Earlier this month, virtual events vendor, Unisfair (an Intercall company), released its second annual survey of marketers. According to the “The Future of Virtual Business Environments” survey, the company queried 550 US-based marketers in event marketing, corporate marketing and product marketing regarding their use of virtual and hybrid events. The company did not include its customer base for this survey to provide an unbiased perspective about the role of virtual within marketing organizations.
While the company’s 2010 survey focused on how marketers leveraged different technologies for marketing purposes, such as social media, online advertising, and events (virtual and physical), this year’s survey solely focused on marketers’ use of virtual events and environments for business.
Key Findings Included:
- 60% plan to increase spending in virtual events and environments, while 42% will decrease spending at physical conference/trade shows
- 87% predict hybrid (part physical, part virtual) events will represent at least half of all events in the next five years
- 40% of all respondents believe it takes less than 3 weeks to set up a virtual event or virtual component to a physical event
- 62% would like to attend a virtual event from a mobile device
- 79% are less inclined to disclose marketing budgets/objectives to a virtual sales person
Shift in Event Budgets
When the recession began, there was anecdotal evidence that marketers were shifting budget dollars from physical conferences and tradeshows to virtual events. The survey bears this out with 60% of respondents planning to increase spending in virtual (compared to 25% in 2010), while 42% will decrease spending at physical events (versus 44% in 2010).
Joerg Rathenberg, VP of Products, InterCall, emphasizes that this doesn’t mean that physical events are going away. “It’s a more global economy. Take CeBit in Hannover, Germany as an example. It’s difficult to travel e.g. from Shanghai to the event in Hannover. We need to provide more nimble ways of allowing people to attend events. With a hybrid component, you can make that work and that’s where we’re seeing savings on the physical show and more spending on the virtual aspect.”
More than Lead Generation
In terms of the applicability of virtual events within a marketing program, respondents indicated they would host a virtual event for a variety of purposes over the next 12 months:
* respondents could select more than one response
As marketers become more comfortable with the virtual format, we anticipate more marketers spearheading virtual events and environments beyond traditional marketing objectives like lead generation. They will leverage virtual formats to encompass additional business goals, such as sales meetings, executive communications, and product launches, as well as venture into 365 perpetual environments.
With that said 79% of respondents would not reveal their budget or marketing objectives to virtual sales representatives. This may indicate that marketers view virtual events for top-of-the-funnel activities versus a venue for making purchasing decisions. A more personal interaction, such as a phone call or video chat, should follow any virtual networking to further develop connections made online.
More Education Still Required
While marketers are becoming more comfortable with this format, more education is required to set the right expectations for setting up a virtual event or component from start to finish, with 39% indicating it would take less than 3 weeks build, design and implement a virtual events or component.
The Future of Mobile, Virtual and Hybrid
There are currently 63 million subscribers of smart phones in the US (comScore MobiLens, 3 month average ending December 2010) with an estimated 82 million predicted to use tablet PCs in the US by 2015 (Forrester Research). As such, it’s not surprising that 62% of respondents would like to attend a virtual event from a mobile device.
Furthermore, 86% indicating that over 50% of corporate events will be hybrid within 5 years.
These are two powerful indicators about the future of virtual and hybrid events. No longer will the discussion be centered on what device or platform to offer. It will be about providing the best experience to attendees and offering the right mix of options – mobile, virtual and/or in person – to suit your marketing objectives and audience’s needs.
This is good news for vendors, such as Altus, Digitell, InterCall INXPO, and Social27, who have or are adding mobile capabilities to their platforms.
Conclusion
This survey provides strong indication that marketers are embracing virtual and hybrid events as an integral way to achieve business objectives, not just marketing. In fact, if cost were not an issue for holding a virtual event, 42% would run 3-10 virtual events, while 24% would conduct more than 10.
Yet to demonstrate the value of virtual, the ROI discussion must move beyond the immediate cost and time savings that virtual provides over physical events. “The cost discussion isn’t one about budget. It’s about allocating and providing good ROI numbers. Then marketers can justify the use of virtual,” explained Rathenberg.
And as more vendors develop and introduce mobile solutions, we envision a robust ecosystem where virtual and hybrid events to be tightly integrated with a mobile experience for both virtual and physical attendees.
This, in turn, may be the catalyst for wider adoption of virtual and hybrid events beyond marketing.
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- INXPO and George P. Johnson Deal Signals that Event Marketers are Rapidly Adopting Hybrid Events
- Unisfair Reveals the Results of its Annual Marketing Survey
- Hybrid Events offer Largest Marketing Potential, says Vok Dams Report
- BtoB Study Finds Virtual Events are Reaching Critical Mass as a Mainstream Marketing Channel
