Don’t Leave Your Leads on the Trade Show Floor
Three ways to maximize your trade show ROI
Planning for the perfect trade show – creating the right plan, rallying your sales team, setting meetings, and perfecting your booth – is not easy – or inexpensive task. From pre-show preparations to at the show networking, your sales team is working hard to build your sales pipeline. And afterwards, you analyze the show – identify which things went well, which didn’t, and debate whether it was worth the tremendous allocation of time and money.
Unless you find a way to nurture leads post show, you won’t be able to maximize your return on investment (ROI).
Letting trade show leads expire is one of the costliest mistakes companies make, significantly diminishing the ROI from your trade show investment. Instead, take these three steps to turn trade show visitors into customers.
Nurture Your Leads & Avoid the “One & Done” Thank You E-mail
Trade shows are a terrific way to generate new leads – but sales don’t happen overnight. Sales cycles can be long, especially for more expensive purchases. And today’s savvy buyers want to get to know you online before taking your sales call. Use your post-show thank you email as the first step in a lead nurturing program that catches the recipient’s attention with relevant, engaging content. Keep their attention with ongoing communications that link them to your website for more. This will allow you to retarget them: keeping warm leads warm, warming up those leads that start cold, and turning interest into real consideration.
Stay Top of Mind with Geofencing & Retargeting Ads
Before your team even hits the trade show floor, a digital advertising program can help you drive interest. Geofencing ads during the trade show will drive awareness and traffic to your booth, helping to establish your target audience and lead base early on. After the show, the right retargeting strategy will enable you to use automation to stay in front of prospects. Research tells us that users who visit a website after clicking on a retargeting campaign ad are more likely to convert by up to 70%. Combined, these two ad strategies will provide additional touch points to attract audience attention and nurture your leads before and after the show.
Engage in Organic and Paid Social Media Opportunities
As one of the best channels to increase brand awareness and loyalty, social media platforms provide both organic and paid opportunities. Maximize the reach of your organic posts by tagging the trade show hosts and using related hashtags. This allows you to gain exposure that furthers top-of-mind awareness with people interested in or attending the show. LinkedIn also enables you to upload a database of emails directly into the platform and deliver paid ads to these contacts. This could be an effective way to augment your ongoing email campaigns.
Trefoil Group: A Partner Committed to Your Success
The trade show is over, but your sales opportunities are just beginning. Contact us to learn more about how we can create greater return on your trade show investments. Or explore our work to see how we’re driving growth and value for our clients.
