s
< return to blog

11 ways to use digital to maximise the impact of your next B2B trade event

B2B trade events can be costly, time consuming, but somewhat essential for ambitious brands in competitive landscapes. It's often difficult for brands to quantify the real business impact of a trade event investment. Digital offers you a great way to track and measure the success of a trade event, and the marketing activity in the run up, as well as providing insight to what's working and what's not. Here are 11 tips to help you use digital to maximise the impact of your next B2B trade event....

Simon O'Dwyer
Managing Director

Before the event:

  • Email your customer base, inviting them to come visit you at the event – with a compelling reason that will really grab their attention. What new information will you be sharing? What can they get a sneak peek of? Most importantly, how will it help them achieve their business goals? Make their objectives the centre of your communication to them, and you will hold their attention. Make sure the email includes your stand number and location.
  • Set up a leads tracker tool on your website, which can recognise what businesses are visiting your website (we have a few great tools up our sleeve, talk to us!)
  • Create an event landing page with details of what’s on offer at your stand and invites users to book an appointment with your team. Direct all advertising and social activity in the lead up to the event to this landing page.
  • Could your stand design include video and touchscreen demonstrations? The more interactive your stand is, the better the visitor engagement.
  • Consider running some display ads across mobile devices, targeting the event location only. This will ensure your brand is front of mind for attendees. Companies like Blis media offer inventory at major events, and can target mobile traffic going through certain airports, for example.

At the event:

11 ways to use digital to maximise the impact of your next B2B trade event Threesixty Kilkenny

 

  • Video the construction of the stand, using time lapse if possible. Capture the behind the scenes footage of the team setting the stand up, to show the buzz around the event. Once complete, host a live broadcast on Facebook/ Instagram/ You Tube at your stand at a key time e.g, there is a product demonstration or talk. Introduce your team, tell your audience why you are at the event, show off  your stand and merchandise, introduce the neighbouring brands – making sure you can make it easy for people to locate you in the hall.
  • Capture visitors email address when they visit your stand – In our experience, the best way is to run a competition offering a great prize. Email is still king, and email addresses are valuable!
  • Incorporate gamification at your stand. This could be  a simple poll, quiz, survey or game on an iPad,  tablet or touchscreen – something like this really engages visitors, and creates a buzz at your stand that will entice others.
  • Interact with other brands and the show itself on social over the trade show period – have fun, show your brand personality, use gifs/stickers and get involved with the marketing that is inevitably happening around the event. And this goes without saying, but always be nice about the other brands at the show.

After the event:

  •  Follow up with an email to thank users for visiting your stand/ expressing an interest and offer them something in return – e.g download our report, read this case study to see how we can help you, check out this white paper results of our game/survey etc
  • Write a blog post about the event and post on your site and across your social platforms. Include a video highlight reel and  flag the next event you’re going to be attending.