determine what KPIs you’d like to achieve over one year, three years, and five years. (Although I’ve listed this as Step 2, identifying your KPIs is something you’ll do hand in hand with Step 1.)

    It’s often easier to determine what steps are necessary to achieve a KPI if you work backward. For example, let’s say your KPI is to generate $100,000 in new revenue in the next six months. You would then ask yourself, “Based on your average sale per customer, how many customers do you need to generate $100,000 in revenue?” From experience, you know you need 10 customers to generate $100,000. If your conversion rate is 10%, you will need 100 qualified leads to generate 10 sales. Next, determine what you have to do to generate 100 qualified leads. When you do this exercise, it will also be a bellwether as to whether each of your marketing goals is attainable. 
  3. Set up a strategy to accomplish your goals. After you have your SMART marketing goals mapped out, your next step is to put together a strategy to achieve them. Your blueprint should list the milestones you will achieve along the way and what you will do to achieve them and when. You can map out your strategy in a spreadsheet or invest in software (such as Asana) that is designed to help you plan and implement your strategic goals. 
  4. Review and change your strategy when necessary. At least once a month (or as required), you will want to review the progress you’re making on your goals. Are you on track?  Are you falling behind? If you are falling behind, try to determine why and come up with a solution, and then adjust accordingly. For example, if your goal is 5,000 new list subscribers in six months and you’ve only added a few hundred three months in, it’s time to reexamine your strategy. Remember, setting and achieving SMART marketing goals is a learning experience. The more you do it, the better you will get at it.

 

SMART marketing goals force you to plan and develop expectations for all of your marketing actions and campaigns and prevents you from taking a haphazard approach to marketing. If you do them consistently, your business will be more successful. More importantly, you’ll feel better every day that both you and your business are on the right track.

 

Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema

Organize Your Digital Presence

Posted on by Alice Momo

Welcome to week six in our series, “The New Digital Marketing.” Over seven weeks I’m going to lead you through the steps of developing your own online marketing strategy from start to finish. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar business getting online for the first time – or have had your digital ducks in a row for years… the world has changed and we are adapting. Let’s do it together. It’s time to “Organize Your Digital Presence.”

 

If you’re just joining us, don’t miss the first five pieces in this series:

 

Week 1: Realign and Get Online

Week 2: Virtual Meetings and Conferences

Week 3: Engage to be Engaging

Week 4: Digital Strategic Planning

Week 5: Empathetic Marketing

———————

 

The Internet levels the playing field for businesses. It enables small and medium-sized businesses to compete successfully with large businesses that have more resources and money at their disposal. When you create a solid digital presence that provides great and relevant content for your prospects and customers, backed by great customer service, you will win and prosper. Plus, your customers will love you!

 

The following are seven steps that will help you get your digital presence organized (and effective) from stem to stern…

 

  1. Create (or update) your website. Your website is your 24 hours a day hub with all your “digital roads” leading back to it. Every business needs a website. Besides generating leads and closing sales, your website establishes your expertise and credibility. Plus, it’s an opportunity to tell potential customers what makes you unique and why they should do business with you versus your competition.

    If you already have a business website, it’s a good time to consider ways in which you can improve the effectiveness of your site. Are you using outdated themes and technology? Is it mobile friendly? Does a prospect immediately know that you are the solution to their problem? Is it easy to navigate? Is it visually pleasing? Does it appeal to the clients you are trying to attract? And so on.

