Event exhibitions can be quite an ordeal. It is not only tedious to organize, but the execution can also result in a lot of hassle. It takes weeks of meticulous planning, not to mention the time, effort, and money. Hence, it is incredibly disheartening if the entire effort falls flat. The final aim of event exhibitions is, after all, to maximize ROI, and things must be planned ahead to ensure no stone is left unturned to that end.
Here are some tips to help you maximize your ROI from events:
1. Use Business Card Reading Apps to Capture Leads
It’s the 21st century, and technology is all-pervasive.
So, don’t you think now it’s the time to get rid of old methods of lead capture and contact building?
For instance, if you still use lead-forms and badge scanners, you might not even know what you are missing out on.
Life has become exceedingly fast-paced, and there is always too much to do. With the rampant use of smartphones and the multiple apps they provide, it is a great time to shift to business card reading apps to embolden your lead directory.
This way, you can pool all your collected business cards on a single platform, which is accessible through multiple devices and available on the cloud. Moreover, you can retrieve it anytime and anywhere, and do not need to handle physical cards anymore. This way, you can always sync up with your contacts, remain in touch and also never lose out on a single acquaintance, since everything is backed up digitally.
2. E-signatures
An excellent method to drive traction and whip up public interest is using the event promotion on company and employee e-signatures. This should primarily be used while communicating with your vendor or client organizations, for the maximum spread of the news.
Digital promotion can exponentially increase the reach of the event within a short period and can lead to many converts, helping maximize your ROI.
3. Online and offline advertisements
You can use both online as well as traditional offline platforms to advertise and market your upcoming event. You can make the event details a backdrop of your website so that your visitors notice the event banner in the background first of all. Offline banners and posters are also very effective at attracting interested people to the event so that you can significantly enhance your chances of more significant ROI.
4. Build an online community
After the event, you can set up an online community for you to converse with interested customers. This is a great way to keep in touch, even if no sales were promised or made during the exhibition. It is a professional platform, where you can talk with your prospective customers, and maybe try to influence them in your favor. However, some boundaries must be placed here. Trying to hard sell on an online community platform is not a very healthy practice, and may cause you to lose interested customers.
5. Create Magazine-buzz
You are unlikely to be the only one taking part in the upcoming event exhibition. Thus, it is essential to try to leverage unique methods to promote your product. In order to stand out from a pool of competitors, try to approach the organizers for more space on the cover pages of promotional event magazines, brochures and leaflets. These brochures and pamphlets will be distributed far and wide, as the organizers want to maximize the attendance. With you being in the middle of it all, you might just end up piquing someone’s curiosity. That way, you can ensure you occupy a center-stage in offline promotional materials and get noticed easily.
6. Leverage Social Media
More than half the world is present on social media, and it is time to take advantage of that. Advertise and promote here at every chance you get. You can think of novel ideas to draw attention to your event, like creating a hashtag. You can keep the organizers in the loop, and maybe start a contest with a hashtag and try to engage interested and prospective customers. This way, you and your organizers both can generate significant traffic online, which may translate into increased revenue for you.
7. Communicate Within Your Organization
One of the areas where most companies lose out is internal communication, within the organization, departments, and employees. You should make sure that the fact that you are going to be at the event is advertised, communicated, and relayed to every person in every department of your organization. Someone somewhere might have a friend or a relative who is interested, and maybe he or she can bring along more interested folks. You never know unless you try, so this is one avenue that definitely should not be missed.
8. Offer Incentives to Your Target Audience
During the event, your focus is increasing footfall at your exhibition. You need to do something to draw in the more qualified customers. The more qualified your audience is, the more easily you can target and pitch to them selectively. As a result, you can positively influence them and hope that they end up making a purchase, sooner or later.
To engage them, you can serve the choicest snacks, put on groovy music, get a play zone, or even invite someone over for a book signing session. You will have to decide and see what works for you. In this method, you are basically incentivizing prospective customers to visit your exhibition so that you have a better chance of shaping their views.
9. Buckle up, PR department!
If you want to spread a certain level of awareness about the event, you must employ a strong PR team. A PR team will be responsible for spreading necessary information about the event exhibition, and publicize it to the extent that you can reach your target customers. It is not a simple task to do and is time-consuming, so you must plan ahead and start early.
Summing it up
Event exhibitions are susceptible to a variety of mishaps that can occur. Even if one of them takes place, the entire session has to be suspended, and thus, the time leading up to event exhibitions are bided with bated breath. However, just as important is making an impact at the event exhibition. You must exude the right vibes, and for that, the right attitude, and approach is critical.
Moreover, to acquire all the productive leads that you captured during the event, make sure to create a post-event checklist as well. It will help you follow-up with your prospects and ultimately turn them into lifelong customers.
The ultimate goal of any event exhibition is profit, and a great event exhibition can always ensure it.