When Virtual Tradeshows first emerged within the Events Industry, there existed a fear that the technology would be so effective that it might threaten the physical production of a show. Today, it is widely recognized that Virtual Tradeshows are in no way a replacement for face-to-face marketing and personal connections. With that in mind, Virtual Tradeshows are a smart response to attendance shortfalls that result from an increasing cost of travel. Moreover, as marketing departments experience economy-wide budget cuts this is a responsible way to maximize visibility and awareness.
MARKETING INNOVATION
VirtualVU Inc. has recognized the growing benefit of virtual marketing tools to association managers and has developed a Software-as-Service solution to accommodate the demand. Their Virtual Tradeshow packages are an economical resource to present fresh marketing opportunities in an era of unprecedented advancement in technology, rising costs, and increased competition. The VirtualVU platform intuitively offers quick and easy navigation throughout virtual events while providing superior visual effects.
The solution includes webcasting, an interactive exhibit hall with a networking lounge, strong social networking capability as well as tracking tools. "We have integrated all of the components of a Virtual Tradeshow into one platform," says VirtualVU founder and CEO Janet Thompson. "We offer a really great value to association managers and their events by bringing together a geographically dispersed audience with good content."
ORGANIZED IMPLEMENTATION
The success of a virtual event is dependent upon its execution. "Like a physical event, a Virtual Tradeshow must be properly promoted to a targeted audience," says Thompson. "In some respects, it is necessary to spend more time on the content at a virtual event than for a physical event. Similar to the challenge of attracting television audiences, virtual content needs to be incredibly engaging so that people are not distracted by eight other diversions at their computer." Although the technology necessary to implement a virtual event is now moderately available within the Meetings industry, successful virtual endeavors are differentiated by expertly organized execution.
NETWORKING OPTIMIZATION
Though Virtual Tradeshows emerged in the industry a decade ago, it is the rise of social networking and RFID lead generation technology that have reopened the doors of opportunity to suppliers such as VirtualVU. These technologies are powered by the customer sales cycle and present exhibitors the chance to accelerate that sales cycle, making earlier introductions. By the time exhibitors and their potential customers meet on the show floor they have already built relationships and customers are likely to have already seen the tools in action. The show floor has become a place of contract negotiation versus a place of introduction.
Lead generation and social networking tools have reestablished standard business processes. Virtual Tradeshows definitely fall into that genre of networking optimization solutions that assure an event to reach its attendees. "We are seeing a great demand for Virtual Tradeshow services from technology companies that want to sell product globally," says Thompson. "Our solution is a very cost effective way to reach a broad audience, as opposed to going on a ten city tour that compromises the budget. The interest we receive is from people who are looking for an innovative and creative way to touch prospects and customers. We have received interest from educational programs hoping to employ our tools in order to reach a networking generation of youths."
EFFECTIVE APPLICATION
The benefit of VirtualVU to associations is realized by applying their technology in order to maximize the reach of a show. When properly implemented, a successful virtual event demonstrates innovation as a value-add to association membership. Furthermore, the metrics provided by a VirtualVU solution are paramount to discovering what products, services and education attendees seek from an event.
To extend the life of a physical event, it is essential to provide rich content that captures the audience and make it available to the most attendees over the longest duration possible. If executed properly, a Virtual Tradeshow provided by a supplier such as VirtualVU is a cost-effective marketing solution.