    An easy way to increase sales and customer convenience is to add e-commerce functionality to your website. A big benefit of selling a product through your website (other than a greater profit margin) versus selling through an online marketplace is you acquire the customer’s contact information. This gives you the ability to market to them in the future which allows you to build a relationship of trust with them. This is important because repeat customers are nine times more likely to convert than a first-time shopper, according to a report by Adobe.
  2. Create (or update) social media sites. Social media is the least expensive form of marketing and allows you to repurpose your content over multiple channels. A smart social media strategy can quickly increase your brand awareness, boost engagement, generate leads and sales, provide customer service, and drive traffic to your website. It can lead to mentions in the press, plus it is a way for you to “listen” to conversations about your brand. At the very least, your business should be on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Beyond that, great things can happen with YouTube, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok. Decide what your goal is with social media, which platforms best attract your target audience, and create a plan to reach them. 
  3. Create Common Branding. Consistent branding across all aspects of your business will mold a positive perception and it will instill trust and loyalty in your customers. Your branding (and messaging) should be uniform across both your digital platforms and your offline marketing efforts.
  4. Embrace an online meeting platform. While video conferencing has never been more popular, even in normal times it’s a way for businesses to save time and cut down on travel costs. Besides talking with your customers face to face, many video conferencing services allow users to share screens, exchange files, communicate using digital whiteboards, and so on. For more information, check out my post, Virtual Meeting 101.
  5. Create an email newsletter. Email is still one of the most popular forms of communication. An email newsletter will keep you top of mind with your prospects and customers. This will increase traffic to your website and help grow your social media community (which, in turn, will increase conversions). An email newsletter is not intrusive. You are providing your customers with useful information, not inundating them with advertising.
  6. Create (or update) your blog. Writing a regular blog post strengthens your relationship with your customers. A blog will also improve your search engine ranking and increase your online traffic as Google loves fresh content. Plus, you can repurpose your blog posts by also featuring them in your email newsletter.
  7. Organize it all in a task-management platform. When you think of the various components of your digital presence, you might feel overwhelmed when thinking about making it all run smoothly. Fortunately, there are programs designed with just this in mind.  We use Asana and it has been a complete game-changer.  More on that to come.  As Asana certified professionals, we can also get you a link to save 10% off of your first year – plus we can help you onboard and train your team.


To get (and keep) a leg up on your competition, a comprehensive well thought out digital strategy is vital. And while a strong digital presence is all about technology, it’s important to remember that marketing is all about engaging your prospects and customers and providing them with the solutions they are looking for in an empathetic way.

 

Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema

Empathetic Marketing

Posted on by Alice Momo

Empathetic marketing generates credibility and trust… and more sales.

Welcome to the fifth article in our series, “The New Digital Marketing.” Over seven weeks I’m going to lead you through the steps of developing your own online marketing strategy from start to finish. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar business getting online for the first time – or have had your digital ducks in a row for years… the world has changed and we are adapting. Let’s do it together. This week we are going to practice our “Empathetic Marketing” skills.

 

If you’re just joining us, don’t miss the first four pieces in this series:

 

Week 1: Realign and Get Online

Week 2: Virtual Meetings and Conferences

Week 3: Engage to be Engaging

Week 4: Digital Strategic Planning

 

———————


There is an old marketing adage: “people love to buy, but they don’t want to be sold.” How true! So, how do you make it so people “love to buy” from you? Use empathetic marketing.

Empathetic marketing is when you see your products and services, not through a marketer’s eyes, but your customer’s eyes. As humans, we love to laugh, feel joy, and love. We are proud and crave recognition—and we sometimes cry, fear, and doubt. As a marketer, you must interact with your clients in a way that connects with your customer’s emotions and motivation.

This is especially true in this new normal. In all corners of the globe, people are dealing with the same struggle, uncertainty, and fear of the unknown. It has enhanced our need and desire to care for and help each other.   

Marketing with empathy means that you understand your customer’s wants and needs, which generates trust, loyalty, and greater mutual business success. With an empathetic approach, you are always looking for ways to make your customer’s life better.

Here are five ways you can take a more empathetic approach to your marketing…

 

  1. Ask “How does my product make my customer feel?” — People buy on emotion and then justify their decision with facts and logic. Mark Ingwer, in his book Empathetic Marketing, lists the six core emotional needs as 1) control; 2) self-expression; 3) growth; 4) recognition; 5) belonging; and 6) caring. Think about how your product or service makes your prospect feel concerning each point. Think of each step they take, both pre-purchase and post-purchase. Pay attention to their emotional, mental, social, and physical needs and note any obstacles they may come up against along the way. Imagining how someone will feel while using your product will spark creativity and originality within you, which will provide you with new and innovative ideas. 
  2. Do your research — Your goal is to understand what motivates your customers and to clarify what they need from you to make their experience with you more positive. Here are three ways to do customer research: 1) Meet your prospects “virtually face to face” and ask them open-ended questions (“What are the main reasons you chose our product/service?” “How would you describe your experience with us?” “If you could change anything about our product or service what would you change?” etc.); 2) Listen to sales or customer service calls; and 3) Survey customers online. Explain to your customer in advance that you are open to receiving negative feedback from them as it is an opportunity for you to improve.   
  3. Create a customer profile — Start a file on your customer that lists things such as their age, family background, likes, dislikes, household composition, habits, behaviors, emotions, goals, issues, buying history, and so on. This will help you (and your team) have more personal and impactful engagements with your customers.   
  4. Give your customers useful customer-centric content — Help your clients identify and solve problems. Prove your expertise to your customers with content that helps them get clarity as to what they want to accomplish and show them how your concepts can provide a solution. 
  5. Make empathy your lifestyle — Operating with empathy is not just a marketing strategy, it’s a lifestyle. Because to be effective, every communication with your customers must be authentic, honest, and genuine. You must always put your customer’s best interests at heart and seek solutions that will bring benefits to their lives. You must always seek to understand your customers so you can lift them up and make their lives better. You must practice empathy throughout your organization from upper management to your employees and suppliers.


