• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, March 11, 2020

The coronavirus may be driving B2B marketers right into the arms of email.

A good 20% of industrial marketers have changed their trade show plans, and 26% are evaluating their options, according to a study from IEEE GlobalSpec.

That makes sense, given the warnings against congregating in large groups. Of course, 54% say the virus has not affected their trade show plans at all.

IEEE GlobalSpec surveyed over 200 industrial marketers. 

Of those that have changed their plans, 54% planned to attend or exhibit at a trade show that has been cancelled. Moreover, 37% have cancelled plans to do either of the above. And 22% of companies are allowing employees to opt out of attending specific trade shows. 

What will they do with the money allotted for trade shows?

Of those altering their schedules, 46% will not reinvest those funds. But 28% will shift money into digital advertising and 14% will put it into content creation, both of which could lead to greater email volume for those firms.

Of the companies in the consideration stage, 51% fear that shows they planned to attend or exhibit at may be cancelled. And 51% say they may cancel plans for specific shows. 

Another 30% may give the employees the ability to opt out. And 9% may cancel all their trade show plans.

The result is that folks on the email marketing team may find themselves being overworked, even while they are being told to work at home.

For those who find themselves in this predicament, MailRoute Email Security Solutions offers these tips for working offsite:

First, confirm your connection. “For email, make sure that you have enabled TLS/SSL for your IMAP, POP, and SMTP connections in your email client,” states Thomas Johnson, founder and CEO of MailRoute. “Keep your communications private."

Next, be sure to separate your work email from your personal email. You might even consider using a different computer. Or you could use a different login and user account for work and personal email. Malware in a personal email could well spread to a corporate network, MailRoute says.

Finally, don’t trust open networks. That means avoiding public WiFi and using your phone as a personal hotspot.