By Ruwen Moodley – The Open Packaging Network
When we’re faced with a global pandemic such as the latest COVID-19 outbreak, this gives us the opportunity to reassess if our organizations are truly flexible enough to overcome obstacles. With the recent outbreak, all sorts of events have been canceled worldwide, including many major international trade-shows and global sourcing events that businesses rely on for the constant growth opportunities they present. According to the World Trade Organization, world trade is set to plunge by between 13-32% this year and this highlights the need for innovative solutions to induce trade within the packaging industry to combat the effect of the pandemic on the industry.
The Open Packaging Network (OPN Platform) – already proven global leader of packaging industry digitalization, is ready to support packaging related companies in this trying time and host a First-Ever permanent virtual digital Trade Show – IPackEXPO for packaging industry stakeholders and decision-makers to meet and showcase their products, and continue to drive business.
The rise of virtual events has given us the opportunity to off-set the effects of the pandemic as well as presented many new opportunities within the industry. Here are some of the main benefits of adopting virtual events such as virtual trade-shows as part of your strategy going forward.
Your Target Audience is spread across the Globe.
If your target audience is spread across the globe and you aim to reach people in a cost-effective way, virtual events are a great solution. Virtual events provide a great opportunity for lead generation across the globe, especially for those in the B2B industry. You’re able to reduce your cost per lead and expand your network in a safe virtual environment.
Cost Efficiency
Events such as Virtual Trade-Shows provide a cost-effective solution as opposed to physical live events. By eliminating additional costs such as travel, hospitality, marketing collateral, and other related expenses, virtual events offer a cost-effective solution to growing your business.
Time Efficiency
The time taken to attend physical events such as trade-shows can be extremely lengthy. By making use of virtual-events, it allows you the ability to save time that would have otherwise been spent traveling, setting up at events, organizing staff, and preparing material for the event, as well as additional time-consuming tasks. The time that is taken to set-up a virtual event is minimal, with user-friendly platforms that are easy to manage and upload content such as product lists, photos, and any additional content.
Tracking Abilities
Many platforms used to host virtual-events allow in-depth tracking capabilities to measure the results of your efforts. It is possible to measure the interaction with your event, such as how many times a brochure was downloaded, how many users visited your virtual booth, keep track of contacts and various leads, as well as many additional metrics that would assist in measuring the ROI of specific events. Traditional events are harder to track and therefore more difficult to quantify the success of an event.
It’s Eco-Friendly
With the global shift towards sustainability and the important role that the packaging industry has in promoting sustainable practices, virtual events offer great advantages. Within traditional events and trade shows that the packaging industry relies on, there is considerable use of material that causes waste. Materials such as brochures and pamphlets, cardboard boxes, and materials used to create pop-up booths, as well as additional materials cause a large amount of waste that can be avoided by making use of virtual events.
It’s a time of great uncertainty for the packaging industry however it is these times that also spur innovations in the industry. The state of the global economy has been affected however virtual events such as virtual trade-shows offer an excellent solution, and expand our opportunities on a global scale. The industry needs to adapt to changing global situations, in order to keep growing and moving forward.
Attending OPN IPackEXPO can be one of the most interesting ways to stay on top of market news, expand your network, and find technologies that are revolutionizing the industry. And of course, do business, both as an exhibitor or an attendee. Join our Virtual Trade-Show at www.expo.opnplatform.com and get connected with thousands of decision-makers within the packaging industry, starting on the 1st of June 2020.