Empathy is your superpower. It gives you credibility, strengthens relationships, and trust—and will turn your prospects into customers and your customers into raving fans. 

Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema

Digital Strategic Planning

Posted on by Alice Momo

Welcome to the fourth article in our series, “The New Digital Marketing.” Over seven weeks I’m going to lead you through the steps of developing your own online marketing strategy from start to finish. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar business getting online for the first time – or have had your digital ducks in a row for years… the world has changed and we are adapting. Let’s do it together. It’s time to get into the meat of your, “Digital Strategic Planning.”

If you’re just joining us, don’t miss the first three pieces in this series:

Week 1: Realign and Get Online
Week 2: Virtual Meetings and Conferences
Week 3: Engage to be Engaging

———————
Human connection makes the world better. The ability to be real, vulnerable and authentic with each other can make the pain of separation sting a little less. Learning that our pain is, in fact, shared lightens the load on our shoulders. So when we think about our marketing today – the digital shines brightest.

If all marketing is identifying pain points and then relieving them, then digital marketing is paramount when we are apart. So, let’s think about how your humanity and your brand can merge into a new digital plan.

Like any strategy, your digital marketing needs clarity of purpose, measurable KPIs and an executable list of deliverables. What sets it apart from your other marketing initiatives is creative content and engagement. Here’s how to set it up:

  1. What’s the point? Clearly, and with that aforementioned humanity, define the answer to the question, “Why are we going to market?” What pain-points are you going to address with your audience? From there, establish the goals of this marketing strategy. Are we increasing brand awareness? Launching a new product or service? Increasing leads and conversions? Be sure everyone on your team has the same objectives in mind.
  2. Tell a story. People are driven by a narrative, and that’s really hard right now – because so much of the future is uncertain. Create your digital campaigns with this in mind. Communicate a narrative, an experience for your audience. No piece of your digital presence stands alone. Map out a clear beginning, middle and end… and then what story will come after. If you are running multiple campaigns at the same time, like a new product along with brand awareness, consider how they can tie together to provide continuity for your audience.
  3. Engage to be Engaging. Now is the time to highlight the humanity in your brand. Be real. Your content needs to get your audience talking with you and about you. Read this piece from last week to learn more.
  4. Pick your platforms. Where will you tell this story? Will you build out an informative series of blog articles that tie in to posts on social media? Which social platforms? Keep in mind the demographic differences of both your client base and the social media you plan to use. Also remember that some platforms are driven with visuals, like Pinterest and Instagram, while others allow you more copy interaction.
  5. Create a calendar. I strongly recommend using task-management software to integrate your team and work product. Within this platform you should have a marketing calendar that clearly outlines your strategy, the specific executable tasks for each piece as well as the corresponding timeframe to keep work on track. Since things are changing more rapidly than ever before, let’s look at 90 days out at a time.
  6. Monitor and pivot. As you and your team get into this new strategy, plan ahead to monitor analytics, social listening, website traffic, lead generation and conversion rates so that you can accurately measure your success as you go. When things change, be ready to adapt and change along with them so that you and your client remain in sync.

You’re ready to strategize your way to new revenue streams online. Jump in with both feet. I will see you next week to discuss how empathetic marketing gives you a leg up on your competition and a connection with your customers.

Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema

Engage to be Engaging

Posted on by Alice Momo

Welcome to the third article in our series, “The New Digital Marketing.” Over seven weeks, I’m going to lead you through the steps of developing your own online marketing strategy from start to finish. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar business getting online for the first time – or have had your digital ducks in a row for years… the world has changed and we are adapting. Let’s do it together. This week I want to look at ways we can “Engage to be Engaging.”

