By Arko Chandra Published on : Jan 17, 2023
Virtual events grabbed the limelight when the pandemic rocked the world and have been proving their worth since then. It was believed that the trend would fade away from the market as soon as everything returned to normal, but that has not been the case; if anything, the popularity and usage of virtual events have spiked up over time in SaaS B2B.
Let’s take a quick look at the virtual events’ rise to power and what makes them relevant still today.
A quick recap…
Virtual events came to the rescue when brands were struggling to hold in-person events in the COVID-hit world. Not only did virtual events keep the businesses running, but helped companies do the needed with stringent budgets, which proved to be one of its major pros. Owing to the many other new positives that virtual events brought to the table that hadn’t been witnessed before, they have now emerged as a strong option rather than just a temporary alternative.
In a survey conducted by vFairs, 47.4% of the respondents said that they’d consider virtual events owing to the low costs. This clearly proves that virtual events are much more economical to host than live events. Live events involve many extra costs such as travel, accommodation, food, etc., all of which are off the list in virtual events.
When it comes to engagement statistics for virtual events, the numbers are not so bad. 49% of event marketers admit that participant engagement is the primary indicator of successful virtual events (Source: Amelia).
For B2B tech companies, these numbers make much more sense owing to the fact that brands get more freedom and space to showcase their brand image and offerings through creative online presentations.
The influence of AI/ML has been ubiquitous in the recent past, and no wonder it has elevated the levels of virtual events as well. AI/ML has been facilitating the collection and organization of massive chunks of event and user data and transforming all of it into easier, comprehensible formats. This, in turn, enables brands to use the data in their marketing plan. All of this information is virtually lost in case of in-person events, and there’s no way to track it down.
The new normal has been witnessing a significant business trend where brands are expanding remotely across the globe without setting up any physical offices. Virtual events have played a crucial role in making this trend a success. Stakeholders, employees, buyers, or any person remotely connected to a brand have the convenience of getting together through virtual events from the comfort of their homes.
Owing to the numerous stack of tools now available to organize virtual events, the one trend we are likely to witness in 2023 is smaller events all around the year instead of annual or half-yearly events. Virtual events could be leveraged for anything as small as internal training activities to something as large as trade shows and stakeholder meetings. The scalability range is just limitless!
On-demand content will witness a positive rise going forward as SaaS marketing adopts a customer-first approach. It’s because such content gives the audience the freedom to access it as per their need and convenience. Here, recorded sessions of virtual events can be provided as content materials to drive further engagement with audiences; brands can even try publishing recordings of their live events, for that matter.
So, what do you think - virtual events are just a passing fad, or are they here to stay?
Virtual events are definitely here to stay and grow in 2023; this wouldn’t be only on account of the technological and demographical perks that virtual events provide (as opposed to live events) but also because of the economic turmoil that the world is currently experiencing. So, SaaS B2B brands- big or small, and marketers would for sure utilize virtual events to their full potential and use them to own and sharpen their competitive edge.
Tap on Subscribe to stay abreast of B2B trends and traditions.
Virtual events grabbed the limelight when the pandemic rocked the world and have been proving their worth since then. It was believed that the trend would fade away from the market as soon as everything returned to normal, but that has not been the case; if anything, the popularity and usage of virtual events have spiked up over time in SaaS B2B.
Let’s take a quick look at the virtual events’ rise to power and what makes them relevant still today.
A quick recap…
Virtual events came to the rescue when brands were struggling to hold in-person events in the COVID-hit world. Not only did virtual events keep the businesses running, but helped companies do the needed with stringent budgets, which proved to be one of its major pros. Owing to the many other new positives that virtual events brought to the table that hadn’t been witnessed before, they have now emerged as a strong option rather than just a temporary alternative.
In a survey conducted by vFairs, 47.4% of the respondents said that they’d consider virtual events owing to the low costs. This clearly proves that virtual events are much more economical to host than live events. Live events involve many extra costs such as travel, accommodation, food, etc., all of which are off the list in virtual events.
When it comes to engagement statistics for virtual events, the numbers are not so bad. 49% of event marketers admit that participant engagement is the primary indicator of successful virtual events (Source: Amelia).
For B2B tech companies, these numbers make much more sense owing to the fact that brands get more freedom and space to showcase their brand image and offerings through creative online presentations.
The influence of AI/ML has been ubiquitous in the recent past, and no wonder it has elevated the levels of virtual events as well. AI/ML has been facilitating the collection and organization of massive chunks of event and user data and transforming all of it into easier, comprehensible formats. This, in turn, enables brands to use the data in their marketing plan. All of this information is virtually lost in case of in-person events, and there’s no way to track it down.
The new normal has been witnessing a significant business trend where brands are expanding remotely across the globe without setting up any physical offices. Virtual events have played a crucial role in making this trend a success. Stakeholders, employees, buyers, or any person remotely connected to a brand have the convenience of getting together through virtual events from the comfort of their homes.
Owing to the numerous stack of tools now available to organize virtual events, the one trend we are likely to witness in 2023 is smaller events all around the year instead of annual or half-yearly events. Virtual events could be leveraged for anything as small as internal training activities to something as large as trade shows and stakeholder meetings. The scalability range is just limitless!
On-demand content will witness a positive rise going forward as SaaS marketing adopts a customer-first approach. It’s because such content gives the audience the freedom to access it as per their need and convenience. Here, recorded sessions of virtual events can be provided as content materials to drive further engagement with audiences; brands can even try publishing recordings of their live events, for that matter.
So, what do you think - virtual events are just a passing fad, or are they here to stay?
Virtual events are definitely here to stay and grow in 2023; this wouldn’t be only on account of the technological and demographical perks that virtual events provide (as opposed to live events) but also because of the economic turmoil that the world is currently experiencing. So, SaaS B2B brands- big or small, and marketers would for sure utilize virtual events to their full potential and use them to own and sharpen their competitive edge.
Tap on Subscribe to stay abreast of B2B trends and traditions.
