How to Create a Ridiculously Successful Online Event [2022]

Whether it’s a webinar, a paid training session or a free group call, creating a live online event is a great way to bring people together, educate your customers and generate buzz around your business.

It can also provide a great opportunity to earn some cash, as a digital live event is scalable beyond measure; allowing you to potentially reach thousands of interested parties around the world.

I’ve got clients creating huge success in the world of online events, using free and paid tools that allow them to reach an audience across the globe, build authority in their field and grow their business from the comfort of their own home.

And it’s possible for you to do it too. You don’t need a website, or even a massive online presence to create your own digital events. All that’s required are a few basic principals, some marketing and a sales platform.

So here’s how to create a successful online event in 2022 and beyond.

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Start with a Solid Idea

To have a successful online event, you need to understand your market and have a solid idea of what your customers are going to take away from the event itself. The world is saturated with noise, and your customers will need a real reason to both pay attention and to potentially part company with their cash.

Having the solid foundations of understanding of your potential customer and their problems will not only give you a head start with creating your event, but allow you to easily market the thing once it’s out in the big wide world.

Firstly understand the problem you are solving, and that it’s more than likely that you can’t solve that in the space of an hour or two. What you can do is provide quick wins that will either lighten the load of the problem you’re solving, or provide a plan of action as to how your customers will solve it in the long run.

You can sell tickets to zoom training sessions, open coaching and consultations, and many many more skills and educational services. The most important thing is that the offer has to fill a need.

 

Let’s Go with an Example:

I saw a post in a ‘mum business’ group a little while ago where two ladies had created an online luxury retreat for mums during the Covid 19 pandemic. Their intention was to provide mothers with a little taste of relax-and-retreat over the course of an afternoon, including yoga and meditation sessions, journalling and other such-like activities. Great idea!

However no one had bought a ticket…

 

Why Didn’t it Work?

Let’s breakdown the reasons why this lovely, well marketed, well intentioned idea was welcomed by a chorus of crickets instead of the delightful sound of the checkout’s ringing…

Our retreat creators had decided to hold this event on a Friday afternoon between the hours of 1pm and 5pm.

(Now I hope you’re thinking along the same lines as me here, because if you are, then you’ll be fine when it comes to creating your own event.)

If you recall, the ideal client for this event would be busy mom’s who were probably home educating (due to the school closures during the pandemic), still trying to run a business from home (hence the post in the mum business group) and also being expected to still do ALL THE THINGS that we do as women (you know, all the tabs open all the time!)

Do you think that ‘ideal audience’ will be available for 4 hours in the middle of a weekday afternoon? I don’t.

If you know that your ideal client works from home, Monday to Friday and can schedule at their leisure, then you’re going to host your event during that time. But if you know they’re trying to do their work with one child on their head and one stuck to their boob whilst also partaking in laundry, cooking and cleaning… you know they don’t have time to even contemplate a warm cup of tea and a toilet break in peace. You feel me?

Timing and knowing your client is EVERYTHING, so whatever you do, understand your customers and the time they’ll be available to join you in your online event.

 

 

What Might Have Worked Better?

I do seem like I’ve been harsh on these ladies and I don’t mean it because this idea was a good one. They saw a real need in the market and tried to create a solution to a problem that was VERY real to some of the moms out there. However, here’s where they could’ve made a huge success (and a whole-lotta-cash!) with very little effort in the long run…

The intention, idea and client are all perfect – their positioning, timing and solution were off the mark.

By creating an event that was positioned so customers could ‘dip in and out’, like an online summit, they would have had the ability to add even more micro-events (like exercise classes, coaching, support, etc.) within their overall plan. This would also allow them to charge more.

Ensuring the event is timed more suitably, perhaps in the evening or weekend would allow customers to seek out childcare or at least feel less guilty about ‘tablet time’ as it’s not a ‘school day’.

As I mentioned previously, creating content that is delivered live, but then recorded and available for replay’s at a later date, as with a virtual summit, gives the customer more flexibility and much more value for money. It removes the ‘wasted money’ idea if they don’t quite make the live session, removes the ‘I won’t make it so I won’t buy a ticket’ reason to opt-out AND allows you, as the host, to charge more again because of the massive value you’re providing.

What Tech Do I Need?

To create a successful online event you need start with a platform to host from. Right now, there are SO MANY options for you to explore, from creating a private Facebook group to employing Zoom or Google Hangouts. It’s literally your platform of choice.

If you’re making the recording available after the fact, like with the virtual summit example, then I’d recommend platforms like MemberVault or Teachable to host your content. This way, you don’t need your own website or an alternative ticketing site, plus you can also charge a recurring membership fee for continued access to the content (see, another income stream right there!)

Alternative ticketing sites include Eventbrite, Helm, and EventCombo which all have the benefit of collecting payments and delivering tickets without you having to lift a finger. (Some, like EventCombo will also invest in ads for your event as part of the deal!) The ticket management of these sites is good, allowing you to communicate with customers in bulk and manage the event from one dashboard.

 

Don’t Forget to Market

My final note, on what feels like a bit of a digital-event-vendetta is to say please please please market the hell out of your event. One social media post will not have customers pounding down the door – or at least, not for very long. There’s some ideas of where you can sell your events in this post.

And, if you don’t need to do too much prep in advance, even better. Consider pre-selling your event idea with as little work as possible in advance so you can test the market, and not feel the weight of disappointment after putting in lots of hard work and not seeing the results you hoped for when your tickets go live.

If you want more help and support on creating successful, lucrative and brand-building digital events then you need to come and join us in the PPP Academy. Click the button below to find out more…

 

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