Essential for strengthening brand awareness, trade shows nevertheless represent a significant investment for companies. How can you get people to come to your booth ? How can you turn the prospects you meet into customers ? In short, how can you make your “trade show budget” pay off ? Four tips to follow before your next event.
1. Well before the trade show: stand out !
In this subdued environment, trade show booths are not always known for their originality. Yet if you want to attract big crowds, you need to offer a program that sets you apart from the other exhibitors : round tables, masterclasses, workshops, previews… In other words, you need to create an event within the event to spark visitors’ curiosity. Be careful : this type of operation requires serious preparation in advance.
“To get people talking about you at a trade show, one interesting idea is to share the booth with a partner. It reduces costs, but above all it helps broaden your audience by benefiting from your partner’s visitors and by offering content together.”
2. Before the trade show: widely announce your presence
Are you taking part in a trade show ? Are you planning to organize exclusive events there ? Let your contacts know ! Above all, don’t limit yourself to a single email giving practical information two months before the event. On the contrary, you need to build excitement with a series of messages that will persuade your contacts to come visit you.
“ This type of campaign can run over a period of three months, with, for example, a different email every week. The last one will be sent just before the event and should definitively convince visitors. You can also plan an SMS reminder on the day itself, reminding them of the booth location and the day’s highlight.”
3. During the trade show: live in the moment
Once the trade show doors open : forget your email campaigns for a few days. This is the time to rely on your best marketing tool : human relationships ! Still, don’t forget to plan a tool to collect and compile the many email addresses gathered during the show (scanned badges, business cards…)
“ One original way to collect addresses is to offer a tool on your booth such as an “iPad kiosk.” Visitors are encouraged to fill out a form directly to give their opinion or in exchange for access to a contest, an exceptional discount, or a free expert assessment…”
4. After the trade show : follow up without delay
To turn a lead into a customer, responsiveness is known to be crucial. That said, when they return from a trade show, your salespeople often lack the time to make use of the contacts they gathered. They are indeed absorbed by their day-to-day tasks: overdue emails, appointments, meetings… A good way to maintain the connection with your visitors is therefore not to simply add these new contacts to your newsletter subscriber database, but to schedule an automated email campaign.
“ You need to start by thanking the visitors you met, as early as the day after the trade show. This first email can quickly be followed by a second one about the brand universe. Finally, a week later, the third message will aim to offer the recipient a sales appointment. For example, by directly suggesting a Doodle link to book a time slot”
Okédito’s perspective
5 million visitors attend French trade shows every year, and nearly one third are foreign visitors. The potential is staggering. But you still need to put every chance on your side. Here, the Okédito team shares 3 valuable tips to do better than your competitors:
1. Give your participation an editorial line
Developing an editorial program will allow you to structure and energize your presence (participation in workshops, conferences, or round tables on your booth). The secret to truly engaging visitors? Recruiting speakers who are not only your employees but also external experts and/or client representatives speaking on behalf of your users. Then make sure that the positioning of the various talks is consistent with the common thread chosen for this edition of the trade show. Not only will you have the status of a “key player in the event,” but you will also win favor with organizers and journalists who love quality content.
2. Grab attention ahead of time with special editions of your newsletters
Ideally, this content will serve as “teasers” for your appearances at the trade show and should make it easier for you to recruit visitors and new contacts: infographics summarizing market trends, articles on the latest innovations, expert video interviews… equip yourself with a bundle of editorial content that you can widely relay on your websites, newsletters, and social media. Three advantages: you strengthen your image as a reference in your ecosystem, you encourage your existing contacts to come visit you, and you expand your contact base. Without boring your audience.
3. Capitalize on the content created during the trade show so that those who were absent can still benefit from it!
The post-show period is also a good opportunity to work on your image and your contacts. We recommend, for example, preparing a compilation of the best talks so that you can offer them by email to all those who could not be there. For optimal impact, make sure to exclude from this campaign all the contacts who actually came to visit you. For them, a different personalized program will be reserved, created specifically according to the interactions that took place at the trade show
This article was written thanks to an interview conducted by Okédito.
About Okédito:
Okédito is a Content Marketing agency based in Paris and Lyon.
Its credo: premium journalistic content to engage the right audience and turn that audience into loyal customers and then ambassadors. A whole program that the agency deploys thanks to marketing automation and its Content-to-Business® methodology built on 7 years of experience.
Source of numerical data: www.FSCEF.com
