Taking part in a trade fair used to be the only way to close a deal. If you did a bit of good work, you were set for a year. Decades later, there are many more ways to do business. Deals are done in the office, product launches go online and potential leads are obtained through social media. So why go to a trade show at all? Simple: combined with all these other channels, trade shows are more effective than ever. If you apply successful trade show marketing, you will see opportunities soar.
Will you be at an exhibition soon? If so, Majid Abou, Exhibitor Success Manager at Jaarbeurs, has some interesting tips for you on how to get the most out of your trade fair participation and how to measure that success.
An Exhibitor Success Manager within Jaarbeurs has one main goal: to increase exhibitor success. In short: spotting opportunities. Here are Majid's tips for running a great trade fair:
- Make small, clear goals.
- Make your trade show participation part of the marketing strategy
- Use matchmaking tools to reach your target audience
There is nothing wrong with an ambitious goal. After all, it encourages you to try that little bit harder. But you can also go too far, especially if this is what you measure your success against. Majid: "I always start my conversation with the central question: "What do you want to achieve?" There are companies that want to generate 1,500 new leads, for example. They do this by scanning batches of visitors. In that case, it's not really about the contact, but rather about scanning as many as possible, in as short a time as possible.
You make it easier on yourself by making the target smaller. For example: each account manager at the booth generates 10 good leads and makes three quality calls. That is more achievable and often better quality."
"Ask yourself the question: what do you want to achieve with this fair?"
Haphazardly entering a trade fair is doomed to failure. In fact, successful trade fair participation requires planning, time and energy. Majid: "A trade fair used to be the time to do business. Now it is different. Just sending a newsletter saying you are at the trade fair is not enough. If you want results, you will have to link a campaign to it. So make your trade fair participation part of your marketing strategy.
Important questions you should be able to answer before participating in a fair are:
- What is your message?
- Do you have an exhibition offer?
- Why are you at the fair?
- Is there anything special you want to tell?
Make sure you have insight into everything around the fair. Because those who participate with the attitude 'we'll see if it's what for us' will go home disappointed.
In the past, a trade fair was mainly about meeting each other physically. Beforehand, you didn't know who would attend the fair. Moreover, you hoped you would meet just the right person during the fair. Nowadays, you can steer that a bit, using a matchmaking tool. With such a tool, you optimally aim for qualitative meetings. It allows you to make connections in advance, plan appointments, register for an inspiration session or ask people what they expect from an upcoming workshop.
Majid: "We recently started using Swapcard at Jaarbeurs: an artificial intelligence matchmaking tool. This gives everyone who registers for one of our exhibitions, exhibitors and visitors, access to the platform to prepare for the exhibition. The platform is designed to encourage interactions and increase the ROI of your trade fair participation as an exhibitor."
"With Swapcard, you can meet your target audience in advance of the fair"
But how do you really know if your trade show participation was successful? You can do so by calculating the ROI of your trade fair participation. Some people swear by it, others don't believe in it; but there is something to be said for both.
ROI (return on investment) is a relatively easy calculation: the result of the stock market, minus the investment. But how do you know the value of the result? After all, it could happen that months later you book that one big sale from a lead you got at the fair. So good follow-up is essential.
ROI, according to Majid, is fine arithmetic for the long term, not the short term. Those who want to know in the short term whether the fair was successful are better off making small goals. You can then answer immediately after the fair whether you achieved what you wanted to achieve.
When you make smart technology and online sessions work for you, you have more control over the success of your trade show participation. But how do you do that? We share our insights on the many benefits of hybrid trade shows and our tips for making your company's participation a success.
