Fun Video Meetings – Here’s How

03 Nov Fun Video Meetings – Here’s How

Making an Impact When You Can’t Meet Face to Face

A large part of marketing is building relationships. For many of us, the lack of face-to-face experiences in a COVID-19 world can leave us feeling a wide range of emotions. But, when it comes to building your brand, you can’t let it paralyze your progress.

Experts say building relationships is one of the things that doesn’t translate into the digital world. But, the fact remains that meetings are happening in that space, digital interactions between consumers and brands are skyrocketing, and there is less in-person shopping. So how can we build brand relationships better? We have a few tips.

Understand Where Your Customer is Now

Chances are, the data you have on your customer’s likes and needs, how they shop, what they want from your brand, is all based on pre-COVID conditions. Updating your customer research can help you pivot to more meaningful interactions, reposition your presence to be there when they’re making purchasing decisions and improve the effectiveness of post-purchase follow-up.

Humanize Your Message

As COVID-19 set in, brands rushed out “we are all in this together” messages. But what’s next? Sharing open and honest reactions to situations can humanize your brand. But, building a relationship requires deeper understanding. Brands that know what keeps their customers awake at night relate to them on a human level, and show how they can help become trusted partners. How can you learn this customer information when things are changing so quickly? Take their pulse. (See understanding paragraph above.)

Share Some Enthusiasm

We’ve all been to in-person meetings where the leader is less than engaging. From sales meetings to customer events, capturing and holding your audience in a Zoom-fatigued world is critical. Experts say, and frankly we’ve all experienced, it is much easier to lose focus during a video call than in an in-person meeting. But, it is not just the distractions. According to the Harvard Business Review, our need to look like we’re constantly paying attention in video meetings makes us uncomfortable and tired. Researchers have found that we’re working harder to process non-verbal cues such as facial expressions and body language. It drains energy and can be exhausting.

The best way to combat the fatigue? We recommend these tips:

• Choose meeting presenters wisely. If possible, use multiple presenters.
• Keep meetings and interactions short. If it has to be a long discussion, build in breaks.
• Use visuals, images and video. Video can be especially effective if you’re demonstrating a product. If you would normally have props or products in an in-person meeting, develop a creative way to show them off. For one client, that meant standing in the middle of a field of hydrangea. Not only was it a beautiful setting, it showed customers the scale of the plant and the amount of availability.
• Allow users to turn off their camera. Research has found that, for some people, it is easier to focus on the message.
• Think long and hard about the need for a video chat meeting. Is there another way that might be more effective?

It’s not all doom and gloom during the digital meeting age. In a recent round of product introduction meetings with national media outlets, we were able to reach nearly double the amount of contacts. We visited with people in just about every region of the country without the expense of travel. Our presenter was very engaging, and we made sure to load the presentation with beautiful images and tips. Time up-front was well-spent to make sure the content was quick and easy to understand. We had positive comments and immediate results. One attendee even took the time to send a chat during the meeting saying, “this is so fun.”

A fun meeting. That’s how you make an impact.