If you’re new here, you might want to start at the beginning. 

Being a marketer is hard. There I said it. The world of a marketer is never stagnant – there are a zillion moving parts while trends, technology and tactics are always changing.

These days everyone imagines themselves a marketer, but not everyone can master the dark art of marketing. The best marketers are also psychologists trying to decipher multiple channels simultaneously to drive awareness and convert prospects. We must know how to build brand recognition with digital advertising and put together stellar content to drive webinar registrations and white paper downloads, but we also count on good old fashioned in-person interaction at industry events to move prospects into and through the funnel. 

With the in-person arm of marketing in question over the next few months, all of us marketers are feeling the heat. Myself included. We have sales teams and executives wondering how this non-event environment will impact pipelines and counting on us for essential demand generation. Meanwhile, marketing teams are still trying to launch new products, build and maintain connections with clients and prospects and measure the success of all of the campaigns we’re running. 

So, what do we do? First, take a deep breath and close the 20+ tabs you have open in your browser window, they aren’t helping with the information overload (except for HousingWire.com…that one is mission-critical). It’s okay to take a minute to acknowledge that this is a tough spot. 

Now it’s time to start planning. It has been predicted that the plethora of event cancellations will result in over $1 billion lost revenue. Don’t freak out, if anyone knows how to solve this, it’s us – the marketers. Start by looking at what you had planned for events in 2020 and ask, “What can we convert to digital content?”

That super impactful panel discussion you were planning? Make it a webinar. (Hey, we’ll even host and market it for you!) The booth demos you were counting on? Record them or demo live. That product launch you were planning around the big event? Make your beta tester experience into a case study. 

What can help you take your content to the next level? I asked HW’s own content guru, Sarah Wheeler for her top three tips for creating engaging content, here’s what she had to say:

1. Focus on people. Even if it’s content about technology, bring it back to a person.
2. The only way you can hope to make an impact is by marrying the information you have with something that resonates on some emotional level.
3. Be brave enough to push back on subpar content. You are the marketing team. Your job is to make sure that the world knows how awesome your organization is.

Ok, now what? Pair your subject matter expertise with a partner dedicated to your success — that’s where we come in! 

My team and I are pivoting from our industry event plans and spending more time building content, impactful digital creative and maybe even recording a video or two (stay tuned for that). We’re connecting with clients to work on case studies, white papers and webinars to drive engagement and demand for our own sales team. We’re even evaluating how to adjust our third annual engage.marketing summit coming up in June. While the pressure is on, we’re doing our best to see this as an opportunity.

Keep your heads up out there folks and let’s start planning for the rise of the virtual event (more on that later).