Category: Marketing Automation

As a business, you likely run marketing campaigns all year round.
There are specific occasions, though, where you might spend more time and money on your efforts to maximize exposure and inspire the most sales. Holidays are a great example of this, where events like Black Friday can bring in significant sales and revenue compared to other days of the year.
In this post, we’ll go over insights from marketers on the holidays and annual events that they spend the most money on and why.

What holidays and annual events do marketers build strategies for?
We asked marketers and advertisers about the holidays/annual events they plan to build marketing strategies for in the next 12 months. They were asked to select up to three options, and the top three responses were:

Winter/End of Year Holidays (ex. New Years Day)
Black Friday
Halloween

What holidays and annual events do marketers spend the most money on?
We asked marketers and advertisers about the holidays/annual events they spend the most time and money on marketing. The top holidays were winter/end of year holidays, Black Friday, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day.

We also asked marketers why they spend the most money on the events they selected and the most common responses were that their selected annual holidays and events drive the most sales and bring in the most revenue.
For example, some marketers said they spend the most money on marketing for Black Friday because people begin their holiday shopping during this time and are more excited and willing to spend money, so reaching them with effective and personalized campaigns is essential. Marketers can spend more time and effort creating marketing campaigns for Black Friday because it pays off.
Holidays and Annual Events Provide Opportunity for All Businesses
Every business is different, but holidays and annual events are great for sales. How do your marketing campaigns, marketing spending, and high-traffic events align with other marketers?

