Virtual Communications
The past two years have brought about unprecedented change in how businesses communicate with their audience. Virtual events have become a new normal, empowering businesses with the opportunity to connect with their audience in new ways. While nothing can compare to the power of in-person communication, virtual events have the potential to engage more people for businesses across multiple industries.
Virtual events are largely successful because of how much accessibility they give to the audience. People are able to participate via their landline, cell phone, or computer/tablet, providing ultimate convenience. The Contact Group’s Total Teleconference has resulted in an exponential increase in both participation and engagement for several of our clients. In recent years, The Contact Group (TCG) has produced several events for The San Antonio Department of Transportation. Since working with TCG, this organization saw its participation go from less than 50 attendees to over 1,500 for each event.
Clear and effective communication is a key part of establishing trust with your audience. As the vacation industry rebounds from the disruption of the past few years, connecting with your audience is critical for retention as people are forced to reconsider their budgets and priorities. Proving value and trustworthiness while staying top of mind is a key strategy in the next few years. Enhanced virtual communication can help achieve these objectives for an investment comparable to direct mail.
However, just as with any consumer touchpoint, execution is critical. There are several platforms available that offer virtual outreach capabilities. Zoom, GoToWebinar, and Microsoft Teams are great low investment options, but these platforms can offer little control or data in return. These platforms may work very well for team meetings and internal communications, making them a great addition to internal tools, but there are more robust options for your business’ outreach, ensuring the maximum return on your team’s investment of time and intention.
Related: The Paradigm Shift from Traditional to Virtual Selling
The Contact Group’s Total Teleconference offers a variety of features that will dramatically increase participation, allowing you to easily produce an engaging and well-run, enhanced virtual event from your offices across the country. Our unique proprietary platform can dial out to invite registrants, host panelists from multiple locations, empower your team to answer live, pre-screened questions, and enable integrated polling in every event. In addition, each of our events can be recorded, transcribed, and edited for post-event content to further engage your audience and connect with those who might have missed out.
Since 2001, The Contact Group has been committed to helping our clients get the highest return on their objectives through our enhanced virtual events. Our success spans across the nation and in multiple industries. We do 95% of the heavy lifting for our clients and work to essentially produce a live “TV” show that their audience can dial into, creating a sense of transparency and trust as the client’s subject matter expert panelists answer chosen, pre-screened questions. In addition, we specialize in both bi-lingual and hybrid enhanced virtual events that have a live, in-person component combined with the virtual capability.
The company currently has a special introductory offer for new clients for an enhanced virtual event with up to 2,500 invitees for only $975 (which is over 50% off). TCG’s Team and enhancements mean you will have an exponentially higher participation rate along with a better-controlled, more professional session, delivering higher engagement all without needing additional resources-human or technical.
Regardless of what platform you may choose to host your virtual outreach, it is important to consider the following things when shopping options and planning an event.
Virtual events help maintain a steady flow of communication to keep your audience feeling connected, build trust, and retain loyalty. These events can be used to drive trust, educate owners, or introduce new policies and procedures. By being strategic in planning an objective, you can be sure the meeting stays on track and effectively communicates what is most important for your audience to know. Without it, you risk the event feeling chaotic and increasing tension in the mind of your audience.
Knowing your audience is vital to the success of any event. Understanding their wants and needs can help plan an event that targets what they need to feel secure in your business care. Be sure to factor in your audience when planning any script and programming. The size of your audience can also help decisions. Bigger audiences require more robust platforms to ensure a seamless, interactive, and memorable event for all involved. The Contact Group can easily produce enhanced virtual events from up to 2,500 invitees to the tens of thousands.
Any event planned can be turned into a hybrid-virtual event. With little effort from your team, TCG can stream your in-person events, making them accessible by phone or computer. This doubles the engagement potential and allows your audience to chime in from where they feel most comfortable.
Q&A sessions provide attendees an opportunity to find out more about their specific concerns, and particular topics, and interact with the hosts of the event, creating an irreplaceable opportunity for engagement. However, it can be easy for participants’ questions to veer off-topic or express misplaced general gripe comments. Consider a platform that allows questions to be screened and chosen to ensure the event stays on the chosen topics and objectives.
Polling is another great option to increase engagement and gather important data from your participants. It can provide invaluable insights and provide direction for future endeavors. Some companies also use polls to break up long presentations, keep events paced, and ask statistic-building questions that may be useful in the future.
With the right platform, virtual events can be recorded and edited to distribute through your mailing list and social channels, extending the life of the content and possibilities of engagement with your audience. In addition, gathering data and connecting with those that attended is another way to continue to build trust.
Ready to enhance your virtual outreach? The Contact Group is available for free consultations and expert guidance. Call 703-725-8608. https://thecontactgroupusa.com/
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