It’s tempting to believe that, once there’s a vaccine for Covid-19 and the pandemic fades away, we’ll go back to business as usual. To many Microsoft ISV and partner marketers, normal means getting back on the road to sponsor lots of in-person Dynamics events.
Back in 2009, MSDynamicsWorld.com (MSDW) developed and ran the first virtual trade show for the Microsoft Dynamics community, called Decisions. The event was successful for sponsors and attendees, but at the time, the concept of a virtual trade show was so new it never became fully adopted by tech vendors and users. Fast forward to 2020, and the pandemic has led to an outpouring of virtual events of various sorts, from traditional webcasts to marathon Teams meets to more elaborate virtual trade shows. While the full impact of a fully virtual event marketing program is not yet known, it has become clear that outcomes have changed little in a world without on-premises events. And, with that in mind, it is also clear that not all virtual events are created equal. How can ISVs and partners determine which ones are best for them? Here are key questions to ask about any virtual event you are considering participating in or sponsoring:
- How focused is the virtual event’s audience? Just as any online marketing tasks like promotional emails and Google ads should be highly targeted, so is it with virtual events. If you sign on with a virtual event that covers the Dynamics waterfront, you’ll likely wind up with attendees from lots of markets that have nothing to do with your solution focus area, which will inevitably result in a waste of your time, energy….and marketing dollars.
- How impactful is the marketing engagement? Some so-called virtual trade shows have limited trade-show features and thus offer marketers little more than glorified webcasts or banner ads. A true virtual event experience will allow and encourage attendees to do many of the things they can do at in-person events — gather collateral, attend presentations, ask questions of exhibitors, view product demonstrations, and connect in real-time with other attendees and sponsors.
- What kind of exclusivity will sponsors receive? Ideally, you’d like to be the only ISV or partner in your solution focus category at a particular show. If there isn’t exclusivity, then how many other ISVs and partners will be present on the same topics? If there are no limits, understand what that means: you will be sharing sales leads with however many competitors are present.
- What are the economics of the event? Invariably, virtual events will be much less costly to put on than in-person events simply because there are no travel expenses and trade show setup expenses. But just because they cost less doesn’t mean that all virtual events are good deals. Depending on factors described previously, like an event’s target marketing and exhibitor exclusivity, similarly priced events could vary widely in their marketing outcome. If a targeted event with sponsor exclusivity produces 500 serious sales leads, it may be a much better deal than an event that produces 1,000 leads of a more general nature.
Virtual trade shows will never replace the in-person event experience because virtual shows can never fully replicate the human interaction possible when people actually get together, face-to-face. But virtual events build on what we already know about digital marketing and the value of different investments. Whereas your executive team might have signed off reflexively on sponsorships for the annual in-person trade show calendar before, virtual events demand a higher standard in terms of data-driven decisions and quantifiable outcomes. Yes, audience sizes matter, but the best virtual event experiences will offer more than a top line, making ever-more-compelling interactions possible between Dynamics ISVs and their prospects. Banner ads and Google Ads have their place, but they are no replacement for a digital marketing strategy that blends expertise with technology value and delivers it across key media formats.
We believe an increasing amount of marketing and sales will be carried out via the virtual options. But that marketing will be driven by a demand for better and more quantifiable experiences and results.