Welcome to Breaking the Blueprint — a blog series that dives into the unique business challenges and opportunities of underrepresented business owners and entrepreneurs. Learn how they’ve grown or scaled their businesses, explored entrepreneurial ventures within their companies, or created side hustles, and how their stories can inspire and inform your own success.
Aspiring Native entrepreneurs face many challenges in growing small businesses. Complex land lease laws, strained infrastructure, and a chronic lack of credit access all inhibit Indigenous success. However, thanks to growing federal, organizational, and tribal support, potential business owners have more resources available than ever.
Navigating new financial mechanisms, tribal incubators, and government programs can still present a challenge. By appraising available resources, and when to leverage them, Native entrepreneurs gain a great head start in launching new ventures. Starting on the right foot, with the right tools, can make all the difference – especially when climbing over systemic barriers.
Native Community Development Financial Institutions
Native access to capital can prove a complex and frustrating obstacle for up-and-coming business owners. Chronic systemic discrimination, along with general confusion around complicated land laws, can stymie new businesses before they ever get started. Generational poverty often means that Natives don’t have alternative means of obtaining start-up capital, either.
A May 2021 report by the National Indian Council On Aging states that 16.3 percent of Native households don’t use banks.  The same report notes that high poverty rates, systemic racism, and a lack of brick-and-mortar institutions on Native reservations leave many Indigenous people without good financial standing.
Natives also can’t use lands held in trust with the Bureau of Indian Affairs – meaning reservation lands – as collateral. As a result, traditional banking and the consequent access to business loans remain out of reach.
In response, many tribes or non-profit organizations have established Native Community Development Financial Institutions or Native CDFIs. These institutions use non-traditional methods, often backed by tribal or federal funding, to lend to otherwise ineligible borrowers.
There are over 70 Native CDFIs across the United States. Some are tribally owned, such as the Lummi CDFI in Bellingham, Washington. Others are established as regional organizations, such as Native Community Capital in New Laguna, New Mexico. Many are part of an overarching organization called the Native CDFI Network, whose website hosts a list of member institutions.
As Native-led or Native-serving organizations, these institutions understand land law, tribal sovereignty, and the issues facing Indigenous entrepreneurs. Loan officers at Native CDFIs often use metrics other than credit scores or collateral to support their lending or offer financial literacy and credit-building programs to improve clients’ standing.
These groups also share many of the perspectives and experiences of their surrounding constituents, which means a wider array of business models can be encouraged and supported. An October 2022 report from banking giant Wells Fargo notes that traditional, national banks frequently lend more often to tribal enterprises with established presences, while CDFIs help cover the gap for smaller loans and riskier businesses.
Potential Indigenous entrepreneurs who have access to a Native CDFI should make reaching out and establishing a relationship their first step in drumming up business capital. In addition to establishing credit, working with a CDFI to build financial literacy and refine a business model can get things started on a high note.
Business Incubators for Indigenous Entrepreneurs
Good products and services may form the cornerstone of successful business ventures, but they’re just a part of the overall operation. Entrepreneurs need a good understanding of cash flow, marketing, scale, and a wide array of other subjects to maintain that success.
Indigenous-led business incubators serve an important niche, combining traditional business sense with a deep understanding of a community’s traditions, needs, and issues. Where non-Native incubators might falter in addressing challenges specific to Native entrepreneurs, Indigenous incubators work from a Native perspective, tailoring their programs to fit their communities.
For Tuba City, Arizona-based Change Labs, an incubator serving the Navajo (Dine) and Hopi peoples, that means initiatives such as providing storefront space and no-credit-needed micro-loans, according to their Theory of Change report. These tailor programs address the limited availability of workable retail space on Navajo and Hopi lands, as well as a widespread lack of credit.
Incubator cohorts typically include dedicated programs packed with classes, projects, and networking. These cohorts often pair participants with experienced mentors in their chosen industries, building relationships and connections for striking out on their own later.
Much like Native CDFIs, Indigenous incubators form for both tribes and regional organizations. While Change Labs targets the Hopi and Navajo tribes specifically, Traverse City, Mich.-based Arrowhead Incubator aids entrepreneurs across that area. While there aren’t many incubators fully off the ground, the passage of 2020’s Native American Business Incubator Act aims to grow that number considerably. Where there isn’t a resource now, one may exist soon.
Native entrepreneurs growing their businesses or who are uncertain of their next steps may find it worth it to locate an Indigenous-led business incubator either through their tribe or regional support. In the absence of a nearby resource, larger incubators such as the Spokane-based Native Business Center provide a range of online classes and workshops.
Economic Development Organizations for Indigenous Entrepreneurs
Even as Indian Country struggles with building wealth, national organizations work to combat those issues and develop strategies for new Native entrepreneurs. Many of these organizations develop programs for funding and supporting Indigenous businesses. Some of these organizations include:
1.  The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development
The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development provides a wide array of programs for supporting everything from procurement for Indigenous small businesses to securing government contracts through the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program. The Center also offers Native Edge Institutes, one-day in-person events providing concentrated bursts of business training.
2. The Center for Indian Country Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
The Center for Indian Country Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, which offers data-driven research on industry trends, headwinds facing Indigenous businesses, and policy recommendations.
3. The National Minority Supplier Development Council
The National Minority Supplier Development Council certifies and supports businesses whose owners are majority Native American, Asian-American, African American, Asian-Pacific, or Hispanic. The council connects member businesses with over 500 corporate members,  provides seminars and training, and offers a range of capital access programs, like the Growth Initiative.
In addition to wide-net organizations like the above, many states have American Indian Chambers of Commerce, such as chapters in Oklahoma and New Mexico. These organizations provide advocacy, management, and networking services to Native-owned businesses in their given regions, making them crucial and powerful tools for accessing localized support.
Federal and Tribal Government Programs for Indigenous Entrepreneurs
New COVID-19 era legislation has poured unprecedented funding into Indian Country and prompted the development of new federal support. Some of that is leveraged toward small businesses, chiefly through offices like the Small Business Administration, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
1. The Small Business Administration
The SBA offers free technical assistance for business owners through the Office of Native American Affairs. The Administration also partners with Native-led organizations like RedWind and Sister Sky, Inc. to provide entrepreneurial workshops for Indigenous business owners. The administration also manages the 8(a) Business Development Program, which offers federal contracting preference to certified minority-owned businesses.  
2. The Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs supports Indigenous entrepreneurs through its Native American Business Development Institute, which can fund feasibility studies and market research for business plans. The agency also manages the Indian Loan Guarantee and Insurance Program, which can help provide collateral and support for first-time borrowers.
3. The U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency
Lastly, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency serves minority-owned businesses with research, market data, and a wide swathe of Native-centered business grants and projects.
It’s also worth checking in with individual tribes and their corresponding economic development institutions. While tribal gaming continues to be a juggernaut in generating tribal revenue, tribal acquisitions and diversification are on the rise – a tribal member’s small business may be the next best fit for the tribe’s economic strategy. Alternatively, tribes may have support programs and individualized help available for citizens running new ventures.
Use What’s Out There to Build Your Career
Starting a business can be hard in the best circumstances – and Native American entrepreneurs hardly ever begin in the best circumstances. As more and more institutions grapple with Indian Country’s generational trauma and how best to ease that trauma, Native business owners find themselves with more resources than ever.
Native businesses are important parts of local, tribal, and state economies, generating roughly $50 billion a year across the United States, according to an SBA report. Moreover, starting a successful business remains one of the fastest ways to pull a family out of poverty and begin creating generational wealth, combating one of the longest-running problems in Indian Country.
With the range of new opportunities available, it’s never been a better time to start a new business, whether that’s selling arts and crafts, providing IT services, construction contracting, or a large-scale farming enterprise. Aspiring Indigenous business owners should take advantage of renewed interest in Indian Country’s well-being and secure self-sufficiency and success for themselves in the future.