 

If you’re just joining us, don’t miss the first two pieces in this series:

 

Week 1: Realign and Get Online

Week 2: Virtual Meetings and Conferences

 

———————

If content is king, engagement is queen–and we all know the future is female. The best part of digital marketing is the opportunity to build a virtual community around your brand, and what a gift that is when we can’t be together in person.

 

By now, in preparation for our new normal, hopefully you’ve done a thorough realignment and pivoted your messaging. You’ve also spent time developing an online avenue for meetings and events. So now we get to go after the heart of it. Successfully marketing to an audience that we can’t physically be in front of takes more than great copy and media. We have to get our tribe talking about us and with us. Here’s how:

 

  1. Plan and measure. Before you start developing content, decide what engagement means to you. The term is used loosely in marketing to describe a variety of things – from clicks and likes to comments and shares. And beyond that, leads and conversions of those leads to sales. More on that later. For now though, be sure that you know what kind of interaction you want and how you’ll measure its effectiveness.
  2. Blog. Become your brand’s voice and establish yourself as the expert in your field with an engaging blog. Use social listening to understand the pain points of your audience and offer them relief with professional advice that they can act on. Once your blog post is live on your site – share it far and wide. Engage with your audience by asking open-ended questions about the article topic and then respond in the comments when they answer.
  3. Leverage the power of the group. Build your own and join the ones that are already popular with your audience on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. Join as both yourself and your company so that you can volley comments from both sides. Now that we are physically separated, online groups are exploding in popularity and, more importantly, immersive engagement. Be a conversation starter. Show your expertise by commenting on the posts of others. This is not a place for a sales pitch, so be human. When people start to see you shine they’ll want to work with you.
  4. Grab attention with digital media. Like any online content, the image that you pair with your copy is paramount. Have a video? Even better. Can you shoot a live video? Do it. The images we use to tell our stories are the initial draw. They’re the carrot at the end of your stick. Make them count.
  5. Invite engagement. While this may sound obvious–the best way to get people to participate in a discussion or conversation is to invite them. Ask questions. Take polls. Make them laugh or stir emotions. Tell stories and ask your audience to comment with similar experiences, struggles or successes. This is where your humanity is your greatest asset–be real and authentic and your audience will respond.

 

You’re ready to jump in and get people talking. Build your audience into a powerhouse of interaction and engagement. Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. 

 

Remember, we are on this journey together.

 

The next step in our journey is digital strategic planning and its place in your new marketing plan. See you next week with an article on how to “Strategize for the New Normal.” Comment below with your thoughts on these ideas and share your successes.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema

 

Virtual Meeting and Conferences

Posted on by Alice Momo

Welcome to the second article in our series, “The New Digital Marketing.” Over seven weeks I’m going to lead you through the steps of developing your own online marketing strategy from start to finish. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar business getting online for the first time – or have had your digital ducks in a row for years… the world has changed and we are adapting. Let’s do it together. Today we are digging into, “Virtual Meetings and Conferences.”

 

If you’re just joining us, don’t miss the first piece in this series:

 

Week 1: Realign and Get Online

 

———————

 

Remember Maslow and his brilliantly simple pyramid illustrating the hierarchy of human needs? Coming in third, only after our physiological and safety requirements, is our need for social love and belonging. We weren’t meant to be solitary beings. Humans thrive and find magic in connection and collaboration. We discover strength, solidarity and meaning through social interaction. 

It’s no wonder we began to gather – and eventually to bring together our social and professional needs in the form of meetings, conferences and tradeshows. These serve to connect us on many levels as professionals, but there’s more to it than that. This is where we meet our tribe. We find a place where we belong and people with whom we relate. This need to connect to other humans is a powerful behavioral motivator.  So, we meet.

 

Then, the world changed…

 

So, we are on this new digital marketing journey together. By now, you’ve got your team meeting setup to realign and get online. The next step is to determine new ways of satisfying this human need to connect at a time when live, in-person meeting is difficult or impossible. 

 

Be brave and bold – your ability to innovate will let you shine like a light in the darkness. 

