We are looking at events at vantage point as many of our customers are companies exhibiting at Trade Shows. I wanted to share some thoughts about the current state of events as the Coronavirus is still spreading around the world.
Let’s start with by admitting the truth, almost all events are either cancelled, postponed or moved to online because of the virus outbreak. What we can do at this point is to look forward to the time when the outbreak is in the past and events are back on schedule.
How long will this last?
Your guess is as good as ours, but let’s try. Large gatherings were one of the first ones to be cancelled globally. It is likely that they will also be the last ones to bounce back. But all the restrictions each country is putting in place have happened really fast. We are talking about days and weeks. When one country puts new restrictions in place, others follow fast.
It is very likely that the same happens in another direction. When the spreading of the virus has been stopped, there will be the first country that starts to remove restrictions. And in the same way as in closing down, others will have a pressure to follow and remove restrictions.
There’s no good tools to estimate the length of the extreme measures but the best option is to look to the east. Singapore, China and Hong Kong have been able to slow down the progress of the virus and if that continues we might see things getting back to normal quite fast.
How is this going to affect my business?
This depends heavily on your business environment. If events are one of your main lead channels in marketing, it is very likely that the cancellations are hitting you especially hard. It’s hard to get the same benefits from other channels since events are quite an unique opportunity to gather decision makers to the same space and grab their undivided attention.
Nevertheless, I would approach the challenge from two angles. First, I would replace the lost leads by amping up the budget in digital lead channels if possible. In addition, it would make sense to me to start preparing for the time when the events are back on track.
What can I do?
We at Zero Keyboard are using the downtime to push new development ideas forward so that we are stronger than ever when the pandemic is over.
In the same way we are dedicated to spread this optimism among our customers and prospects. Now is the best time to think of how we can win back the lost time and revenue after events are back in the schedule.
What do the frontrunner companies do in times like these?
With the most forward thinking companies we are already setting up Zero Keyboard Event Lead Management solution. During the down time we are able to set up both the processes and the software. We are running the admin and user training online. Actually nothing has changed in that. We are used to doing all the steps over virtual meetings.
We have also introduced a new licensing model, User Months, to reduce the risk of the software purchase. You can think of user months as credits. You only use user months when your users are at the events. No events, no user months spent.
Let us help you to re-imagine your event ROI in the post-pandemic era. And most importantly, take care of yourself and your loved ones.
