In a world where content marketing has become the cornerstone of brand promotion and customer engagement, virtual events have emerged as a game-changer. These online gatherings, often combining elements of webinars, conferences, and expos, have proven to be a potent tool for businesses looking to reach and connect with their audience in a meaningful way. Virtual events have risen to the top of the content marketing toolbox, offering unparalleled opportunities for engagement, lead generation, and brand exposure. But how do they differ from in-person events, and what advantages do they offer?

One of the most significant advantages of virtual events is their ability to transcend geographic boundaries. Unlike physical events that require attendees to travel, virtual events are accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. This global reach opens doors to a vast and diverse audience, allowing businesses to connect with individuals they might never reach through traditional marketing methods. Also, hosting physical events can be a substantial drain on a company’s resources. Expenses for venue rental, travel, accommodations, building expo booths, and other costs can add up quickly. In contrast, virtual events greatly reduce or even eliminate many of these costs. This cost-effectiveness makes virtual events an attractive option for businesses of all sizes, including startups with limited budgets.

Virtual events are a goldmine for lead generation. They offer a wealth of data-driven insights that can inform and refine content marketing strategies. With the right technology and analytics tools, businesses can track attendee behavior, engagement levels, and preferences. This data provides valuable information about what content resonates with the audience, helping businesses tailor their marketing efforts for maximum impact. Virtual events provide a measurable ROI, as you can track metrics like registration, attendance, engagement, and then see how that translates to lead generation and sales conversions. The leads generated through virtual events are often more qualified and engaged than those obtained through other means. With this data in hand, you can assess the success of your event and make data-driven decisions for future marketing strategies.

Moreover, interactions during the event, such as Q&A sessions, polls, surveys, chats, etc. create opportunities to engage attendees and gather valuable data for future content. The content generated during virtual events is a treasure trove for content marketers. Webinars, presentations, panel discussions, and other event materials can be repurposed into blog posts, social media updates, videos, and more. This not only extends the lifespan of the event’s content but also provides fresh material for ongoing marketing efforts. Furthermore, virtual events represent a new venue to repurpose already existing content and get more mileage from your marketing materials.

Personalization has become a critical component of successful content marketing. Virtual events allow for a high degree of personalization, as attendees can select the sessions and content that are most relevant to their interests and needs. This tailored experience enhances engagement and fosters a stronger connection between the audience and the brand. Virtual events are highly scalable, too. Whether you’re expecting a small, niche audience or a massive turnout, virtual event platforms can accommodate your needs. This scalability ensures that your content marketing efforts can adapt to changing circumstances and grow alongside your business.

Virtual events have proven to be the ultimate content marketing tool for numerous reasons, from their global reach and cost-effectiveness to their data-driven insights and lead generation capabilities. Their ability to facilitate engagement, personalization, and scalability sets them apart from traditional marketing methods. Additionally, virtual events align with modern consumer preferences for sustainability and can help businesses achieve measurable ROI while establishing themselves as industry authorities. As the marketing landscape continues to evolve, virtual events are poised to play an increasingly vital role in the content marketing strategies of businesses looking to thrive in the digital age. The advantages are simply too obvious to ignore.

Andrew Burch is the Content Marketing Manager at Elastic Solutions. Email him @ aburch@elasticroi.com

You just attended a webinar and came away thoroughly impressed. The entire experience from the registration page, to the look and feel of the webinar environment, to the speakers and the presentation was first class. Guess what? That didn’t just happen overnight. It took meticulous planning and preparation to deliver that experience. After years of executing countless webinars and digital events, we’ve come to the conclusion that the ideal webinar project plan should consist of six weeks. Here’s what each week should entail, along with what you should do the day of the event to ensure webinar success.

6 Weeks Out

  • Define who the audience is. Is it for net new prospects? Existing leads and opportunities that you’re looking to move down the funnel? Is it for existing customers where you’re looking to educate and upsell? Defining this will dictate what kind of webinar you’re going to have in terms of what will be presented and how. For example, a broader webinar to establish subject matter expertise might make more sense for net new prospects, while a case study and ROI driven webinar could make more sense for existing opportunities that you’re looking to close. It’s very important to match the content with the audience. Make it relevant.
  • One you know who the audience is and the type of webinar you’ll be delivering, now is the time to begin working on topics, webinar descriptions, and the information you want to get from your registrants. When thinking about topics, make sure they’re not overly long. Shorter topics that let your audience know they’re going to learn something tend to work best. We’ve found that using numbers and “How to” in webinar titles really resonates with folks because they know they’re going to be educated more than being sold to.
  • Determine who your speakers are. Look for presenters that have experience, are dynamic, and will keep your audience engaged. Your presenters can make all the different in the world, so choose wisely.
  • Lay out your promotional plan and cadence. Be sure to use a multi-pronged approach to get in front of your audience and drive registrations – email, social, outbound calling, digital ads, SEO, press releases, premium placement on your website,, leveraging partners to help spread the word. Everything is on the table and now is when you want to get your promotional mix solidified.

