1. Not having a clear strategy or plan – A virtual event is not the time to wing it. You can experiment or whip up a blog post, but you can’t whip up a good virtual event. Make sure you put the time and effort into your event by creating a solid content and monetization strategy.
2. Not marketing the heck out of your event – There are a few stages to a successful event. The first stage is what you might call the pre-launch. It’s the week or two leading up to the event where you market the heck out of it and really drum up excitement and interest. Also create a plan to market during and after the event and monetize the event once it’s over by selling access to the recordings.
3. Not knowing your audience – There is no way to create top quality material for your audience, and compelling offers and calls to action, unless you know them intimately. What do they want and need and what do you have to offer? Spend time researching your audience. Engage with them and learn.
4. Not providing superior content with clear value to your audience – Good content that offers an apparent benefit to your audience helps position you as a credible resource that they can trust. We buy from people we trust and consider to be experts. It’s really the only way your monetizing efforts will work.
5. Not getting help – Putting on a virtual event is a big job. In addition to creating the event and the content, you have to set up a variety of systems and technologies. There are affiliates, partners, and sponsors to communicate with and marketing initiatives to implement. It’s more than a full time job for one person. Get help. Hire specialists to help you with things like copywriting and administrative help navigating the back end systems and communications.
6. Not tracking success – How will you know if your monetization efforts are successful? Implement systems and use tools to track and measure your success. Basis analytics like Google Analytics is a good start. Make sure you also follow through and review the results.
7. Not following up with partners and sponsors – Your event is over; now what? Well, one of the steps you’ll want to take is to follow up with partners and sponsors. Find out what went well and what you can improve on for next time.
8. Not following up with attendees – How well did your attendees enjoy the event? Consider following up with a survey or consider sending an email follow up that gives them a limited time offer. It’s another opportunity to monetize the event.
9. Not triple checking your systems and links – Nothing is more frustrating than learning that one of your monetization links didn’t work during the event. It’s lost income and it also frustrates any prospect that tried to make a purchase. Make sure that everything works before you go live.
Mistakes happen. However, if you give yourself plenty of time to plan your event and you create careful systems, you’re less likely to make costly ones. Get help with the planning and implementation of your event, and leverage the skills and experience that others have to provide. It’s essential for a successful, and profitable, live event.