For today’s Ask Buffer, we’re covering a great question we received from one of our followers about growing on Twitter. At Buffer, we’ve found our largest audience on Twitter and love that the platform makes interacting with all of our followers so easy. And that’s the very reason why Twitter is an ideal site for marketing – it’s the perfect place for brands and content creators to engage and converse with their consumers.#AskBuffer what is the best way to grow on Twitter? @buffer— Nata (@natagoldberg) October 19, 2022

Twitter has close to 450 million monthly active users, making it a great platform for anyone who wants to spread the word about their small business or passions. If you’re hoping to do exactly that but aren’t sure how to run a successful Twitter account, this blog is for you. We’ll cover the main thing you’ll want to do to gain more followers on the platform and provide some tips on the best kind of tweets to share.Consistency is key to growing your TwitterThe more you tweet, the more likely you’ll thrive on Twitter. In fact, RivalIQ looked at various industries on Twitter and found that the median rate of posting was five times a week. But sports brands, who posted an average of 41 tweets a week, received the highest twitter engagement of any other industry. While you don’t need to be posting that frequently, this data suggests that Twitter accounts that are posting consistently throughout the week are likely to receive higher engagement rates.To grow your Twitter account, we recommend keeping a consistent schedule for your tweets and posting content regularly because it establishes expertise and credibility, works with the algorithm, and helps you build your brand voice. Here’s more on each of these:Position yourself as an expertThe simplest way to grow your account is to gain more followers, and the only way to do that is to contribute to Twitter’s ecosystem. Twitter is unlike other social media sites because, at its very core, the site is made up of exchanges of information in real-time. The more you post about your business or field of expertise, the more likely it is that users will find your Twitter account and follow you.Your Buffer tip of the week 😃:Instead of writing your ideas for social posts down all over the place, add them to Buffer and then turn them into social posts with our newest feature, Ideas 💡Now you might be wondering, “Can you help me come up with ideas too?”Our answer: pic.twitter.com/EZawhwi2XN— Buffer (@buffer) December 2, 2022

Over the years, our Twitter account has been a hub of information for our followers. It’s where we communicate about Buffer’s culture, provide our latest product updates, share resources from our blog, and connect with other small businesses. We’ve amassed nearly one million followers by consistently tweeting about social media marketing, small businesses, and remote work since 2010.By posting more consistently on your Twitter account, you too can position yourself as an expert and grow your following.Establish credibility through consistencyThink about the favorite accounts you follow on Twitter or any other social media platform. You probably look forward to their content on a daily or weekly basis. Similarly, you’ll find that Twitter users will only take notice of your account if you’re routinely offering them worthwhile content. As you continue sharing content online, you’ll begin to gain traction and establish trust with your followers.We also recommend finding your best time to post on Twitter so you can effectively reach more of your audience when you do post.Work with the algorithmIt’s no secret that pretty much all social media algorithms take into account consistency when calculating which content to promote, meaning the more you share, the more likely your account will be shown in your followers’ feeds.A Twitter blog post stated that the platform is more likely to show certain tweets to a user if said user has interacted with the author’s tweets in the past. So, your goal should be to consistently publish content that is engaging to your followers. As they begin to like, comment, and retweet your posts, the more likely it is that your tweets will be prioritized on their Twitter timeline.Build out your brand voiceAs you continue tweeting on your account, you’ll begin to establish your brand’s voice and style. This is the distinct way you communicate with your followers, and by creating this specific voice, your audience can forge a stronger connection to your business.Once you tweet with your brand voice in mind, your Twitter followers should be able to recognize your tweets and may even look out for them as they scroll through Twitter. This will help give you a greater presence on the platform because your tweets will stand out amongst the crowd.Best practices for creating content for TwitterOnce you’ve committed to keeping a consistent Twitter schedule, you’ll need to figure out what exactly to tweet about. We’ll go over some suggestions and strategies that will help you create engaging content on Twitter.Share useful and relevant contentWhen it comes to posting on your Twitter account, you want to make sure whatever you’re saying will provide value and insight to your audience. There are many ways you can do so, and we’ll go over some examples from other small businesses and content creators.Lean into your expertise and strengthsAt the end of the day, people will follow your Twitter account if they feel like you are tweeting about topics that are relevant, entertaining, timely, and useful.Content writer and strategist Kaleigh Moore regularly posts about marketing on her Twitter. Below, she shares a helpful tip about maintaining a website’s about page.When’s the last time you took a hard look at your website’s About page?It’s more important than you might think. We’ve all heard the saying: “You only have one chance to make a good first impression.”Your About page is often where you make your first impression online.— Kaleigh Moore (@kaleighf) November 16, 2022

Here, Asian Law Caucus – a nonprofit organization focused on social justice amongst minority communities – regularly shares updates on political and social news items in the Bay Area. Note that this is a great example of the org repurposing a blog post from their website into a tweet.ICYMI: Brian shared his story as part of a series on Californians organizing to end our state’s prison-to-ICE pipeline that separates thousands of families. His story inspired many people to urge legislators to end this racist practice once and for all.https://t.co/nvrh4rWflV— Asian Law Caucus (@aaaj_alc) December 5, 2022

