The SaaSy Marketer's Digest #26- Here's How Terminus' "Break Sh!t" Changed the Script

Presenting issue #26 of The SaaSy Marketer's Digest, where we explore the latest SaaS and marketing news, insights, actionable tips, stories, and more!

Think Virtual Events are Boring? Here's How Terminus' "Break Sh!t" Changed the Script

So, you are a B2B SaaS company that decides to organize a virtual event. You invite a few experts to discuss your product.

You pour countless hours into perfecting the little details of the event.

To ensure people show up, you send out stunning email invites with discount offers and free access to your latest eBook for those who will register.

Despite this, less than half of those who register show up. And those who do show up are soon caught looking everywhere except on their screen.

You see your team's meticulous planning go down the drain in front of your eyes second by second. It makes you wonder whether you should finally swear off virtual events.

But we have a story that’ll convince you why you should not!

We are talking about the king of virtual events- Terminus' Break Sh!t. This is a story of successful disruption, of how a pervasive opinion can be challenged through bold imagination, and finally, of how there is no getting around some fundamental marketing principles.

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But First, Why Do You Even Need Virtual Events For Your SaaS Brand?

The virtual events fatigue is real. It's easy to give them up in favour of in-person ones after the pandemic. However, before making such a drastic decision, it's instructive to look at why a virtual event is a secret weapon for SaaS brands:

?? Lead

Virtual events invariably attract new audiences and potential leads from the sheer convenience of attending. Compare this with in-person events that can become hugely restrictive depending on location.

?? Sales

The same participation convenience that provides new leads also translates into higher sales. It happens like this: new attendees realize your solution fits their pain points and decide to convert, sometimes on the spot.

?? Content Creation

Virtual events provide you with a golden opportunity to accumulate content for marketing. An example is recording your sessions and creating a YouTube playlist or a Spotify podcast. Doing the same in an in-person event requires special preparation, team, and equipment.

Now, Learn it from Terminus: How "Break Sh!t" Broke Virtual Events

Fifteen months into the pandemic, when digital fatigue was at its peak, BreakSh!t did something radical that led to 1000+ people attending their online event and 1000+ rewatching its recording.

So how did they make "just another online event", the “event of the year”?

? Revamping the Event Invitation

Before breaking the virtual event format, Terminus decided to overhaul everything from the title to the invitation to the landing page, focusing on off-the-cuff conversation and subverting expectations.

They correctly diagnosed that people were tired of the same old invitation format:

"X number of ways to [business verb] your [B2B business term]"

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? Revamping the Lineup

Terminus chose nine certified outstanding marketers, hosted by a certified outstanding marketer, all answering the same question: What can we BREAK in our marketing now to grow in the future?

There are no other directions given to the speakers. This ensured a hot, melting pot of diverse ideas, packing a lot of value into this three-hour event for the audiences.

Oh, and there was also a dude in the woods playing jazz in a Bigfoot costume for fun intermissions.

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? Revamping the Format

An overpowering reason for digital fatigue is speakers bombarding the audience with a barrage of slides, often in a monotone.

Break Sh!t truly broke this monotony by keeping a 14-minute time limit for each speaker.

In one of those minutes, they promoted a charity of their choice. The governing motto: keep it short and surprising.

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? Revamping Speaker and Audience Participation

With Break Sh!t, Terminus had a key realization: if virtual events are actively trying to capture the audience's attention, it will invariably be diverted to other digital and physical means like work emails, WhatsApp, pet noises, etc.

Instead of relying on after-session questions or intermittent trivia, Break Sh!t decided to capture the audience's attention by having a live chat window where the audience could interact while the presentations were going on.

The audience was also required to vote for their favourite speaker, and the winner got $10,000 to donate to the charity of their choice. This brought motivation and a little competition into the picture, encouraging stellar participation from the speakers - now that's what we call genius!

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So, you see, Break Sh!t's successful, brash, bold attempt demonstrates how a cookie-cutter approach to B2B SaaS marketing can quickly become ineffective.

All you need do is to dare – dare to break the mould creatively and bypass the inevitable boredom to keep your marketing approach fresh and surprising!

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