By Brent Arslaner, Vice President of Marketing, Unisfair, Inc.

In this article, you will learn:

1) That virtual events are a fast-emerging tool in the marketing arsenal ;

2) That the average registration and attendance for a virtual event is in the thousands; and

3) That a virtual event cuts 50% to 80% off of the cost of a live event.

Leads, metrics, and ROI — these are what marketers generate, worry about and either succeed or fail at. Now, there is a new resource in the marketer’s arsenal – virtual events. Companies like Cisco, IBM, and Quest Software are successfully leveraging the latest technology to replicate all aspects of a physical event, at a fraction of the cost and with much greater marketing intelligence.

Virtual event technology allows a company to easily bring together thousands of prospects, customers and partners in a virtual environment where they can see and participate in multiple live conference sessions, visit exhibitor booths loaded with a variety of rich media and interact in real-time with booth reps and other attendees; all from the convenience of their desktops.

While still relatively new, this fast-emerging marketing vehicle has taken hold enough that the analyst firm FactPoint Group recently conducted a study of 200 virtual events and wrote a white paper titled “Best Practices in Virtual Events.” In addition to the insights on conducting a virtual event, the paper shares interesting stats on these 200 events including:

Average registration: 3,102

Average attendance: 1,587

Average attendee time at event: 2 hours 31 minutes

U.S. Attendees: 58%

International Attendees: 42%

Looking at these numbers its easy to see how virtual events can be an effective lead generation mechanism. But, before diving in, here are three key dos and don’ts to consider:

DO Create Compelling Content

“Content” in a live event refers to the speakers and the topics they address. Keynotes, panel sessions, product demonstrations -- all of the usual fare one sees at a physical event -- can be even more easily produced in virtual environment. But in both cases, it is the content that draws audience, and it is important to match the content to your audience. Remember: Compelling content draws attendees.

DO Promote the Virtual Event

The only way anyone will appreciate the compelling content you create is if your virtual event is successfully promoted. Success is all about bringing audience to your event, thus making your sponsors and exhibitors happy. In addition to simply using traditional promotional methods (email blasts, banner ads, search engine marketing, and editorial content) you must promote repetitively, and track your methods to see what is working – and what is not.

DON’T Underestimate Planning

Successful virtual events require proper planning and execution. Leave yourself enough time to pull together the right content (speakers and topics), generate audience (promotion), and to recruit sponsors and partners. While a virtual environment can be created in days, best practices dictate 12-16 weeks to pull off a successful event.

In short, the metrics virtual events provide will have your marketing team mulling numbers and data slices for hours, and at 50 – 80% of the cost of physical event, the Return On Investment will impress even the toughest CFO.

Brent Arslaner oversees all Global Marketing at Unisfair. Prior to joining Unisfair, Brent was Vice President of Marketing at Jamcracker, a leading provider of On Demand Delivery solutions. Brent holds a B.S. in Supply Chain Management from Syracuse University

How to Use Virtual Events to Supercharge Your Marketing