💡Repurposing content is one of the best ways to make your social media game more effective. Learn more about the strategy here.Leverage Twitter threadsIf you’re on Twitter, you’re most likely consuming dozens of Twitter threads throughout the day. Threads are very popular on the website and should be used whenever a single tweet isn’t enough to express your thoughts. Essentially, a thread is a series of connected tweets that tell a story, explain an opinion, or express factual information. And it’s one of the main ways Twitter users connect and share information on the website.Jack Appleby grew his impressive career as a social strategist through his Twitter account. He became known for crafting detailed threads where he analyzed a host of marketing-related topics, like this Twitter thread about how Microsoft handled a leak about Xbox.A major, major @Xbox leak was handled masterfully on social in the middle of the night.Let’s look at how Xbox made several viral moments out of a bad day thanks to some memes, quick thinking, & a big company that’s agile enough for fast approvals.Thread 🧵 // pic.twitter.com/QBbeYs3pBJ— Jack Appleby ☕️ (@jappleby) September 8, 2020

Similarly, Professor Olomi has grown his Twitter following by writing dozens and dozens of informative and entertaining Twitter threads about ancient Islamic astrology.Islamic astrology shares a lot of commonalities and influence with European medieval astrology. For example how they interpret the different signs of the zodiac, or dairat al burujA thread on the signs in Islamic astrology: pic.twitter.com/ONXchcxzmh— Ali A Olomi (@aaolomi) July 17, 2019

Want more tips for writing a great Twitter thread? You’re in luck – we wrote a blog post on just that.💡Buffer makes it easy for you to post consistently on Twitter. Get started today to schedule tweets and Twitter threads! Use popular hashtagsTwitter is constantly a buzz with trending conversations. Using popular hashtags (but limiting it to one to two hashtags per tweet) is an easy way to be a part of a larger discussion on the platform, and it lets other Twitter users find your account easily. If you’re ever in need of some inspiration on what to tweet about, checking out the explore page to see what topics are trending is a good place to start.It may not always be appropriate to engage in just any trending topic, but try and see if you can tie it back to your brand. Like here, when Jamba Juice posted about the popular show Euphoria, which was dubbed the most tweeted-about show in the decade.Smoothies we’d give the characters of Euphoria, a thread 🧵— Jamba (@JambaJuice) March 2, 2022

Engage with othersTwitter is the perfect platform for networking with like-minded businesses, customers, and other users. Building community on Twitter can help you amplify your own tweets, while also forging stronger connections with others.Show support to your partners and peersThe Lower Eastside Girls Club’s Twitter account is the perfect example of what it looks like to network effectively on the site. The nonprofit is constantly engaging with partner organizations on their timeline. Like this tweet where they tagged a local bookstore, Bronx Bound Books, and shared a picture from a recent event.The power of reading is truly infectious!⭐️👏🏽 @bronxboundbooks, the mobile bookstore on wheels — stopped by the Girls Club yesterday and we were SO excited to pick out some new reads!💖 #ReadToLead #girlsclub #purejoy pic.twitter.com/2jPOld2Lfi— The Lower Eastside Girls Club (@girlsclubny) June 2, 2022

Retweet like-minded organizationsRetweeting content from like-minded organizations allows you to diversify your Twitter timeline and include perspectives from others. It’s also a good way to build community. When you amplify others’ tweets, there’s a stronger chance that the favor will be reciprocated.Here, The Lower Eastside Girls Club retweets content from their partner organization, NYC Ferry, and highlights their food pantry program.Thank you for all your support this holiday season! We couldn’t have done it without you! #ThanksgivingGiveaway #communitypantry 💖 https://t.co/m5tc7r5zJG— The Lower Eastside Girls Club (@girlsclubny) November 28, 2022

While retweeting is a great strategy, use it in moderation. People won’t be excited to follow your account if your Twitter feed is completely filled with content from others and doesn’t include original tweets.When thinking about the content you create on your Twitter, incorporating ways you can include your peers in the conversation will not only help fill up your content calendar, but it’s a great way to network on the site.Initiate conversation with your followersAn easy and effective way to create more content on Twitter is to engage with your followers. By interacting with the Twitter users you already have, you’re building a stronger relationship with them which can in turn build more brand awareness and loyalty.Our social media manager Mitra is always engaging with our Twitter community by asking questions and getting their feedback.Small business owners: What’s one tool you can’t live without? 🛠️— Buffer (@buffer) December 4, 2022

We’ve also created a dedicated hashtag for our Twitter users to ask us social media-related questions on the site.Do you have any questions for the Buffer team about social media, marketing, or business culture? Use #AskBuffer to share and we may feature your question on our blog! 🤳— Buffer (@buffer) June 1, 2022

Allison Medina, founder of Tech Ladies, does a great job at interacting with her followers on the platform by regularly getting their feedback on what she should write about in her newsletters.OR would it be more interesting to talk to people of various backgrounds (1st or 2nd generation) about how their cultures shape how they do business?— Allison Medina | Bootstrap to Millions (@techladyallison) December 5, 2022

