As the Coronavirus threat keeps growing and becoming a global crisis, more restrictions are being imposed by governments around the world in an attempt to minimize and delay the spread of the disease. The negative effect on many businesses is significant. When international travel is restricted, large trade shows are among the first to take a hit.
The cancelation of Mobile World Congress 2020 has triggered a global ripple effect on the technology sector. Every day we hear about more cancelled business events. Besides trade shows, companies are forced to cancel their own planned events for customers and partners.
As marketers we feel the immediate impact of these cancellations. The time and effort spent on preparations towards big events cannot be redeemed. Then there’s the big budget issue. I have watched companies spend more than half of their annual marketing budget on a single trade show. Assuming the planned ROI on such events is positive, cancelled events affect your bottom line.
What can marketing teams do to pick up the pieces and recover?
Quite a lot in fact. But first let’s talk about what you don’t want to do.
After one of these recent trade show cancelations I saw a LinkedIn post by a company. The post said something about canceling the event was the right decision, followed by ‘see you at [this show] next year’. They even included a hashtag for next year’s show. What’s the point? I’m sure someone at this company must have thought about how to address their customers after the cancelation, but it sure didn’t reflect in this post.
When a global crisis strikes, some companies decide to cut their spending across all departments, including marketing. Even if they managed to recoup part of the main expenses on the canceled event – such as flights, hotels, meals, booth space and build – these companies will save that money for brighter days or next year’s budget. While understood, they miss on a big opportunity to re-engage with their customers and prospects while the cancelation is still fresh.
- Go local
When I worked at AudioCodes and Allot, two companies in the telecom and security space, a nice chunk of the marketing budget went to local events. Usually these were seminar and fun days where we got together with customers from that country or region, heard about their experience, and demonstrated the value we can bring them. Both Sales and customers loved them, and they were not expensive or fancy. They proved to be very effective and we did several of them every quarter to cover all the main sales territories.
In regular times local events can live alongside your big industry and company events, although in some companies the budget for big events leaves no room for local ones. However, in times of global issues such as the Coronovirus, local activities can provide a good alternative to big events. One of our customers at Galimark had to cancel an upcoming global customer event because of the current limitations on flights and public gatherings. Instead they created a series of small events in several places, giving their customers the option to enjoy a similar experience within their country.
- Go virtual
Have you considered using a virtual reality tool to showcase your offering? I have to say that I used to be skeptical about the ability of virtual tools to deliver a good experience for customers. Well, after seeing how Allot handled the MWC 2020 cancelation, I changed my mind. Allot Mobile Virtual Conference creates an immersive experience that resembles a conference booth. You are greeted in the main reception, you can go to two separate sections representing different solution categories, and watch demos, webinars and analyst sessions on specific topics. You can go to the auditorium to watch live sessions at certain times and schedule a meeting at the meeting room.
Sure, a virtual session cannot replace a 1-on-1 of a salesperson or an executive with a customer. But it offers a great alternative to open up the discussion with customers and create more leads through a targeted campaign. You can also promote and retarget people to the virtual venue. After entering the Allot blog on MWC 2020 I saw an ad on my Facebook feed promoting the Allot MVC.
- Personal roadshow
Towards participating in large trade shows most companies put an effort by marketing and sales to schedule meetings with customers at the venue. In some cases, this is the place where big deals are closed or move ahead to the next stage. When such event is canceled, you can strike while the iron is hot by going on a roadshow to meet the same people in their own turf. You need to form a small team of executives and along with the local salespeople and channels – schedule a series of meetings at the customers’ premises.
The big advantage in a roadshow is the ability to create a closer bonding with your customers. Each customer gets their full attention, and unlike the big event where the marketing team usually provides the same presentations for all meetings – here you can prepare customized material that fits their specific pains. I call it personal roadshow. The reason why it doesn’t happen more is often related to the difficulty of getting several executives together on the road for a couple of weeks. It’s never easy, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going – and the long term reward is worth it.
What is your experience with canceled events? What were your next marketing moves?