Brands from all industries have been taking advantage of displaying their products and services at trade shows all around the world. Trade shows and events are a great place for marketing and face-to-face networking opportunities for your business. If you’re asking what makes trade show marketing so important, the answer is simple.
Trade show marketing is all about showcasing your brand to guests and exhibitors in your industry. By doing so, you are opening a number of possibilities for B2B and B2C marketing, as well as making meaningful connections with other companies and consumers. Now that in-person events are starting back up again it’s more crucial than ever to step outside of the traditional marketing strategies and optimize digital marketing.
Benefits of trade show marketing
When you choose to exhibit your brand at a trade show, you are opening the door to endless marketing opportunities. For one, trade shows are a great place to improve brand awareness. It gives you the platform to introduce your products and services to thousands of guests while making industry contacts.
One of the biggest benefits of marketing your brand at trade shows is protentional for lead generation. About 74% of consumers say they are more likely to buy a product after seeing it at a trade show. Below are 3 strategies for effectively marketing your brand at trade shows.
Trade show marketing strategies
Researching and analyzing the audience
Before entering a trade show, you must understand your audience and what they are looking for. Say you are a retail company displaying your latest fashion trends and products at a fashion trade show, first you must look at the previous shows and the type of audience that attended. This will give you an idea of what their demographics are, what they are interested in seeing, and how to approach your trade show booth design.
Taking advantage of digital marketing
Although trade shows are in-person events, keeping an active online presence will only boost your presence at the event. Use popular hashtags relating to the event, adding them to your posts and updates will help get more people viewing your page. Using social media to promote your brand online will also generate traffic at the trade show.
If the trade show has a social media account, follow it, share stories about your experience, and make sure to tag the accounts. This will get your brand noticed, especially if the trade show accounts share your posts. Optimizing social media at trade shows is a great way to connect with audiences and get more people to your booth.
Incorporating digital solutions at your booth
Setting up your trade show booth in a way that will make you stand out is extremely important for marketing your brand and getting guests to visit your booth. The best way to do so is by adding displays that are engaging and unique. Using digital displays such as photo booths, interactive kiosks, touch screen tables, and video walls will attract guests to your booth.
Photobooth and interactive kiosks offer guests an unforgettable experience, they are fun and enticing ways to get guests excited about your booth and brand. Touch screen displays can be used to showcase your products and services in a visually appealing way and make fantastic marketing tactics to get information about potential customers.
Summary
In the end, it all comes down to how you take advantage of trade shows and events for marketing your brand. This is the time to think about marketing strategies with more and more events operating again. Digital marketing will always be an effective way to generate leads and sales, however, trade shows and in-person events bring back that face-to-face marketing with the encouragement of digital marketing.