When the world was rocked by COVID-19, we knew that our attendees would be facing challenges in their business like never before. So we could better serve them in the future, we set out to understand their biggest concerns, priorities, and opportunities in 2020.
Being in the digital marketing space, we expected that some of our attendees would experience increased demand for their products and services. We also knew that many would be grappling with the difficulties of running a business during a pandemic.
But how were different verticals affected? How did the role of Founder/CEO respond compared with team leaders? We wanted to understand our audience at a deeper level.
Our goal was to understand how we could make adjustments to the event and product offerings, as well as share the findings with our audience, who would likely benefit from the market data. Our objectives were to understand the impact of COVID-19 in the lives and businesses of our attendees. We wanted to know their short and long-term priorities and concerns. We also asked how they’ll change marketing spend, what emerging opportunities they’ve found, and how likely they are to travel or attend live events.
We emailed 500 Traffic & Conversion Summit ticket holders to ask for their participation in a digital survey. 382 responses were recorded. As part of the survey, we asked if they would be willing to discuss their answers with our team. Participants were asked to answer 18 questions (see Appendix A) about their concerns, priorities, and challenges as a result of the pandemic. Open-ended questions, rating scale questions, and multiple choice questions were used to gather their responses.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Priorities, Challenges, and Opportunities:
Remote and flexible working are the top priorities for review over the next three to six months.
- Those hiring to accommodate demand is proportionally lower among those in Advertising & Public Relations roles.
Over half (54%) envisage that travel will be a challenge in the long term; a third (35%) feel conforming to social distancing rules will be difficult.
- Founders / Co-Founders are significantly less likely to consider social distancing rules and employee welfare a long-term challenge.
- Managers / Team Leads, on the other hand, are significantly more likely to consider employee welfare a long-term challenge.
The top 3 biggest opportunities stated by respondents are:
- New business opportunities, largely created by COVID-19 (~27%)
- Having an online presence and increased online activity (~18%)
- Coaching / Training / Education (~16%)
Future Behavior and Activity
On average, respondents are more likely to travel in their home states / counties than internationally. This pattern is consistent moving into 2021 although average likelihood increases by 2021 H2.
Over half (53%) are unlikely to attend a live event in 2020, although nearly a third (29%) consider it likely.
On average, cleaning and sanitation measures are deemed most important for the return to live events. Gloves are considered least important.
This audience has frequently used virtual / digital channels during the COVID-19 situation, with 3 in 4 (76%) having already attended a virtual event. On balance, all virtual/digital channels are expected to be used more frequently in the future.
To learn more…
About the attendees we surveyed, the impact of COVID-19 in their business, and the specific challenges and opportunities they see on the horizon, access the full report here:
