SaaS marketers anxiously anticipated Saastr, the annual SaaS conference, in 2020, as they do every year. However, when word spread that the event had been postponed due to the epidemic, the entire SaaS community was devastated.
Rather of cancelling the entire event, Saastr ultimately staged a virtual event, much to the pleasure of the Saas community.
And the answer was overwhelmingly positive.
It drew an even greater throng that would not have been able to attend the prior location. Without leaving their homes, 50k SaaS executives and CEOs networked and Saastr Annual 2020 was a resounding success.
However, this was simply one of many successful virtual events for SaaS brands. According to Grand view research, the virtual event industry would grow to 404 billion USD by 2027. (USD 94B in 200).
Virtual events are here to stay and will soon become an important component of good SaaS marketing.
However, how can virtual events fit into your SaaS marketing strategy? On the other hand, can virtual events for SaaS brands handle the unique challenges of event marketing?
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Additional Benefits of Virtual Events in SaaS brands
1) Qualified Leads
Right off the bat, a well-positioned virtual event for SaaS brands brings you the sheer number of qualified leads. Yes, a well-planned theme and unique virtual event ideas will reach and attract a predominance of new leads and new attendees.
Here is a good example of how “Agorapulse” planned and executed “Agency Summit Event” and get qualified and new leads. You know, they planned to deliver 50 sessions to help agencies grow and scale their services. As a result, over 2600 agency owners and technicians took part in this summit and most of them were new contacts and as per their plan they had achieved a whopping number of quality leads.
2) Bring Sales
And I’m not talking about sales derived from virtual event leads developed over time after the event – I’m talking about prospects who learn about your brand and unique solutions during the virtual event and decide to buy on their own.
This is, of course, dependent on the complexity of your solution and the average virtual event ROI, but regardless, there will be participants at your event who are ready to buy as a consequence.
They will take part in essential sessions and dialogues that will help them frame their problems and possibilities. They will find your brand and recognize that your solution is exactly what they require at that time. And they will be so influenced by the complete virtual event experience that they will convert right away.
This is where it’s really beneficial to plan carefully your virtual event for SaaS brands:
- Who is your target audience?
- What are their issues and challenges?
- Where are they in the buying process?
- How can you properly position your brand and solution to assist them?
3) Ticket Revenue Generation
We discuss whether or not there will be a cost connected with the ticket early in the planning stages of an event. So, plan accordingly while initiating virtual events for SaaS brands.
Consider the Social Pulse Summit: LinkedIn Edition, which was produced in 2019 and included dozens of the greatest LinkedIn marketing professionals and solutions. My event budget was $10,000, which included speaker fees and advertising. If I had only charged $10 per ticket, the revenue would have crossed over $40,000.
Of course, a price of any type may dissuade certain attendees, but the converse is also true: when there is a cost to anything, there is a perceived value to that thing, so for some audiences, a registration fee may actually have a positive impact on attendance and, of course, revenue.
4) Build Client Relationship
Building strong customer relationships is mandatory while planning virtual events for SaaS brands.
Every customer you have now is with you because they trust your brand and the solution you provide. They all, however, have distinct enterprises, as well as distinct histories and levels of experience. As a result, some of your prospects will be in a better position than others to fully exploit your solution.
Do you know what occurs when a customer does not believe they are getting the most out of your solution?
They turnover. But what would happen if you failed to help those customers?
Ecamm is an excellent illustration of this. Ecamm is a live streaming video solution for Macs that lets you build completely personalized and branded video broadcasts complete with guests, transitions, overlays, and more.
They understand that, in addition to the complexity of their solution, the nature of live video broadcasting generates extra technological issues and other roadblocks. To assist both potential and existing clients, Ecamm hosted the Leap into Live Broadcasting Bootcamp, a virtual event that brought together professionals from all backgrounds to assist the community of attendees with all aspects of live streaming. They learnt about equipment, platforms, and, of course, the Ecamm tool.
5) Build Strong Partner Relationship
Similarly, virtual events for SaaS brands provide an excellent chance to build and strengthen partnerships with other companies. Because every virtual event has the potential to be a win-win situation for you and a partner company.
If you collaborate with another industry brand that does not compete with your solution but has a similar target demographic, you effectively double your reach and event impact, don’t you?
You may collaborate with other brands in a variety of ways, including:
- Co-marketing
- Lead sharing
- Booths at virtual events
- Sponsored speaking slots
- Sponsorship for a fee
It all depends on your event goals, the platform you choose, and the features you want to use. Make sure that while you’re conducting your initial planning, you take these alternatives into account and establish some rules for how you want to arrange things.
What’s your next step?
I’m sure you’re persuaded of the overall benefits of virtual events for SaaS brands at this point and are ready to start preparing your online conference.
If it sounds like the best option for you. If you believe that paying a little more upfront would ensure that your event is a tremendous success. If you’re looking at the broad picture of what your brand (and employer) wants to achieve this year and are willing to go to any length to make it happen.
Join hands with HexaFair and build virtual events for SaaS brands now. Let’s have a quick demo.