By directly conversing with your followers, you’re showing them you value their input and want to build community with them on Twitter.When you ask these questions, you may not always get responses from your followers, and that’s OK. The main thing is that you’re trying and opening a dialogue with your community. Keep tweaking your tweets to see what resonates most with your followers. Using Twitter Polls can be an easier way to receive input from your followersAre you using a tool for scheduling your Twitter threads?— Buffer (@buffer) December 5, 2022

And when you do hear back from your followers, try your best to respond to every comment. This will help make your followers feel like their voices are being heard. Here are some best practices for replying to social media comments.Create content specifically for TwitterTo really grow on Twitter, you need to be strategic and create content that will perform well on the platform. While it’s totally fine to repurpose posts from your other channels and cross-post them onto Twitter, ideally you’re also crafting some content exclusively for Twitter. Doing so will allow you to cater to your Twitter audience.Years ago, we started #BufferChat on Twitter and recently brought it back in honor of Buffer’s 12th birthday. Our product marketing manager Phill spent some time chatting with our Twitter community about our latest feature – ideas.Who remembers #BufferChat? 🙋‍♂️We started the popular Twitter chat 8 years ago and tomorrow — we’re bringing it back! Join us to celebrate Buffer’s 12th birthday and our latest new feature, Ideas.Tomorrow, November 30 @ 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm GMT! pic.twitter.com/IULJ9b3piz— Buffer (@buffer) November 29, 2022

We’ve found that we’ve gotten a ton of engagement by using the hashtag and it’s allowed us to build community on the site. Scheduling specific times to chat with your followers about certain topics can be a great way to grow your followers.While it’s great to tweet about your small business, we recommend taking advantage of all of Twitter’s various features and using them to create new content for your followers.Here, Twitter user @LoveofDivine shares her knowledge about astrology on Twitter Spaces with her followers. Spaces allow for a live discussion, making it a bit more interactive. It’s a great strategy for changing up your content and connecting with your followers in a new way.@Loveofdivine hosts a Twitter Space on astrology related topics💡Call out: Buffer’s Analytics can help you pinpoint which Tweets are resonating most with your audience. Get started now for free.Include visuals in your tweetsYou’ve probably noticed that most of the tweets we shared throughout this blog post included images. According to Twitter, 97 percent of people focus on visuals on the platform. While Twitter may not seem as visual of a platform compared to Pinterest and Instagram, tweets with media attached to them – including pictures, gifs, or videos – receive 3x more engagement.Here are some best practices when including pictures or illustrations.make sure your photos are properly cropped for the siteinclude image and video descriptions, also known as alt text, for any media you tweet aboutstray away from stock imageryWe hope this Ask Buffer has provided some useful information for growing your Twitter account. Remember, with Buffer, you can schedule Twitter threads and tweets! Get started today for free. If you have a social media question for us let us know on Twitter by using the hashtag #AskBuffer!

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The holiday marketing season is finally here, so it’s time to brush up on holiday email marketing techniques to improve open rates this year. From holiday specials to limited-time offers, emails are an excellent way to engage audiences and drive customers to your shop. If you’re tired of the same old tricks, maybe it’s time…
The post 25 Examples of Holiday Email Subject Lines with the Highest Open Rates (with Emojis) appeared first on Benchmark Email.

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Why do you get stuck in the middle of writing, staring at your screen, and thinking: “Ugh, what am I doing?” Well, if you’re like me (and most people), it’s because of 1. Scattered tools Like me, you’re using multiple tools (Dropbox, Google Docs, Mailchimp…) that don’t seem to play nicely together. So you are wasting time copying and pasting. Or maybe they do play nicely together… but they’re not easy to use. 2. Lack of inspiration Maybe there isn’t much inspiration around the office lately. We’ve all been busy with different projects at the same time. That makes it hard to structure work and come up with new ideas each week. 3. Too many Ideas Yes, that can be a problem too. If you are lucky enough to be a fountain of inspiration, you might be stuck of an information overflow. You get distracted in the middle of writing with new ideas. And you are not sure what to do next. In particular when you write multiple newsletters at a time. The truth is, we’re all busy people with tons of things on our plates. We all have big dreams and motivation, but we don’t want to start a new 9-5 job writing newsletters. Life is challenging enough. So I had to create my own Newsletter process that is fun, easy, and effective. ————————————————————————————————————————————————– This is how I created the Newsletter Wizard! Newsletter Wizard is an all-in-one Newsletter writing system that lets you craft, manage, organize and grow your newsletter from one place — faster than ever before. https://preview.redd.it/s1l6vaqovi5a1.png?width=2880&format=png&auto=webp&s=e216e69c08fc67ab4965363145bce92494300885 ————————————————————————————————————————————————– 5 Newsletter Creation problems, solved. One place to organize everything digitally. Newsletter Wizard offers a place to collect all your thoughts, resources, ideas, templates, or frameworks. No need to switch between apps to manage your course creation. Simply pull up your data and start writing. Easy-to-use Newsletter Builder for a seamless writing experience. Newsletter Wizard is designed as minimally as possible to offer a tidy writing experience optimized for creative writing by having ideas, resources, templates, and research right at hand when creating. Manage multiple Newsletters and track progress in real-time. Manage multiple Newsletters and organize them by status, tags, and set deadlines. You can also track the success of your Newsletters through metrics. Find out what works and what doesn’t to systematize your growth. Build Newsletters with Growth in mind The Newsletter Wizard even has a built-in CRM and Monetization Dashboard that helps you understand your finances, leads, affiliates, and clients to get the full picture of your goals and opportunities. This will help monetize faster. Plug-and-play your first newsletter with tons of templates You are just starting off your first Newsletter or suffer writer’s block? Stop worrying and start relaxing! With 330+ writing prompts, 250+ power words, 30+ niche ideas, 30+ curated Newsletters, and a full beginner’s guide, you fire out newsletters, like What’s App messages. It’s like having an entire team of writers working with you, but they’re all invisible! They’ll just show up when you need them—and they’ll leave when they’ve done their job Grab it now at newsletterwizard.io https://preview.redd.it/0wq3jvhnvi5a1.png?width=2880&format=png&auto=webp&s=26e260df92484772ba6fe1d08c820d95cc2faee6 submitted by /u/Notionpunk [link] [comments]