Here’s how:

 

  1. Meetings. Online meetings aren’t new, but as often happens in a crisis, we are all moving rapidly towards using technology and taking leaps that we’ve been putting off. Checkout our Online Meeting 101 article for the basics plus some important ideas for innovation.
  2. Conferences. Here’s a secret – a conference is just a formal meeting, or a series of them. We use conferences to connect larger groups of like-minded individuals over an extended time period–and yes, they are still going to happen in the digital universe. We just need to get creative.  Here’s how. 
  3. Tradeshows. Collaboration with our industry peers is crucial for every business. We need to share common struggles and innovative solutions with each other. Tradeshows are a chance to meet the players and experience their brand activations in action. It can still happen online and we can help.
  4. Events and activations. The most powerful way I’ve found to build brand awareness is through direct interaction with our customers. This category may require the most creative thought. Our natural inclination is to just put our heads down and wait, but that’s not going to start building your sales funnels for the new normal. So, Here are some ideas to overcome this unique challenge.

 

So, don’t cancel that event – reinvent it. Gather your people together and be the first to try that new thing. Technology offers incredible solutions to meet our human social needs. Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.

 

The next step in our journey is digital strategic engagement and its place in your new normal. See you next week with an article on how to “Engage to be Engaging.” Comment below with your thoughts on these ideas and share your successes.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema

 

Digital Events and Activations

Posted on by Alice Momo

Not just a cool marketing buzz-word, brand activations are the most powerful way I’ve found to build awareness through direct interaction with our customers. In the new marketing world, this category may require the most creative thought. Our natural inclination is to put our heads down and wait, but that’s not going to start building your sales funnels for the new normal.

 

So, how do we engage directly with our customers when we can’t be together? Enter the virtual magic:

 

  1. Purchasing decisions are highly influenced by what our peers are doing. Leverage social media interactions to get your followers to spread the word for you. Tap into our psychological desire to belong, by promoting an opportunity for subscribers to share their “Your Brand Here Moment.” Invite them to take a selfie with your product or of themselves (or their cat, or kid) while experiencing your service. Position the roots of this promotion within the social platform you want to target, so if it’s on Facebook – only sell this item there for a limited time. Create a unique hashtag to unite all the buzz into one powerful voice. Create an entire customer experience from start to finish that engages, taps into real feelings and simply has to be shared.

  2. Use empathy to provide a specific solution directed at your unique audience. Remember that all marketing is identification of a pain-point and then relief of it. So take an empathetic look at your target audience, and find a digital solution to their pain. Use social listening to stay on top of what’s trending and offer solutions to match. For example, as I write this today, we are in the throes of a pandemic which has forced our events and activations online. I know from social listening that my audience wants to know how to take these marketing pieces online and I can help them do just that. Aaah, relief.
  3. Tap into influencers to provide online demos of your brand. Everyone loves a good unboxing video – get your product in front of the world by having the right person demonstrate its use and value while displaying it to their audience. Then share and boost this awesome video strategically to your target audience. This is a highly repeatable method of product demonstration that continues to skyrocket in popularity on social media.
  4. Take the analog events you love and make a bold and brave jump to digital. If you were planning to launch your event at a summer tradeshow – invite your audience to experience the launch online through a hosted and interactive event. Take the best parts of the event and get creative. Send invitations and promotional products to users at home to entice them to join the event while putting your brand in their hand, literally. Inspire interaction and conversation around your launch by setting up discussion groups to promote and review what’s new. Invite industry experts to present or interact with your new launched product or service. Have fun with it.

 

Events and activations aren’t canceled, they’re changed. And we can pivot our approach to change too. Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema

Virtual Conferences

Posted on by Alice Momo

A conference is typically a more formal affair, falling somewhere between a meeting and a tradeshow. While providing attendees an opportunity to connect, your virtual conference should also offer components of learning and community building. It’s not a tradeshow, where you have a group of buyers (attendees) and sellers (vendors/exhibitors). At the conference level everyone attends with a shared passion, vision and desire to expand their knowledge base while making personal and professional connections. So, here’s the formula for taking your conference online:

 

Setup: 

  1. Jump off with a platform. Just like when planning a virtual tradeshow, you’ll need a digital venue to host your conference. Most virtual tradeshow platforms will offer everything you need and then some, but you might also be able to use a more robust version of your everyday meeting software. There are several good options out there – do your research to find one that meets your needs and get signed up. 

    (Because needs will vary from business to business and legal requirements in your area may differ – I will refrain from recommending platforms by name here, but I’m glad to discuss your needs and help you find the right fit.)

