Monthly Archives: March 2022

Transitioning from In-Person to Virtual Events

The wonderfully collaborative community of live events came to a halt for us all in 2020. Over the past few years, we have learned to embrace a virtual environment for our internal teams and our external event goals. If you’re facing the challenge of taking your already planned live event virtual, here are our tips and tricks!

From In-Person to Virtual Events

If you have a pre-existing live event booked that needs to be converted to virtual, make sure you understand and have read through your facility contract.

  • Are you canceling soon enough to get some or all of your deposit back?
  • Remember, the sooner you cancel the facility, the better!
  • If you weren’t doing it before, make sure you’re now reading the fine details before ever signing anything.

No live event means you’ll no longer need to worry about food & beverage, room setup, AV, accommodations, covid-safety precautions, etc. However, that doesn’t mean your event planning process is any easier! With virtual and in-person events, it’s all about perfecting the details to execute a successful event & build a following.

Communicating with registered attendees

Notify Your Current Attendees

Did you have attendees already registered for your live event? It’s essential to notify your attendees of the event change. We recommend reaching out by email and phone to guarantee no attendees show up in person on the day of the event.

Market to new attendees!

One benefit of transitioning to a virtual event is your audience just grew exponentially! Use this opportunity to grow your event size and market to new attendees. Use these tools to get your name and event out there:

Planning Event Size & Platform

Just as a venue is key to creating a successful live event, the platform & speaker are vital to engaging your online attendees. There are many platforms available to help you host your online event. Over the past few years our team has fallen in love with the power of the Zoom platform for digital events. Here are some factors to consider when looking at your online learning platform and speaker.

  • Does your speaker have experience presenting in a digital course?
  • Do you need to see attendee faces or videos during the event for credentialing reasons?
  • Should attendees have the ability to speak or collaborate during the presentation?
  • Do you need a polling feature for live results during your event?
  • Are you manually sending pre and post-event emails? Or can your virtual platform handle that?
  • Do you need to accept payment for your events?
  • Can you add custom branding to your event to create a more customized event experience?

If you need help deciding which platform is right for you, or need someone to do the heavy lifting of planning, we can help!

Game Day!

Don’t go into the day of your event without practice! Set up a mock virtual event to do a run-through with your presenter/s and support team the week before. Many platforms, including Zoom, offer a practice session before your official event starts. Here are some questions to ask yourself leading up to the event:

  • Who is monitoring and responding to your Q&A or chat section?
  • How are you presenting and launching polls through your presentation?
  • Who will handle the opening and closing statements?
  • Do you have someone to introduce your speaker?

While transitioning a live event to virtual poses some challenges, it also opens many opportunities to extend your reach and engagement. If you have questions or are looking for guidance on planning a successful virtual event, we can help!

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Jess Hunt
Jess is the Events Manager at Innereactive. After gaining 11 years of event experience in the food industry, she’s ready to take on the optical world. She’s very passionate about helping people, simplifying processes, and creating positive experiences.

Email Marketing Dos and Don’ts

Email marketing continues to be one of the most popular channels of communication and promotion for many companies. According to OptinMonster, 99% of people check their email inbox every day, with some even checking it 20+ times a day! So, it’s no surprise email marketing is an effective way to reach large audiences. Check out our recommended do’s and don’ts of email marketing below to ensure you don’t fatigue your email list and promote engagement in your send.
The Do's of Email Marketing

The Do’s of Email Marketing

Do Choose Quality Over Quantity

The goal of your email marketing list should not be based just on subscriber numbers. An extensive subscriber list is useless if they never open, click, or buy from you! The most important aspect of email marketing is content & engagement. Creating content that resonates with your audience will help your subscribers engage with what you are sending.

Ever heard the phrase, “less is more”? This phrase rings true even in email marketing. Instead of sending mass emails to all your subscribers, review your content and segmentation lists to ensure you are sending high-quality content first and foremost. If you notice high unsubscriber reports or low open rates, it may be time to scale back or revisit your marketing strategy.

Do Make Sure Your Emails are Clear and Concise

You might think a fancy design, GIFS, or auto-play videos are crucial to catching your audience’s attention and standing out, but the chances of everything loading correctly or quickly are slim. With users viewing your email across various devices and email clients, your cute graphic may appear as just a grey box to many users. If you are investing in heavy email marketing, we recommend partnering with an agency like us or using a tool like Sendgrid Email Testing to catch as many code-based differences as possible.

Tips for Including Videos

If you have a fantastic video that you want to share, take a screenshot and link to the actual video on your website. This tactic will increase your click-through rate, and subscribers will appreciate not having a bulky email in their inbox.

The Dont’s of Email Marketing

Don’t Blast Your Email List at the Same Time

The great thing about today’s technology is that you can set up different times when emails go out, even if you aren’t in the office. If you have customers around the country, make sure that the email blast is staggered based on their time zone and needs. For example, subscribers in New York may want to receive emails early in the morning during their commute, whereas subscribers, where you are from, might wish to have it closer to lunchtime.

Try testing out sending email blasts at different times to see how customers respond or use analytics to determine the highest open rate time for email messages.

Don’t Mislead Your Recipients

Click-bait or misleading subject lines will not only hit spam filters quickly but will also mislead your audience. Be very clear about what your marketing email includes and what action you want your subscribers to take. Avoid spammy subject lines and always welcome your call to action. Remember that email blasts require carefully organized emails to be sent at the right time to the right person.

If you need assistance writing, designing, or sending email blasts, we can help! Our team can help develop your email marketing strategy, write copy, design graphics, develop an email template, and create a personalized schedule ideal for communicating with your customers.

 

Ready to send effective emails to your audience? We can help you with everything from strategy and design, to the development and implementation of emails to successfully reach and engage your audience.

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Marisa Lyon
Marisa is the Finance and Marketing Manager at Innereactive, and we are so grateful to have her. She enjoys helping businesses find the right solution for their marketing needs.