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As a result of the pandemic, there’s been a shift in recent years to virtual conferences.
But a virtual conference strategy can’t be a copy-and-paste of a physical one. Virtual conferences come with unique challenges, and require a new perspective to succeed.
Here, let’s explore the benefits of virtual conferences, take a look at some examples of successful virtual conferences to inspire you, and check out a few tools that can help you plan your own.
Plus, hear from Tamara Mendelsohn, CMO of Eventbrite, on her best practices for hosting a successful virtual event in 2023 and beyond. 

Skip ahead: 

Virtual Conference Benefits 
6 Virtual Event Best Practices, According to Eventbrite’s CMO
Virtual Conferencing Tools
Examples of Virtual Conferences

Virtual Conference Benefits

There are plenty of major benefits to hosting a virtual conference.
For one, it can lower the price of admission, enabling smaller businesses with limited budgets to purchase tickets to your conference and offer their own unique insights.
It also lowers the cost your business would have to pay for conference space, on-hand staff, catering, security, and much more.
Additionally, it allows people from across the globe to interact with each other without needing to spend exorbitant amounts on flights and hotels. Imagine how much easier it is for marketers from India, Ireland, Australia, and the U.S. to collaborate virtually, rather than trying to gather in-person.
It also may help you attract high-demand speakers who don’t have the time to commit to an in-person conference, but are happy to share industry takeaways via a quick video call or pre-recorded presentation.
Additionally, an online conference enables you to create a product — recordings from your conference — that you can continue to share and use as a lead generation tool for months and years after the initial live launch.
And, finally, there’s the obvious: sometimes unforeseen circumstances, like a global pandemic, can make in-person conferences in certain locations simply impossible.
Emily Raleigh, HubSpot’s Marketing Manager of Brand and Strategic Partnerships, provides some advice if you suddenly find yourself shifting your in-person event to a virtual one: “If you are shifting from a live event, try to add extra value to the viewers who are now tuning in online. Do an extra session. Offer more Q&A time. Give an extra special offer. Find creative ways to add extra delight moments.”

Additionally, Raleigh mentions, “Virtual events can easily lose one of the best benefits of live events: human connection. To mitigate that, keep the event engaging and get the audience involved.”
Now that we’ve explored a few benefits, let’s dive into Mendelsohn’s tips for making your next virtual event a success. 
6 Virtual Event Best Practices, According to Eventbrite’s CMO
1. Identify your audience.
As you sit down with your team to organize a virtual event, you first need to decide who the event is for — also known as your target audience. Your target audience will impact almost every aspect of your event, such as the speakers you select, the topics you cover, and even the time you host the event.
Mendelsohn told me, “Dig into who you want to attend your event, and understand their challenges and goals. What’s going to inspire them to register? What value are you providing? How can you best deliver on that in a virtual environment?”
She adds, “Remember that virtual events can broaden your audience beyond the physical restrictions of in-person, so this is an opportunity to connect with new audiences — potentially even globally.”

