Be interactive: Use your outreach campaigns as a way to get prospects involved before the trade show for instance, let attendees vote on the swag you’ll be handing out.For optimal results, we suggest starting this process three to four weeks out. Take the time to cultivate a multi-channel campaign to let your customers and prospects know where you’ll be and what to expect.
That being said, without a pre-show strategy in place, your booth is a guaranteed flop. At an industry event with 400 vendors, the average attendee will visit somewhere between 25-31 vendor booths. One of the biggest mistakes an organization can make going into a trade show is putting no effort into building hype around your booth in advance.
Continue reading to learn how to stand out at a trade show. If you’re not able to draw in a huge crowd during your time in the exhibit hall, your efforts will be wasted. Unfortunately, trade shows are expensive and time-consuming. Trade shows offer a unique opportunity for organizations to form real, human relationships with their prospects that other marketing tactics just can’t provide. In fact, in-person events ranked highest on the list, above tactics such as webinars/webcasts (66%), case studies (66%) and whitepapers (63%) ( source). When it comes to B2B marketing tactics, no strategy has stood the test of time quite like the trade show.Ī recent survey done by the Content Marketing Institute shows 75% of respondents believe in-person events are an effective marketing tactic.