An effective trade show marketing strategy goes far beyond simply having a big booth, attractive graphics and a solid sales script. Having the right plan in place that your team understands and that attracts targeted attendees is crucial to improving a company’s profitability and overall productivity.
Exhibition shows can be fantastic opportunities for you to engage potential customer and produce a real ROI for your business. Download our guide on how you can make the most of your exhibition with an effective strategy.
Why trade show marketing matters
Senior managers know just how important a good first impression is at a B2B trade show. According to statistics, 81% of trade show attendees have buying authority, representing four out of five people walking the floor. That’s a plenty of potential customers for your company to win.
With 67% of all attendees representing a new prospect, each and every exhibition represents an incredible opportunity for senior managers to work with their teams to attract B2B leads that can develop into strong, long-term professional relationships.
Figures also show that 78% of attendees travel more than 400 miles to attend an exhibition, demonstrating the enormous value of attending the right trade show for your industry. You can effectively cover a small country’s worth of relevant leads in one day, given the right conditions.
Lastly, research has found that, “above all else,” exhibitors want to meet with existing customers as well as meet new prospects. As a result, trade shows are important not just for lead generation but customer relations and brand reputation to boot.
In short, trade shows can be incredibly rewarding. If you implement the right trade show marketing strategy, that is.
What does good trade show marketing involve?
The B2B trade show industry is rapidly evolving to become more precise and analytical than ever before. At the same time, it is also striving to provide a more enjoyable and personal experience for those who attend.
That can be best reflected in the rise of the experiential marketing movement; a form of exhibition marketing dedicated to better engaging with potential clients. By communicating with leads in more creative ways than a business may normally do, it’s possible to engage them at a deeper level.
The rise in experiential marketing as a strategy is partly borne from the realisation that the internet only allows so much engagement and client interaction. To build truly strong, long-term B2B relationships, nothing is better than meeting people on a one-to-one basis and engaging with them on a personal level.
Attracting the most valuable leads at a B2B trade show
No longer are larger brands exhibiting themselves just to sell more units; rather; they’re promoting experiences and looking to engage with new audiences with the help of influencers and other creative methods.
Part of the reason is to try and build greater brand loyalty amongst a younger audience willing to try different products in the market, which is a problem that many industries are facing.
According to Fortune, brands in the beverage industry are now marketing products as “experiences” in order to build a strong brand image and compete in an increasingly crowded market.
Millennials are far less committed to a particular brand or even a particular beverage. As a result, traditional sales and marketing strategies, simply pitting Absolut against all other vodkas, or Havana against all other rums, no long works. Instead, beverage brands need to compete against all other categories of alcohol.
Perfect your trade show marketing
The solution is to strategise and analyse before and after an exhibition, and working with an experienced trade exhibition specialist can go a long way to optimising your event marketing efforts, improving results and seeing greater returns whenever you attend a trade event.
Clarifying your live marketing objectives, deciding how many leads you need to engage with, selecting the right team with specific skillsets, creating compelling pitches, measuring impacts and returns and more are just some of the strategic measures you need to consider when you want to attract a greater volume of high-quality B2B leads at a trade event.
If you’re a senior manager for a larger business looking for a better volume and higher quality of leads at a trade show, a simple change in your strategy and approach will help you stand out from your competitors. Contact Expo Stars to find out more.