This is one of the major benefits of virtual events: The opportunity to reach a wider audience than you otherwise could. Of course, when defining your target audience, you’ll want to consider which regions make the most sense for your event.
For instance, is your topic broad enough to be global, or is it better to host one session for your North American participants, and another for specific regions in South America or Europe? Alternatively, perhaps it’s better to start with a small group in one city, and expand from there. 
2. Craft your event strategy.
During the global pandemic, many marketers rushed to repackage in-person events into virtual ones. But in reality, virtual events require a completely different strategy. After all, the medium is different, the technology is different, and the way attendees interact is — you guessed it — different.
A well-rounded strategy should outline your goals, budget, and action plan for the big day, according to Mendelsohn.
A good place to start is answering the “why”, or purpose of your event. On the business side, what do you hope to achieve? For example, maybe you want to build brand awareness, drive revenue, or grow memberships. It’s also important to consider what your attendees want from your event. This could be networking, education, entertainment, or a mix of all three.
Mendelsohn gave an example of one of Eventbrite’s creators, custom glass studio UrbanGlass, which hosted an instructor-led training on crafting glass. After attendance was lower than expected, they revisited their strategy to understand why. They realized attendees were seeking community and opportunities to work together.
By experimenting with their virtual group classes to ensure they offered a better sense of community and collaboration, UrbanGlass ultimately found much more success.
3. Make it easy for your audience to interact and network.
It’s already tough to get people engaged in person, but once you shift the event online, you have to compete against unwanted distractions.
That said, you don’t have to settle for low engagement. In fact, 47% of people are more likely to ask a question at a virtual event, and 37% are more likely to speak to someone in a virtual booth than a real one. The key is finding opportunities for people to interact.
“Build in opportunities for audience participation. This could be a poll or pulse check at the start of an event, a brainstorm in the middle, or a Q&A session at the end,” Mendelsohn told me.
She continues, “If it’s appropriate for your event, send participants into breakout rooms. People are more likely to participate in smaller groups.”
If your event has a physical component — such as a yoga session or cooking class — it’ll be easier to engage the audience. But if there isn’t, Mendelsohn recommends thinking outside the box: “Encouraging your audience to get up, move around, or participate in a group activity can be really fun and powerful.”
4. Promote your event before, during, and after.
Whether your event is in-person or virtual, you still need attendees — and that means event promotion. According to Mendelsohn, this should happen before, during, and after your event.
She says, “This could entail paid or partner promotion, live social media posts during the event, and ‘thank you’ emails after. Make sure to tap into your network and ask others to spread the word.”
Event branding is another important aspect of promotion. This can be anything from your logo and tagline, to your website and promotional materials. For Mendelsohn, it’s all about creating strong branding and keeping it consistent across your program.
5. Schedule tech rehearsals.
Virtual events rely on technology — but technology isn’t always reliable. This is why Mendelsohn recommends tech rehearsals.
She advises, “Host practice sessions with your speakers and crew — and have a fallback plan in case the unexpected happens.”
Another mistake with technology is assuming your attendees are all tech-savvy. In reality, people have varying comfort levels when it comes to technology.
Mendelsohn underlines this point: “For people who don’t frequent online events, even finding the Zoom link or knowing to enter a passcode can be tricky.”
To combat this challenge, consider conducting a test run of the event from the attendee’s perspective. Click on any links, send a message in the chat, and launch different sessions.
Additionally, you might test out using various platforms to increase accessibility based on people’s platform preferences.
For instance, Mendelsohn told me, “One of Eventbrite’s creators, Eastwind Books of Berkeley, saw this challenge when they introduced virtual programming. Their solution? Streaming on multiple platforms, such as Facebook Live, and then archiving events on YouTube, so people could attend via their preferred technology and revisit later.”
6. Show humility, and have fun with the process. 
Finally — have fun, and be willing to show humility if something doesn’t go as planned.
Mendelsohn says, “At our RECONVENE summit last year, the Lincoln Park Zoo’s Victoria Luisi said something that’s stuck with me: ‘Virtual is now our playground to try things we would have never been able to try before.’ This approach can expand our thinking about virtual events as a whole, and it’s especially instructive for engaging virtual audiences.”

She adds, “We’re all in this evolving virtual/hybrid world together. Embrace those moments of levity when things don’t go as planned and use them as a way to further humanize yourself on camera and establish rapport with your audience.”

Now that we’ve explored a few best practices, let’s dive into tools that can help you create your own virtual conference.
Virtual Conferencing Tools
1. Hopin

Hopin is an all-in-one platform for planning online conferences, offering everything from a virtual reception to breakout sessions, a mainstage, and networking events.
The networking tool is particularly helpful, with a timer you can set for each attendee to mingle with another for just a couple minutes before moving onto the next conversation (and, if the conversation goes exceptionally well, they can click “Connect” to receive contact information of the other attendee to follow-up later).
Your event can include both webinars and live-streams, and a Live Chat function enables attendees to ask questions in real-time. Additionally, attendees can use virtual booths to promote their products or services, and offer discounts as well.

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2. Whova
The Whova Event App has been a leader in attendee engagement and networking since 2014. For four years in a row, Whova has received both the Best Event App award and the People’s Choice Award from the Event Technology Awards.
Event organizers can use Whova to help make online events highly interactive, fun, and productive before, during, and after the event. The tool directly integrates with live streaming and video hosting tools such as Zoom, Google Hangout, YouTube, Vimeo, etc. It also provides live Q&A, attendee networking, a discussion board, meeting-matches, a virtual exhibitor hall, and even virtual meet-ups.
Many organizers provide access to the Whova app prior to their events to let attendees virtually socialize and discuss various topics, one-on-one or in virtual groups, making everyone feel more connected by the time the event comes around. Every attendee has a professional profile, allowing them to find others with whom they have common interests. The ice breaker and in-app chat, in particular, make it fun for strangers to get to know one another on a personal level and communicate with both new and old friends.

