Trade shows offer the perfect avenue to market your business. They bring many customers and investors with whom you can create long-term business relationships. Although trade shows may seem the perfect avenue to market your business, you should look for ways to make your booth stand out from your competitors. One way to achieve this is by leveraging digital marketing. This should start with your preparation for the event, during and after.
This post breaks down several digital marketing strategies that can help you maximize your trade show marketing results, from post-event to during and after the event. Read on to learn more.
Using digital marketing before a trade show helps spread the word about your participation. Some of the tactics you can utilize include the following:
A website banner is a digital remarketing ad displayed on a third-party website, such as online news websites, e-commerce sites, and blogs. It can massively drive traffic to your website if done well. Therefore, ensure your website banner is noticeable by maintaining consistency with your website style and brand. It should also include a call to action and links to boost your marketing.
Another strategy that can help you yield better marketing results is sending pre-emails to your existing customers and contacts from previous trade shows. You can send these emails a few weeks before the event to inform them of the upcoming trade show and even follow up with reminder emails. Your email should detail where the trade show will take place, your booth number, and include a call to action requesting your target audience to confirm availability.
Social media posts can further maximize your digital outreach by letting your followers know about your participation in the trade show. One of the best ways to maximize your posts is by leveraging them on the trade show's official hashtag. It helps your target audience find your posts, which increases their chances of visiting your website and learning more about your trade show participation.
You can also use LinkedIn Ads, especially if you're targeting a more professional audience. You can use LinkedIn tools such as sign-up forms, video, and single-image ads.
At this point, you've probably drawn attention to your trade show participation through the pre-show digital marketing strategies suggested above. Your next step should be establishing digital tactics to use during the event. Some of the strategies you can use include the following:
Target digital ads are content set for specific audiences based on their geographic and psychographics to draw more traffic to a website. You can leverage this trade show marketing strategy, such as PPC, text, and banner advertising. You can also create content that targets your audience linked to the social media platforms associated with the trade show or their official website.
A customized landing page offers a personal element to your trade show marketing by including specific information about your trade show participation on your website. This may consist of the particular location of your booth, common identifiers, and contact information that your target audience can use to find your booth.
Your digital trade show marketing doesn't stop after the event. You still have work to do to achieve the best results from your trade show marketing. Some of the post-show digital tactics that can help you maximize your marketing results include the following:
Follow-up emails can significantly help build your business after a trade show event. However, to get the most out of the email, you should include a thank-you note for their interactions in the trade show event and a clear call to action that drives engagement. You can also monitor and analyze its performance by analyzing its click-through, open, and conversion rates.
Once the trade show is over, post plenty of pictures showing your participation and booth while you get along and connect with your customers. Videos are also great options to draw traffic to your website, primarily if you use Facebook reels, TikTok, and Instagram.
Digital marketing undoubtedly offers a reliable option for your trade show marketing. However, to get the best out of it, you must establish various tactics in your preparation for the show, during, and after the event.
At WEBITMD, we can help you leverage our digital marketing solutions to achieve the best results for your trade show marketing.Contact us today to develop your trade show digital marketing strategy, or download our E-Commerce Marketing Playbook.