5 Weeks Out:

  • Now that your webinar topic and description are defined, it’s time to build your webinar registration page. You need to have the ability to optimize your registration page and build one that is on brand and has a clear call to action. Include your logo and color scheme, custom banners, multimedia, presenter pics and bios. Be sure visitors to this page can save it to multiple calendar types and have the ability to test their system to ensure they’re properly setup to view your webinar. In terms of registration fields, get the information you absolutely need. It’s been proven that too many fields can turn off potential registrants. We’ve found that 5-7 is the sweet spot and asking a question during the registration process is always a good idea. It will give you a better sense of who they are, challenges they’re faced with, initiatives they have, etc. There are a lot of boring registration pages out there, so stand out from the crowd and make yours engaging.
  • Determine if you’re webinar is going to be 100% live or what we call simulive. A simulive webinar is one that is pre-recorded and then broadcast as a ‘live’ event with certain live elements like Q&A, polling, etc. Live vs. simulive is another blog for another day!

4 Weeks Out:

  • Begin the promotional engine with an initial email blast to your targeted audience. We’re bullish on four weeks of promotions to drive an optimal audience. Remember, leverage a multi-pronged approach.
  • Get your presenters together for a brainstorming session to discuss the flow of the webinar. The topic and description are already defined, obviously, but now is the time to begin thinking about how the discussion will flow. Along those lines, you’ll notice I used the word “discussion.” Webinars should be collaborative, engaging discussions that make your attendees want to engage. Make it relevant, lively, and energetic. If you make it boring, your audience will think you are boring and nobody wants that.

3 Weeks Out:

  • Not that you’re starting to get some registrants, how are you going to engage with them from now until the live webinar date? Provide them with relevant content leading up to the webinar as a way to nurture them and keep them engaged. Doing this will Improve your registration to attendee ratios as well.
  • Now that your presenters have brainstormed on the flow of the webinar discussion, now is the time to start building your PPT deck. Stay away from death by PPT, which is a real thing. Too many slides that are overly complicated can lose an audience. Your slides should be a foundational element that act as a jumping off point. They should not tell the whole story. We always tell our customers that their slides should be constructed as such that they provide little value to the audience by themselves. To understand your slides, people have to attend and hear you talk against them. Finally, stay away from overly animated slides. They often serve little purpose other than providing your attendees with strained eyes and a headache. Less is more here.

2 Weeks Out:

  • This is when your initial dry run should take place. If you’re dealing with really experienced, seasoned webinar professionals, it may only take one dry run. With that said, we always recommend two dry runs to give everyone peace of mind that they’re going to nail the presentation. Dry runs don’t have to be exactly like it’s going to go the day of the event, but they do need to cover responsibilities, key talking points, and how the webinar is going to be delivered overall.
  • During the dry run, you want to ensure your presenters are technically sound from an A/V perspective. Make sure their speakers and microphones are optimal and that their audio is clear and crisp. If they’re going to be on camera, their video needs to be high quality and not grainy. Additionally, if they’re going to be on camera be sure the room they’re in provides good lighting and they are clearly visible with no distractions. If your webinar platform has background options for your speakers, now would be a good time to test this out. I personally like a real, professional looking background if it’s available.
  • Define the engagement tactics you’re going to use during the webinar such as live Q&A, polling, surveys, resource/content downloads, attendee chat, social feeds, etc. If your platform has the ability to go into breakout rooms after the webinar for a deeper dive discussion, that’s another thing to consider.
  • Finalize how the webinar user interface (UI) will look. You want your attendees to enter your webinar environment and be wowed. Like your registration page, the webinar UI should be on brand and look like it’s your event. Ensure you’re using a webinar platform that enables you to customize your UI several different ways.
  • In addition to all the other promotions you have going, now is a good time to send your 2nd dedicated email blast to your targeted audience,

1 Week Out:

  • At this point, your presentation and slide deck should be finalized. It’s understandable if you still have a few edits to make on your PPT, but it should be mostly complete at this stage.
  • A second dry run, if necessary, should be executed the week before the webinar to be extra sure everybody is comfortable with the webinar presentation and their setup for the event.
  • Your first reminder email should be sent to your existing registrants, reminding them about the webinar date/time and their login details.
  • In addition to all your other promotions, now is a good time to send your third dedicated email blast to your target audience.

