Trade shows are a significant investment for businesses, often requiring thousands of dollars in booth space, travel, and promotional materials. For many companies, the primary goal of participating in these events is to generate leads and connect with potential customers. However, without a well-thought-out strategy, trade shows can quickly become an expensive gamble rather than a strategic investment.
We believe that viewing trade shows as an investment rather than an expense is crucial for achieving strong ROI. By focusing on pre-show, at-show, and post-show marketing, you can maximize the value of your trade show participation. Here’s how to turn your trade show experience into a strategic investment with the right approach and tools.
At-Show Marketing: Engaging Prospects and Capturing Leads
Once the trade show begins, your focus should be on engaging attendees and capturing valuable leads. The right tools and tactics can enhance your on-site presence and maximize your interactions with potential customers.
Here are some of our favorite tactics to capture attention on the show floor.
Mobile Marketing with Geofence Targeting
This utilizes geofence technology to serve digital ads to the mobile devices of trade show attendees while they are walking the show floor. And here’s a bonus – you can also retarget show-goers after the show on their mobile devices.
Sponsored Options
Sometimes trade shows offer paid-for spots such as digital or physical signs throughout the hall, daily email newsletters, stamp card promotions, and attendee bag inserts. Any combination of these, depending on your budget, can help spread the word and drive traffic to your booth.
Brand Ambassadors
If you have a fun trade show booth campaign, it’s not complete without a Brand Ambassador. Brand Ambassadors, also called Professional Engagers, do the things that booth staff can’t, don’t, or won’t. They continually engage with attendees during show hours, draw them in to experience your booth, help qualify attendees, and pass them along to your sales staff. That frees up your sales staff to meet with qualified customers, generate leads and make sales.
Post-Show Marketing: Maintaining Engagement and Maximizing ROI
The trade show may be over, but your marketing efforts shouldn’t stop there. Post-show marketing is essential for nurturing leads and keeping your brand top-of-mind.
Your post-show marketing plan can include tactics like retargeting ads to ensure your message remains visible and follow-up emails with special offers, additional information, or resources to convert interest into action.
By investing in a comprehensive trade show marketing strategy that covers pre-show, at-show, and post-show activities, you can transform trade shows from a costly expense into a valuable investment that engages prospects in all stages of the sales funnel. We help clients create compelling trade show campaigns and leverage the right tools to achieve their event goals.
Ready to maximize your trade show ROI? Contact us today to learn how our expertise in marketing campaign development, social media promotion, mobile marketing, and audience retargeting can turn your next trade show into a strategic success.