Big Health is on a mission to help millions back to good mental health by using digital therapeutics as safe and effective non-drug alternatives for mental health. In an effort to save resources while creating new opportunities, Event Marketing Manager, Hillary Pederson, decided to partner with Postal to create an unforgettable virtual experience aimed at engaging target accounts.
In a competitive world of vendors vying for prospect’s time and pipeline, these events seem to be something unique that people genuinely want to attend.
Targeting prospects in key accounts with a creative yet low-cost virtual experience
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Driving attendance at in-person networking events is challenging. Big Health primarily hosts events surrounding the conferences that they attend: a reception, dinner, or even more unique events like cocktail making classes. However, there are so many vendors who are after the same small group of people's time, it’s difficult to stand out.
This drove Hillary to look for creative, alternative ways to engage prospects at target accounts and drive lead conversions. They decided to try a custom cocktail making class in Postal Events as a creative, low-cost entry point for cold prospects to learn more about Big Health’s services.
The primary goal of this virtual experience was to serve as a top-of-funnel play to create new opportunities. As a secondary goal, Hillary also hoped this would accelerate the closing process by inviting prospects within current deal cycles to attend.
Leaning into BDRs for invites and follow-up sequencing
I have to give all of the credit in the world for the success of our virtual events to our BDR team—they do such an incredible job of promoting these events.
Hillary partnered with the Business Development (BD) team from event ideation to invitation & follow-up with key prospects. Weekly meetings were held to introduce event concepts and work collaboratively to bring ideas to fruition.
As the success of these events are so closely tied to the BD team’s investment in inviting and following up with prospect accounts, Hillary leans on them to tell her when is a good time for them to kick off these events. Logistics for the events, including providing copy and creating MagicLinks (a digital item redemption landing page), are handled by Hillary. The team is alerted when MagicLinks are redeemed, and registrations are tracked using Salesforce campaigns.
To ensure attendance and limit drop-off in folks who sign up and don’t attend, the BD team goes above and beyond in two ways:
Postal Pro Tip #1: Text Reminders → When recipients sign-up for the event, they have the option to consent to texts from Big Health about the event. This allows the BD team to send personalized reminders about the event & how excited they are to see them there. It also allows them to mitigate any shipping challenges for the event kits in real time.
Postal Pro Tip #2: Personal Calendar Invites → There’s an option in Postal for Postal users to add recipients to a calendar invite with the Zoom link once they register for the event, but Big Health does it differently. Their BD team sends personal calendar invites for every registrant that they get. Hillary provides the copy for this: “Thanks for registering - here’s the date/time, & link to join. Looking forward to seeing you there.” The added 1:1 personalization and getting their primary contact at Big Health’s name in front of them sets them apart.
Fun + formal cocktails = maximum engagement during the event
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During the event, one or two sales directors introduce the instructor, setting the stage for engagement. The first cocktail serves as a platform for small introductions related to Big Health, establishing a fun and informal atmosphere. They do set the expectation that attendees will be hearing from someone after the event to talk more about their use case & Big Health.
The break after the second cocktail usually involves light, enjoyable questions. Towards the end of the event, participants have the opportunity to ask questions, and they are encouraged to reach out directly for further engagement. Hillary or a representative from the Business Development team takes copious notes during the event to ensure personalized follow-up.
Incorporating lunch and coffee into the follow-up strategy
The follow-up process is primarily handled by the Business Development team, with support from specific sales directors as necessary. Typically, a follow-up email is sent by the BD representatives assigned to each target account to book a 1:1 meeting post-event. For attendees of the event, this follow-up email usually does not include an additional gift, but for folks who do not attend, the representative may offer a gesture like "lunch on me" or "coffee on me" to drive the next steps.
The Results from Pop-toberfest
Pop-toberfest serves as a testament to the success of their strategy. The event yielded 39 MagicLink redemptions and achieved a 44% attendance rate. 20 meetings were booked (8 from folks who attended the event, 12 from prospects who did not) which led to a total of 18 opportunities created as a result of the event (51% opportunity conversion rate).
The value of building relationships with Offline Engagement
Big Health found that gifting or sending items had a significant impact on engagement and building relationships. In a competitive landscape where numerous companies vie for prospects' attention, engaging offline through personalized gifts was viewed as unique and interesting. Sending items created a lasting impression and helped Big Health stand out from the competition.
Future outlook for using Postal
Big Health's partnership with the Business Development team played a crucial role in their success. As of March, when the interview was conducted, Big Health had been using Postal for a year, and they attributed much of their success to this collaboration.
Going forward, Hillary intends to continue leveraging Postal for their virtual events 1-2 times per quarter and expand their use of the platform. The BDR team's support and the success of their events contribute to future pipeline development for specific target accounts.
Hillary’s collaboration with Postal for their virtual events has proven effective as a top-of-funnel play in driving engagement and creating new opportunities with target accounts—both her and the Big Health business development team look forward to continue using offline campaigns as a pipeline building strategy.
