How could holding an online event help you to get your start-up noticed?

Traditionally, when a business owner has held a public event to spur interest in their company’s products or services, it has done so in person. This approach has long worked well; shortly before the pandemic, corporate events accounted for nearly half of the UK events industry’s entire value, as ITProPortal noted.

Naturally, though, the pandemic’s arrival dramatically changed the game – and, for a while, left online events the only practical option for many businesses. Even now, your start-up could especially effectively promote itself by delivering an online event; here are several reasons why.

Your online event could be easily accessible across different time zones 

To decide on the best day and time to hold your online event, you need to know what day and time would likely work best for your target audience. University students could be most inclined to attend on weekends, while business contacts could be open to coming along during work hours.

However, EU-Startups suggests: “Maybe you could organize an event that both falls over lunchtime and after work in two time zones.” Genius! 

Of course, an online event can also be readily accessible when it is literally just a click away – as could be the case if you link to it in a promotional email. You could send that email to people who you reckon would be especially inclined to attend the event – like people who have only recently bought from your start-up.

You could showcase your start-up’s success so far 

One big no-no for a start-up is throwing a launch event. In an article for the Startups. website, PR expert Heather Baker warns that, though launch events can sometimes work, “in my experience they more often than not lead to disappointment”, as the company lacks an impressive track record to show off.

Therefore, you should probably forgo a launch party in favor of a later event celebrating what your company has achieved in its first year – if, of course, it’s been a genuinely good year, relatively speaking!

Guest speakers can practically act as your brand ambassadors 

Another good reason for your start-up to delay holding an event, online or otherwise, is that this strategy could help you to book higher-profile guest speakers for the event. After all, by the time you start looking to hire speakers, your company could have garnered much more of a name for itself than it had at launch.

Furthermore, when well-known speakers enthuse about your company at your event, you can expect these people’s long-established followers to take note.

An online event can make for a delightfully fuss-free experience 

This point isn’t just about making sure you use, say, a reliable internet connection and a sufficiently fast computer to deliver your online event. You should also consider what online platform to use for it – as, when you use a webinar platform from a brand like ON24, you can spare the attendees more than a few technical hurdles they could otherwise need to jump before your event can start working its magic.