  2. Plan the logistics. Choose the event dates and times as well as the distribution methods of your digital promotional materials.
  3. Invite industry experts to speak. There’s often no better lure to an event than a chance to listen to someone that can help you build your business.
  4. Invite industry brands to sponsor. Sponsorships are a great way to share the cost of the event with other companies while offering them an opportunity to promote their business to attendees.
  5. Invite your potential attendees directly. Before you start inviting people en masse you’ll want to line up some well known industry names as attendees or speakers to lend credibility to your event. You’ll also want to decide how many paid attendees you need to hit your breakeven.

 

Pre-Show Planning:

 

  1. Design a digital itinerary for everyone. Detail the time and topics for each speaker, when the breakout sessions will happen and when there will be opportunities for networking and parties. Link everything, so no one has to go digging for it. We want to design everything with the user’s experience in mind. 
  2. Plan engaging content. You want to keep your audience enthralled throughout the event. So design your marketing to match the level of enthusiasm you want from your audience. Keep it sleek and professional. Of course, you can send out a pre-conference kit electronically – but I invite you to consider something different. Especially if you are planning a conference that is typically held in-person, consider spending some of that typically higher budget on a wow-factor for the online version. Send a conference welcome kit to the attendee’s door. Include invitations to the events, itinerary and a drink recipe for the BYOB happy hour you’re hosting. Include promotional products – because everyone loves conference SWAG and we aren’t going to give that up to go virtual. Get them excited with items that inspire creativity and illustrate the level of expertise they can expect from your show.
  3. Plan next year’s conference dates. I know it’s a long way off – but you have a captive audience that you know is already interested in the subject of your conference, right there. Don’t miss the chance to market next year’s event at this one and offer a discount or a premium gift for early-bird registration.

 

It’s Show-Time:

 

  1. Provide large-audience meeting formats for keynote and secondary speakers. These can be hosted in your usual video meeting space with some careful planning or within a virtual conference platform. You’ll also want the ability for your speaker to show a presentation as they talk and the opportunity for moderated interaction when appropriate. 
  2. Breakout sessions are the new networking event. One of the best parts of any conference is the socialization. This is where we meet our people and make connections that can lead to new opportunities and long-lasting relationships.  Breakout Sessions on an online meeting platform offer a unique opportunity for a moderator to provide a topic for learning or industry specific conversation starters and then mix and match your audience into small groups to get to know each other and discuss.
  3. Host a party at the end of the event and add virtual happy hours to the close of each day. Don’t miss the opportunity to offer that human connection in a virtual setting. Plan live music intermingled with breakout sessions for people to talk and make new connections. Get your sponsors involved – what value can they add to a social session? Have attendance prizes and encourage people to connect both personally and professionally.

 

Post-Show:

  1. Follow up and survey. Send a note to attendees thanking them for attending and soliciting their thoughts on every part of the experience. Reach out personally to each sponsor to thank them and to follow up on their perception of value. Offer ways for them to reach attendees, like a list of everyone that joined the conference (with their permission, of course). Encourage them to reach out in order to maximize their investment. 
  2. Debrief. Meet with your stakeholders to discuss next year’s event. Pros, cons, what worked, what didn’t and what you’re going to do next time are all on the table for discussion. Set a date for next year’s first planning meeting – and congratulate yourself on a job well done.

 

Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema

Virtual Tradeshows

Posted on by Alice Momo

I love a good tradeshow. Combining marketing activation, meeting new potential clients and then converting those leads into sales is kind of my specialty. Tradeshows give us a chance to market and collaborate with our industry peers–which is really crucial for every business. We need to share common struggles and innovative solutions with each other. Tradeshows are a chance to meet the players and experience their brand activations in action.

Hosting a virtual tradeshow is an awesome thing. Here’s how you pull it off.

 

Setup: 

  1. Jump off with a platform. You’ll need a digital venue to host your tradeshow.  There are several good ones out there – do your research to find one that meets your needs and get signed up.
    (Because needs will vary from business to business and legal requirements in your area may differ – I will refrain from recommending platforms by name here, but I’m glad to discuss your needs and help you find the right fit.)
  2. Plan the logistics. Choose the event dates and times as well as the distribution methods of your digital promotional materials.
  3. Registration should be an experience. Rather than a necessary link in the chain, create a registration journey that fits your brand and foreshadows the event experience. Don’t neglect the UI/UX here, get them excited.
  4. Invite industry experts to speak. There’s often no better lure to an event than a chance to listen to someone that can help you build your business.
  5. Invite industry leaders to sponsor. Sponsorships are a great way to share the cost of the event with other companies while offering them an opportunity to promote their business to attendees.
  6. Invite your vendors/exhibitors and attendees. Which to target first can be a circular problem, but you’ll want to line up some well known industry names to lend credibility to your event quickly. Before you begin, decide how many of each you need to hit your breakeven.