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3. Accelevents
Accelevents is a customizable and flexible event platform for running virtual, hybrid, and in-person conferences. It is a robust platform offering powerful registration, true white labeling, integrated live streaming, in-depth analytics, and numerous exhibitor and sponsor opportunities. Although the platform is intuitive, they still take support seriously with an average response time of fewer than 30 seconds.They are known for their suite of networking tools which provide powerful attendee engagement. Among the networking tools are lounges, workshops, 1:1 attendee video, automated speed networking, and live attendee chat.In addition, exhibitors and sponsors have the ability to customize their own booth and engage in video chat with their prospects that visit their booth. The build-in gamification and push notification tools are a great way to drive further engagement throughout the event. They can also advertise on banners displayed throughout the platform and have easy access to lead management and insightful exhibitor analytics.

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Examples of Virtual Conferences

Game Developers Conference
The 2022 Game Developers Conference (GDC) switched its in-person conferences to streaming recorded versions on the GDC Twitch channel. The conference will still have ceremonies for The Independent Games Festival (IGF) and Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA), and will stream session content starting 9 AM PT daily, March 16-20.
The GDC has a well-organized itinerary posted on their website, with breakout sessions led by influencers and experts in the Gaming industry.
Additionally, you’re able to pause Live sessions if you’re interested in watching at a later time, and the GDC has included “Recommended Channels” with headcounts on the left side of the screen. With some sessions evoking over 30,000 viewers, it’s safe to say the GDC has successfully launched a virtual version of their initially in-person event.
2. HubSpot’s Partner Day
On April 7-8, 2020, HubSpot launched its own virtual Partner Day. The Partner team used Zoom, a popular video conferencing tool, and sent each presenter a “video kit” with a mic, camera, lighting, and backdrop, so that participants could experience an optimal viewing experience from each of the day’s virtual speakers. Additionally, attendees used Zoom to network with other partners.
I spoke with Arden Brust, a Manager on HubSpot’s Partner Marketing team, to learn about some challenges you might experience when planning a virtual experience of your own.
Brust told me: “When planning an online event, it’s critical you remain flexible and open-minded. With a virtual event, you run the risk of technology issues, as well as scheduling issues you might not have considered if you had everyone in-person (including timezone issues). To combat this, continue to iterate with your team and plan on pivoting — don’t get too attached to plan A that you don’t consider how plan B might work out better.”
3. How I Built This, by Women In Product
With the help of the Run The World virtual conferencing tool, the non-profit organization Women In Product launched an entirely virtual event March 7-8, 2020. The Women In Product conference included participants from China, India, Canada, and Silicon Valley.
The conference featured 10 speakers who’ve built successful products — including the Director of Product at GoDaddy, a PayPal Product Lead, and a Senior Product Manager at Ebay. The virtual event included fireside chats, keynote speakers, and networking events that enabled women to hear about the challenges and successes of product launches in different markets.
4. Webinar Mastery Summit
Jon Schumacher had hosted webinars online for a while with minimal results when he launched the Webinar Mastery Summit, a virtual conference for people who wanted to advance their webinar skills.
His first virtual summit featured 25 experts, and generated 7,000 new email subscribers and over $55,000 in revenue with his All-Access Pass sales. With All-Access, his participants receive lifetime access to 17 expert video sessions, full MP3 recordings of all sessions, three months of course creation software, and access to a private community for additional networking.
Ultimately, with virtual conferences, you’re able to create recorded packaged content for future lead generation and sales even after the initial live launch — something in-person conferences, for all its networking benefits, is unable to do.
5. HubSpot User Groups (HUGs)
Meghann Keogh, a HubSpot Marketing Manager in charge of HubSpot User Groups and Events, has experienced circumstances in which she found it necessary to cancel in-person events and create virtual ones, instead. Keogh told me she’s hosted virtual HUGs events for San Francisco, NYC, Berlin, London, Helsinki, Paris, Bogota & Mexico City.
Additionally, she’s created virtual fireside chats, including an upcoming one with CEO & Co-Founder Brian Halligan & Christian Kinnear, VP of Sales & Managing Director EMEA.
When asked how to run a successful virtual event, Keogh told me — “Whether in-person or virtually, people are hungry to connect. The feedback we have received so far has been extremely positive. It’s not just cities that are connecting, it’s countries.”

“What’s made our virtual events a success so far? Our amazing speakers who inspire, educate, and innovate our HUG communities.”

Keogh adds, “We’re committed to bringing relevant content to our HUGs, whether that’s in-person or virtually. We want to make sure our communities still have that chance to engage with one another, and we’re devoted to making that happen.”