Week of and Live Day:

  • Make sure your slide deck is final two days before the webinar. No last minute, live day changes if it can be avoided!
  • If your presenters want to have one last discussion to tie up any loose ends, have them do it a day or two before.
  • If your registration numbers are lagging, sending one more email blast 1-2 days before to get some last minute registrants is always a good idea.
  • The day of the event, send a 2nd reminder email to all existing registrants a few hours before the webinar. This will keep your event top of mind and help improve your registration to attendee ratio.
  • If your webinar is going to be 100% live, make sure your presenters login to the platform 30 minutes before the webinar starts. Logging in early enables you to do last minute system tests and performance checks, and it reinforces how everything will be handled if a presenter loses connection or is disrupted somehow. It’s technology and anything can happen, so always be testing and have troubleshooting plans in place for worst case scenarios. You’ll be thankful you did.
  • You’re live. Knock it out of the park, engage your attendees, and give your audience multiple reasons to keep coming back for more webinars down the road.

As we all know, with webinars it’s more about just planning for the live date. You can substantially extend the shelf-life and value of your webinars through a well thought out on-demand plan. Be on the lookout for a blog in the coming weeks that will provide you with a roadmap for on-demand webinar success.

Jason Stegent is the Founder & President of Elastic Solutions. Email him @ jstegent@elasticroi.com

Keeping your sales pipeline filled with qualified prospects is essential for any business to grow revenue. To get to that point, you have to formulate an effective strategy to feed that pipeline with a steady string of leads. That, of course, begs the question: what does effective lead generation look like?

1. Finding the right targets

The first characteristic of an effective lead generation strategy is to make sure that you are targeting the right audience for your product or service. For B2B marketers in particular, this means finding not only the right companies within your target industry, but also identifying the right people to speak to at those companies. Before you can even get started formulating a message, you have to know and understand who you will be trying to engage with. Finding the right people is absolutely crucial, and it requires a great amount of research to find not only those in the right role, but also ensuring that they are people who make decisions, or at the very least, influence those that do. Building out an EXTENSIVE target list with the right companies (industry, region, size, revenue) and with the right people (decisions makers and influencers) is the first phase of a successful lead generation campaign.

2. Formulating the right messaging

This one seems like the most obvious aspect of lead generation, and sales in general. Having the right message is vital because this is how you present yourself and your product/service to a prospective customer. In regards to lead generation specifically, that means getting the attention of your target audience in order to pull them into the sales pipeline. You’ve already identified your target audience and ideal prospects, so, what are their pain points? What challenges are they facing that your product or service can solve? What channels/medium are you reaching them through? Having messaging tailored to the specific channels that you are reaching out through (calls, emails, social media digital events, etc.) will go a long way to drawing interest in your product and getting more meetings for your sales team. Ultimately, it has to be something that will make them want to start a conversation with you.

3. Utilizing multiple channels and tools

Another important aspect of a successful lead generation campaign is to not be narrow-minded with the tools and channels you utilize. Not every prospect can be engaged in the same way, so if you are too limited with how you reach out to them you will be missing out on opportunities. Whether it’s calling, emails, social media, SEO, or content creation (literature, videos, webinars, virtual events), everything should be on the table.

Also, integrating these tools and channels together to have a constant and cohesive stream of messaging that can keep you in front of your prospects is critical. Webinars and Virtual Events are great ways to integrate multiple forms of content that can attract, educate, engage, and pique the interest of any prospective client. A constant flow of quality content coming from multiple channels will keep your company and product top of mind for your target audience, so that when they are in a buying position they will come to you to do business.

4. Diligence

I’m sure you’ve heard this many times before, but “activity breeds success.” The more you are pushing, the more results you will see in return. For lead generation, it’s no different. Once you have the right tools in hand (like all the ones I’ve listed above), you just need to keep going after your prospects, persistently. Too often, sales professionals will only make 2 or 3 attempts at reaching out to a prospect, and sometimes only once. What they fail to realize is that on average it takes 5 or MORE attempts to get in contact with a potential customer. It takes time and perseverance to get a prospect to raise their hand and say, “Okay, let’s hear what you have to offer.” Too often professionals give up after their initial outreach doesn’t net the result they want, and they lack the necessary diligence that makes sales happen. Which leads me to my final characteristic…

5. The right team

Without the right team in place, none of the above happens. Having the right people in place that can do the leg work to find targets, craft messaging, and reach out persistently is the only way to keep leads coming in the door and keep the sales pipeline full. Whether it’s in-house or outsourced, if you don’t have the right team in place that can do all of these things, then your pipeline will quickly dry up and your sales team will have difficulty finding new business to close. Preferably, you would have an experienced partner (with industry and product knowledge, of course) that can take on the job of lead generation, which will free up your sales team to focus on moving prospects down the pipeline and closing deals.

Andrew Burch is the Content Marketing Manager at Elastic Solutions. Email him @ aburch@elasticroi.com