9 Simple Ways to Improve your Event Marketing Performance
Last year, a study released last year by InsideSales.com revealed that event marketing was the second most effective B2B marketing tactic in driving brand awareness and lead generation.
If you haven’t heard it before, there’s no such thing as being over prepared. You must rid yourself of the temptation to get complacent in your preparation efforts. How hard you work preparing for your trade show will be determinative of the experience you have and the results you achieve.
Here are some key steps you should incorporate in your preparation process:
Identify Targets
Take advantage of attendee registrations and exhibitor lists. Carefully put together a list of important individuals and organizations to meet with. You want to paint a clear picture of who is going to be there so you can direct your efforts at the parties that are most relevant to your business.
Think Like Your Target
What do your targets want? What problems do they have? How can you help them? Understanding your target is an important preliminary step because it enables you to cater your message to their specific interests.
Create Preliminary Questions
If you plan on developing interviews or other content assets at your booth, make sure you come prepared with ideas and topics to discuss. Stay on top of the latest industry news so that your questions can display your knowledge and expertise. The most effective questions will help you uncover your targets’ needs, which you will ideally be able to fulfill.
Make Initial Contact, Subtly
Once you’ve built a target list and, through preparation, gotten to know your target better, it’s time to make an introduction. Some might suggest a traditional e-mail introduction, but it may be best to warm your target attendees up first. For example, create a list of trade show attendees you want to target on Twitter and look for opportunities to communicate and engage. Make sure your content is accurate, relevant, and unique—if they find your content valuable, they wont feel like they’re being “marketed at.”
Make an E-Mail Introduction
Once you’ve made initial contact with your targets it’s time to make an e-mail introduction. Focus these introductions on two types of targets: (1) those who are most important to you; and (2) those who have the greatest need for what you have. These are your “select targets” and your message to them should be personal, informative, and concise. You may also consider crafting a more generalized e-mail to send to other potential targets that aren’t quite as high on the priority list.
Maintain a Presence on Social Media
Don’t let your social media accounts sit around gathering dust. Your most important contact will be the face-to-face communication you have with your targets at the trade show, and every day leading up to the event is an opportunity to engage with your targets. Make sure your content is valuable to your targets—sharing useless content is worse than sharing no content at all.
Define Your Goals
This one comes down to you. Set realistic goals you plan on accomplishing. If you don’t set goals for yourself, you have no basis for measuring your return on investment.
Don’t Neglect Booth Design
Your booth is a representation of your business. Marketing your business at a trade show is an important investment for your business, and the last thing you want to do is undermine your credibility because your booth has the aesthetic appeal of a cardboard box.
Give Your Targets a Reason to Stop By
Face-to-face interaction with your targets is the most effective method of communication. Heck, isn’t that why you invested in a booth in the first place? What if I told you that there’s an inexpensive way to not only get your targets into your booth but to also keep them there for 15 minutes of distraction-free interaction? If you’re interested, you can find out more here.
