The Ultimate Guide To Exhibition Marketing

Part 1 – Pre-Show

Those companies that use exhibitions successfully will tell you that your marketing strategy starts well before your show starts.

To drive the best return on investment and event success we will look at the top tips for marketing pre-show, during the event, and post-show.

PRE-SHOW

Identify Your Goals

Why are you exhibiting? To launch a new product or service? To gain sales leads? Raise brand awareness or connect with your customer base? Your objectives are likely to be a combination of these but it helps to have a set of clear objectives and set KPIs against each of these so you can measure. What will success look like to you post exhibition?

Event Marketing Plan

To ensure event success and maximum qualified leads, create an event marketing plan. Consider what marketing budgets you have for this event and maximise through free or low-cost opportunities.

What makes a successful exhibition in terms of marketing? An effective project always must have a good plan in place. The key to attracting traffic to your exhibition stand is to establish an overall marketing and sales strategy that reflects the relevant trade show objectives and audiences and should be connected to your overall marketing plan.

You may want to use a mixture of traditional and digital marketing in your event marketing strategy - just ensure you have clear KPIs which feed into your overall marketing strategy.

Use The Organiser

All exhibitions provide a range of marketing tools to help you promote your presence as this works to their benefit as well. Most will provide email banners and signatures, social media assets, and other digital tools you can use. They have done most of the work for you and you can simply lift and use it.

You will also most certainly get access to an exhibitor profile - sometimes on their website - other times also in printed documents such as catalogues or show guides. Ensure you complete your company description and tailor it to the audience who will be attending the event.

You should also be able to select product categories that allow you to feature in searches when visitors to the exhibition website search for specific products or services they are interested in. Finally, you may also have the opportunity to upload other media such as brochures and videos.

It is also worth contacting the organiser to see what other resources they can offer. Some may produce onsite newspapers you can feature in or you can get involved in other types of editorial through the organiser. You may also be able to use their list of qualified leads or potential attendees to market which can be a valuable opportunity.

Social Media Coverage

How do you attract customers to an exhibition beforehand? Social media helps improve your exhibition visibility by generating leads and setting rescheduled meetings quickly. People who follow your company want information about your business and its services. About eight weeks before the event, create a social media campaign consistent with your integrated marketing message, but keep it brief and sweet.

Ensure that on every platform you tag the exhibition and use the event hashtag. Your followers can follow you and not have to search for the same hashtag on every social network you use. There is the possibility that the exhibition organisers will also re-share your posts.

Find Your Hook

Before you launch an email marketing campaign or social network marketing campaign you must determine what you're selling primarily to your target audience for this activation. It's a “hook” that is used to promote your sales for the exhibition. Make it fun. Professional marketers bombard themselves daily with similar campaigns. When passing through the exhibition booths, event attendees can see the same thing: sales pitches about the company's product offerings and services. Our other tip would be to make sure it is easy to understand.

Far too often an exhibitor will have an advertising slogan that aims to promote many benefits of their products or about creating brand awareness within the sector as opposed to a direct objective and KPI i.e launch new product x and generate an order book of £££s pre-launch.

Check Out Your Rivals

In some cases, strong competition isn't necessarily bad for your exhibition's success. Your collective marketing campaigns can also bring in more customers through the sheer volume of noise around the industry. Make sure you speak to the organisers for details of all confirmed suppliers, and their position at the show. When providing your target audience with pre-show information make sure you ask them for information from competitors and how that might impact your exhibition or schedule, such as stand drinks or master classes that might clash with other activities.

Pre-Event Email

Email marketing is great for promoting your attendance to customers and other event attendees from your target audience.

Be sure to tell your existing clients and potential contacts that you’re going to be attending. Consider sending a specific e-shot outlining where you’re going to be located and ask them to come and say hello. One of the biggest benefits of popular trade exhibitions is that they are often attended by clients from all over the country or even the globe, so it provides an excellent opportunity for your teams to put a face to a name and strengthen relationships with existing customers.

Some organisers will even provide email marketing tools or send out messages on your behalf. They will also normally provide banners or dedicated registration links so that you can encourage prospective customers to register for the trade show.

Create An Event Page On Your Website

Capture leads from the outset with a landing page specifically for the exhibition you are attending. Link it into organisers' materials and direct all marketing traffic to that landing page for tracking of interest, but also SEO purposes.

Tell The Press

If you’re going to be doing something new and exciting and your stand – let the press know! Depending on the type of tradeshow or exhibition you are attending, you may choose to contact trade publications, local newspapers, or even the nationals.

The key is to ensure that you are creating “news”. If you’re unveiling a new product – make sure to include this. If you’re perhaps a small local business finding yourself at a large exhibition, let the local press know

Summary

Attending the right exhibition can be a key point in your annual marketing calendar, but like all campaigns, it needs to be well planned, with measurable goals in mind. Contact one of our dedicated account managers for further information on how Tecna UK can help, or just send us a scribble.

This is just the start to ensure you stand out from the crowd when exhibiting and where to invest your time to drive traffic at the event and onto your stand.  Find out more in our next blog from the series, which focuses specifically on marketing activations during the show.

Looking for actions to take after the show? Part 3 is also available!