Marketers Share Ideas Over a Blind purple cork Wine Tasting
During a recent purple cork event with marketing leaders from companies like Cisco, Optimizely, Thomson Reuters and Toolio, Lily Hays from SAMsARA Wine Co. conducted a blind taste test with two delicious red wines. Attendees learned how to use sight, smell and taste to identify the type of grapes likely used to make the wine. Then, we split the group into two breakout rooms to talk about today’s event landscape.
Here are some highlights of the discussion:
Use virtual experiences as follow-up to larger marketing events
To keep the momentum going after conferences and trade shows, marketers are inviting select contacts to more intimate follow-up virtual events to get to know them better and keep the conversation going. These events have proven to be great deal accelerators for many companies.
According to one VP of Demand Generation, this is an especially effective tactic with net new prospects. A complimentary virtual wine tasting plus networking event is always an easy ask!
Run a monthly play
Given the cost efficiency and high ROI (5-10x+) of virtual events, many purple cork clients run 8-12 virtual tastings throughout the year as part of a recurring “taste of” or “tasting club” series. This consistency also allows you to refine the format over time so it’s the perfect mix of tasting, networking and other content for your attendees. And if you partner with a popular vendor like purple cork, this also secures primetime dates before they are sold out.
People are moving—virtual events meet them where they are
According to USPS data, over 15.9 million people have moved during the pandemic. As a result, many marketers are suffering from inaccurate address data. This makes targeting for in-person events trickier than ever. For example, the decision maker at your top account may have moved from San Francisco to Austin, but you’re flying blind with an outdated Salesforce record. Couple this with unpredictable airline travel and lodging, the risk of in-person no-shows only increases.
As a result, many CMOs are remaining focused on virtual events given the national (and international) reach. It also creates fun camaraderie to see where everyone is joining from, virtually.
“We love virtual events because you can pull from the entire country and not worry about where the person is physically located.”
Leverage virtual events to keep deals on track
A SaaS marketer shared a brilliant idea to ensure that big deals stay on track. She works with her sales team to plot deal milestones and then invites the prospect to a future event to celebrate the milestone. For example, “When we pop the cork in two weeks we’ll be celebrating the signing of the letter of intent.”
No-show guilt is real
If you send a cocktail tasting package, wine or food in advance of your virtual event, people are more likely to show up. But, even if they don’t, many marketers said that they can usually get a meeting with no-shows because they feel guilty for not showing up, especially if you’ve sent something exclusive like “cult” cabs from Roy Estate. One marketer said her ROI is actually higher from no-shows than attendees.
In-person events require more creativity than ever
In-person events are back and marketers are once again investing in conferences and trade shows. To stand out and get more bang for the buck, many are looking at ways to get attendees off the trade show floor and into a brand activation. For an upcoming event in Brooklyn, one CMO took the money she would’ve spent on a larger booth and repurposed it into a more memorable experience for attendees—she is wrapping food trucks and placing them on the street in front of the conference.
Another company is partnering with purple cork for an in-office wine tasting while their customers are in town for Dreamforce. Bringing Sonoma vineyards to the city!
The return of swag
Get marketers together and swag will come up. A fun moment arose when one attendee shared her collection of branded mugs with the group, noting that she had mugs from many of the companies represented on the call. While some people prefer to give out physical gifts such as water bottles with bluetooth speakers, others are looking into gifting experiences, like wine and food tastings, or charity donations.
As we see with every event, ideas flow in breakout rooms. If you’re looking to engage your prospects, customers or team in a networking event like this one, please reach out!
