The Top Mistakes Marketers Make When Planning a Virtual Event
As 2023 comes to a close, it's time to reflect on the year behind us and the valuable lessons learned along the way. This year was truly transformational for all of you as virtual tastings went from a pandemic necessity to an integral part of how we engage with customers and community.
As the number of purple cork virtual events grew exponentially in 2023, patterns emerged on common pitfalls to avoid when coordinating these virtual events. I wanted to share twelve key mistakes we’ve seen marketers make when planning branded virtual experiences, alongside the solutions that have worked so well for our community. Consider it an early holiday gift as you look ahead to the events, tastings, and programming on your 2024 calendar!
1 | Lack A Clear Theme or Topic
It’s tempting when planning a virtual event to try and appeal to the broadest audience possible with a vague, generic theme. But we’ve learned that narrowing in on a specific topic relevant to your brand and community drives higher engagement and satisfaction.
For instance, one client wanted to showcase their executive team’s unique backgrounds through a virtual tasting. So, each leader selected a wine reminiscent of their roots, shared what that bottle meant to them, and guided the group through tasting notes and pairings. It felt personal while still tying back to the brand.
When building your event agenda, dig deeper into what purpose it aims to serve, and how to craft an experience that speaks specifically to that goal.
2 | Fail to Recruit Marquee Speakers and Panelists
Thought leadership drives interest. We’ve found that securing influential guest speakers provides that extra star power to get audiences excited to attend a virtual event.
Whether it’s executives from within your company, VIP customers who can speak to why they love working with your brand, celebrities like athletes and musicians, influencers like Harvard professors or media personalities, putting stakeholder spotlight sessions or panels on the agenda lends external validation. We have also seen great luck with leveraging prospects, which drives goodwill with accounts.
And don’t wait until the last minute to recruit special guests. Identify target speakers early, and build event timing and promotion around their availability.
3 | Neglect an Attendance Strategy
You’ve put in the work to develop amazing virtual event programming. But none of that matters if attendees don’t show up! Having an intentional attendance strategy is key to driving registrations and engagement.
For purple cork events, we’ve learned that a multi-touch drip campaign works best. One week out, attendees receive an email outlining the event agenda and a checklist for participation. Two days prior, a follow up reminder goes out requesting they clear their schedules. And 30 minutes before things kick off, a text nudge confirms event details and link access. This coordinated outreach has increased attendance rates by over 15% compared to a single registration confirmation. Consider what communications journey makes sense for securing your audience.
4 | No Post-Event ROI Process
Squeezing the most value from a virtual event doesn’t end when you log off. Having processes in place to quantify impact and enable follow up is critical for driving ROI.
Internally, set aside time directly after your online event for debrief conversations while the experience is fresh. Review chat logs, engagement metrics, survey feedback, and anecdotal observations to shape future programming.
Externally, follow up with personalized recaps to all registrants and attendees. These emails typically see higher open and click through rates thanks to the exclusive, valuable event still top of mind.
5 | Overly Rely on “Talking Heads” and PowerPoint
Death by PowerPoint gets old fast, even in digital formats. Unfortunately, far too many organizations default to webinar-style virtual events with executives monotonously clicking through slides.
While presentations certainly have their place, consider balancing out programming with more interactive elements. Ideal events blend brief inspirational speeches with hands-on demos, audience Q&A, polls and games, breakout networking, and more.
This not only keeps the energy high, but also caters to different learning styles in your audience. On average, our most engaging sessions feature a speaker for no more than 10-15 minutes at a time.
6 | Underinvest in the Tasting Experience
At purple cork, we recognize that wine delivery and tasting virality differentiates our virtual events. So we source incredible, hard to source bottles for audiences to sample as they learn. And we invite winery owners and wine makers to walk through flavors, regions, pairings and more in depth during programming.
Here’s one thing we know. Tasting a $30 bottle of wine from a big wine producer might be a ‘take it or leave it’ event. But a $300 bottle of Cabernet is a treat. Not many people will turn down the opportunity to taste a bottle with the renowned winemaker.
If incorporating a tasting, do it right. Bring your A+ products, dishes, or tools into the homes of attendees to create lasting positive connections with your brand.
7 | Fail to Tailor the Event to Your Audience
In our earlier days of virtual tastings, we developed amazing Italian wine flights to sample. But when clients promoted the idea to beer-loving corporate teams, they realized that their audience would be happiest with interesting beers. We learned quickly that a one-size fits all approach rarely succeeds.
Now our process begins by deeply understanding a client's customer and employee demographics and preferences. An event for the C-Suite looks entirely different than one targeting Gen Z! Tailor programming, theming, speakers, and takeaways to specifically appeal to who registers.
We often joke that at purple cork, we can pair anything with wine! But in reality, the beverage, food, or swag you feature should tie directly to the passions of expected attendees.
8 | Plan One-Off Events
Consistency breeds familiarity and loyalty. Unfortunately, brands often default to “one and done” approaches with virtual engagement.
The best traction comes from developing recurring event series that audiences can rely on and look forward to. Quarterly employee town halls, regular customer workshops, seasonal tasting flights - - these repeating touchpoints keep you top of mind.
They also provide a framework to easily promote and scale events once the cadence launches. We now host popular weekly public tastings that sell out within hours organically thanks to anticipation building around the series.
9 | Invite Too Many Internal Stakeholders
Who you invite behind the scenes directly correlates to presenter and audience comfort levels. There’s nothing worse than crickets from a crowd too intimidated to engage!
For our virtual events, we abide by an 80/20 rule - roughly 80% external guests to 20% internal team members and partners. Limiting overall company headcount spots more organic dialogue.
And of the internal reps, define clear roles. Have a few focused solely on facilitating breakouts, monitoring chat and engagement, handling troubleshooting, etc. Reps don't need to attend as passive observers. Streamline and get your people involved!
10 | Attempt to Record Sensitive Sessions
“Recording is now in progress.” Cue the pin drop silence! Enabling recording capabilities unfortunately still hinders transparent conversations in virtual settings.
Rather than recording, focus efforts on real-time digestion and post-event recaps. Have appointed team members exclusively responsible for capturing key questions, themes, quotes and takeaways live through chat logs and engagement analytics.
Reps can also jot down notes from breakout rooms for later reference. Just be transparent in your invite that recording won't occur, but insights will be gathered responsibly.
11 | Fear Breakout Room Networking
I can’t emphasize enough the power of breakout rooms! Facilitated small group networking is consistently our highest rated programming element across the board. Yet so many organizers fear the unknown of virtual breakouts, or lack budget for proper facilitation. But a few simple ground rules and talking points go a long way towards driving meaningful connections.
Give groups 3-5 minutes to discuss an icebreaker prompt before opening up conversation more broadly. Have them share names, home base, and their favorite beverage before diving into bigger topics!
When executed effectively, the conversations and relationships sparked through breakouts leave lasting, tangible impacts on business development, culture, and community for organizations. Lean into them!
12 | Neglect Having Fun!
Last but certainly not least, don’t forget the joy when planning any event! Injecting moments of surprise, delight, laughter, and friendly competition makes the experience memorable well beyond signing off.
From best virtual background contests, to cocktail trivia questions, impromptu karaoke, guest celebrity appearances, spot prizes, and more...a little whimsy goes a long way!
As we step into a new year, one thing I know for sure is that virtual engagement is here to stay.
I can’t wait to pour our innovative community another glass as we tackle 2024 together. Until then!
