the reach at 1/3 the cost
increase in views and engagement with on-demand
new subscribers to their Wealth Management newsletter
new meeting requests from event attendees
Employees: 3,000+
Products: ON24 Engagement Hub, ON24 Connect, ON24 Target, ON24 Webcast Elite
Use Cases: Event Marketing, Member Enrollment
Industries: Financial Services, Professional Services
Plante Moran is among the nation’s largest certified public accounting, tax, consulting, and wealth management firms. With more than 3,000 professionals in 24 offices throughout Colorado, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, with international offices in Tokyo, Japan; Shanghai, China; Monterrey, Mexico; and Mumbai, India, they help clients bridge the gaps across borders, offering a better approach to global growth.
To attract new clients and service existing ones, the wealth management team at Plante Moran hosts an annual, in-person event to bring together a select group of high-net-worth individuals. That is, until 2020 accelerated the shift to a digital-first world, creating a need for virtual events and experiences capable of delivering the same educational and networking opportunities, without the need for face-to-face touchpoints.
The team at Plante Moran had been using ON24 Webcast Elite to connect with clients and prospects for nine years, but for this event, they wanted to take it a step further. “We saw the opportunity to create an experience that felt unique and that could capture the white-glove, personalized feel we wanted to deliver to our audience,” said Kelly, marketing content manager, Plante Moran.
The team knew that to cut through the digital noise they would need to build a virtual event that not only offered valuable information to audiences but also emulated the experience of a live event — from networking to breakout sessions and beyond.
“We saw the opportunity to create an experience that felt unique and that could capture the white-glove, personalized feel we wanted to deliver to our audience.”
Kelly T.
Marketing Manager
To deliver engaging educational keynotes and breakout sessions, the Wealth Management team prerecorded webinars with ON24 Webcast Elite and delivered them as “simulive” experiences. “Using the simulive functionality, we were able to get the best product possible and deliver polished, professional webinars that still had the feeling of being live,” said Vince S., senior video production designer, Plante Moran.
To personalize engagement, the team monitored the digital “body language” of attendees by observing the content they downloaded and the questions they asked during each webinar. Based on this information, they used ON24 Target to create personalized content tracks with on-demand content.
To customize content for their different target personas based on asset level, the team created personalized tracks that covered topics ranging from retirement and estate planning to legislation and broader economic outlook material. “The customization the ON24 platform provides is fantastic,” said Vince S. “To help with the look and feel of each customized experience, we onboarded our creative team to the ON24 platform. With the drag-and-drop ease of ON24 Target features, we were able to create multiple event tracks and scale our program with the least amount of work possible.”
The team built an integrated multichannel promotion strategy to drive demand to their content that included custom invitations from the sales team, Google PPC ads, LinkedIn ads, organic social media posts, and ad retargeting. Audiences who visited the Plante Moran site leading up to the event were retargeted with specific ad sets for content based on their personas.
By tracking the interests and content consumption preferences of attendees before, during, and after the event, the team created customized follow-up emails to guide them to take the next step with Plante Moran. Audiences received personalized follow-up nurture emails that included invitations to view on-demand content, attend future events, subscribe for newsletters, or schedule a call with someone on the team.
These follow-up initiatives were streamlined through an integration of the team’s marketing automation platform, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and the ON24 platform. Engagement data pulled from the ON24 platform fed directly into the team’s technology stack to ensure one single source of truth across the many teams, audience segments, and company initiatives.
“We’ve set a new expectation. The customized content recommendations are something that prospects like about their experience with us, and we want to build upon that,” said Kelly T.
By turning their in-person summit into a digital experience, the team significantly scaled the reach of their event.
“We were able to go from what was once an invite-only physical event to a three-day virtual summit that expanded our geography and our reach, resulting in nearly seven times the number of attendees, and allowed attendees to customize their experience based on their desired level of content,” said Jennifer B.
The on-demand sessions alone increased the volume of views and engagement by 25%, and the team added 26 new subscribers to their Wealth Management newsletter and received 14 new meeting requests from event attendees.
With seven times the reach at one-third of the cost, the Plante Moran team was pleased with their switch from the in-person event to a virtual conference.
What happens when physical events return to the mix? The Plante Moran Wealth Management Team plans to continue hosting their annual event virtually.
“Digital experiences have changed the landscape of marketing,” said Jennifer B. “We will definitely continue to have an online event mix going forward so we can continue to scale our reach and build meaningful relationships with partners and clients wherever.”
“Digital experiences have changed the landscape of marketing. We will definitely continue to have an online event mix going forward so we can continue to scale our reach and build meaningful relationships with partners and clients across the country.”
Jennifer Ballarin
Director of Marketing, Wealth Management