 

Pre-Show Planning:

 

  1. Setup a plan for your vendors that is centered around the important leads they need and offers a plan to capture prospect data for followup. You need to help drive traffic to their booths. This is a chance for you to offer something innovative, like an interactive directory, scheduled live demos on the show floor or paid advertising opportunities. Exhibitors could even send a promotional item to attendees before the event to pique their interest. Happy vendors will come back year after year – and the key to their success is lead generation. 
  2. Guide your exhibitors in setting up their virtual booth space in a way that reflects their brand and offers a marketing activation experience for their potential customers. Since virtual tradeshows will be new to some of your vendors – help them make the most of their experience. The UI/UX here is of the utmost importance. What do they want their first impression to be for a potential lead?
  3. Design an itinerary for everyone. Detail the times that the virtual show floor will be open, when the speakers will be presenting, when the breakout sessions will happen and when there will be opportunities for networking and parties. Link everything, so no one has to go digging for it. Again, we want to design everything with the user’s experience in mind.
  4. Plan engaging content. You want to keep your audience enthralled throughout the event. So design your marketing to match the level of enthusiasm you want from your audience. Keep it sleek and professional. Of course, you can send out a pre-show kit electronically – but I invite you to consider something different. Maybe you send a show welcome kit to the attendee’s door. Include invitations to the events, itinerary and a drink recipe for the BYOB happy hour you’re hosting. Include promotional products – because everyone loves tradeshow SWAG and we aren’t going to give that up for a virtual show. Get them excited with items that inspire creativity and illustrate the level of expertise they can expect from your show.
  5. Plan next year’s event dates. I know it’s a long way off – but you have a captive audience that you know is already interested in your show, right there. Don’t miss the chance to market next year’s event at this one and offer a discount or a premium gift for early-bird registration.

 

It’s Show-Time:

 

  1. Provide an opportunity for exhibitors to chat with attendees on the virtual show floor–both voice chat and texting should be available. It’s also good practice to have a group chat for the booth as well as the ability to break-out into a one-on-one or several-on-one conversation for more in-depth discussions. 
  2. Provide large-scale meeting formats for keynote and secondary speakers. These can be hosted in your usual video meeting space or within the virtual tradeshow platform. You’ll also want the ability for your speaker to show a presentation as they talk and the opportunity for moderated interaction when appropriate.
  3. Breakout sessions are the new networking event. One of the best parts of any tradeshow is the socialization. This is where we meet our people and make connections that can lead to new opportunities and long-lasting relationships.  Breakout Sessions on an online meeting platform offer a unique opportunity for a moderator to provide a topic for learning or industry specific conversation starters and then mix and match your audience into small groups to get to know each other and discuss.
  4. Host a party at the end of the event and add virtual happy hours to the close of each day. Don’t miss the opportunity to offer that human connection in a virtual setting. Plan live music intermingled with breakout sessions for people to talk and make new connections. Get your vendors involved – what value can they add to a social session? Have attendance prizes and encourage people to connect both personally and professionally.

 

Post-Show:

  1. The ultimate success of a tradeshow will be measured by the leads to sales conversions for your exhibitors. So, anything you can do to help facilitate that process is in your best interest for future events. 
  2. Provide lists of attendees to vendors for follow up (with their permission, of course). Design some cool digital materials that your vendors can use to send followup notes to their hot new leads from the show. Offer solutions to your vendors to help them drive conversion of those leads into sales.
  3. Follow up, survey and debrief. Send a note to exhibitors and attendees alike thanking them for attending and soliciting their thoughts on every part of the experience. Then meet with your stakeholders to discuss next year’s event. Pros, cons, what worked, what didn’t and what you’re going to do next time are all on the table for discussion. Set a date for next year’s first planning meeting – and congratulate yourself on a job well done.

 

Don’t cancel that event, reinvent it. Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.

 

Wishing you light and love. ~Hema