Trade Shows Don't Have to Go the Way of the Dodo
Lead generation has changed a lot in the past five years. Marketers are now relying on social media, search engine optimization, email and pay-per-click to get their message out there. Many innovative marketers would argue that print advertising, radio and television and monster-sized trade shows have gone the way of the dodo.
For some industries, these tactics can still be useful. The key is to integrate them with new media techniques to create a cohesive campaign that gets results. One example that comes to mind is trade shows. How can you make the most of your trade show sponsorship (so old school!) by using an updated marketing approach?
Promote via social media: Most trade shows now have some sort of social media element to bring people together before and during the event. This could include an event hashtag on Twitter or a Facebook page with event news and updates. Use your company’s social media channels to promote your participation in the show, interact with attendees and even set up meetings with potential clients. You can also get involved by posting photos from the event or promoting contents and giveaways that your booth is hosting via the social channel.
Promote via email: Use email to let your current customers and potential prospects know that you’ll be at an upcoming trade show. You may use this as a channel to offer discounted admission (if available) or to schedule meeting time with clients. On the prospect side, you may also want to create geographically targeted messaging for your database to alert prospects in the area that you’ll be in town. This can give you the opportunity to set up an in-person meeting (at the trade show or elsewhere in town) with people that you otherwise may not have a chance to meet.
Nurture leads: One great thing about participating in a highly-targeted trade show is that it can result in hundreds of new leads. When you return to your office, put the new leads in a targeted drip nurturing program that is specific to the trade show you attended. This is a great way to stay in contact with leads and provide additional relevant information about your product offerings.
Track ROI: For many companies, especially in the B2B space, it can take a long time to close a deal. Without a method of tracking those leads, how will you remember that a member of your marketing team met Company X at a trade show 10 months ago before passing them off to a sale rep for follow up? You probably won’t. Creating a trade show campaign and tagging the leads into your marketing automation system or CRM will allow you to track the value of your marketing investment over time. This can give you more meaningful metrics – for example, it’s easy to see how many leads you brought back from the show, but how many of those leads actually resulted in new business? Monitoring these metrics will help you show your marketing value, justify budget and determine which events you’ll return to next year.
Today’s marketers don’t have to shy away from traditional marketing techniques, they just need to learn how to update them to work in a modern world.
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[...] Many marketers use events as a part of their overall marketing plan – whether it’s hosting events for prospects and customers or sponsoring industry events and trade shows for lead generation. Though there are many tools built for for managing events, marketing automation can also step in and help out in a few key areas. Here are some examples of how to effectively use your marketing automation tool as a part of your event marketing strategy. [...]