Marketing Materials that You Need for Your Next Expo

Marketing Materials that You Need for Your Next Expo

We want to help make your next exhibition the best one yet and that means increasing the number of results that you get from the event.  

Marketing materials can be invaluable when it comes to generating leads and turning those leads into sales. There are a range of different materials that you can produce and use for your next event.   

Business Cards 

This is something most businesses already have and if you’re a business owner, you probably have at least one in every jacket pocket. 

 A well branded business card will be an invaluable tool to have on-hand to give to potential leads or even other business owners who you would be interested in partnering with.  

 A physical business card allows visitors to bookmark their favourite vendors and provides the longevity that digital search does not.  

Eye-Catching Banners 

Your stand is arguably the most important thing that you can bring to the exhibition and well designed, eye catching banners can make all the difference.  

Your stand is the first thing that visitors will see and this is what will attract them to your stand in the first place, so you need to ensure your stand not only gets their attention, but also conveys why you’re valuable to them. This could be the perfect conversation starter and help to increase the number of quality conversations that you’re having.  

Your banners should also follow your branding and communicate who you are as a brand.  

 Notepads or Sticky Notes  

There is a fine line when it comes to promotional freebies at exhibitions, some can be useful and some just get thrown to the bottom of a free bag by visitors, so it’s important to choose quality over quantity when you’re looking at free gifts.  

Notepads and sticky notes are a good option for free gifts, everybody needs both of these things in the workplace and branding your gifts can provide them with a well-needed reminder about who you are.  

Loyalty Cards or Offers  

A lot of stands run competitions at expos and this can help to largely increase stand footfall, however, the effectiveness of this move is short-lived. As soon as the trade show is over, people forget about the competitions they’ve entered.  

So if you want to increase the amount of time you have their interest, you could make your offer or competition an action they need to take after the event. On the other hand, you could offer a loyalty scheme for those attending or even an exclusive offer for them to redeem.  

This will help to keep you in their minds when they’ve left the exhibition hall and it will give you an advantage over the other exhibitors trying to follow-up post event.  

If you do choose to go down this route, ensure you collect the information you need from them in exchange for the loyalty card or offer, so this could be contact information like their email and phone number.  

You can then put this contact information into good use with your follow-up strategy and long term marketing.  

If you would like to find out more about exhibition banners and stands, our team of experts can ensure you’ll stand out. Get in touch with them today

Generate Leads During the Lockdown

Generate Leads During the Lockdown

This is a bit of a different blog for us, usually we’re talking about how you can use exhibitions to generate leads and increase your sales. However, we’re currently in lockdown and al events have been postponed for the foreseeable future 

That doesn’t mean that your lead generation has to stop, we want to help you explore different ways to generate leads where previously you may have focused on exhibitions.  

Downloadable Content 

If you want to give back to your audience, but also generate a few more leads, this could be perfect for you. Creating high-quality content for your visitors to download will not only increase the value of your business, but it will also help add to your CRM system.  

Create a downloadable ebook, video or whatever you think your customers will find useful and make it available to those who fill out a form with all of the contact information you need for your CRM. Try and make the form as simple as possible to encourage more downloads.  

Paid Ads 

You can run paid ads on a variety of social media platforms and also on search engines, so you can focus on where your audience are likely to spend the majority of their time and also depending on whether you want to be proactive or reactive with your marketing.  

Creating ads which are targeted to your audience and personalised where possible will encourage clicks through to your website or landing page. Once they’re here, you will need to convert them into a lead.  

This could be using a form, phone number or a newsletter sign-up. Once you’ve collected their details you can use these in your follow-up process, which can be altered from your exhibition process.  

Build Social Relationships 

Social media usage has skyrocketed over the past few months and this is the case for business owners as well, LinkedIn is the new networking hotspot.  

Build connections using social media and create content that these people want to share, this will increase your post reach and therefore, allow you to reach more like-minded people to build relationships with. Social media also offers the ideal chance to communicate with your existing or future customers that may be looking at your site or page, and ensure they know you are still there, working hard and looking forward to the end of the lockdown and assisting with their exhibition needs at that point.  

Once you’ve built trust and have the basis of a relationship, selling becomes a lot easier.  

If you’re working on your exhibition process during lockdown, we can help to get your stand in tip top condition, so get in touch with our team today!  

How Can Instagram Help You at Your Next Exhibition?

How Can Instagram Help You at Your Next Exhibition?

Instagram is increasingly becoming one of the key social media platforms for businesses alongside Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Previously there has been a question mark over Instagram in terms of how useful it actually is for businesses, but with new features like on-app shopping and swipe links, it’s one to watch.

So, how and why should you be using Instagram for your next exhibition? We have the complete run-down for before, during and after the show to ensure you’re getting the most out of your stand.

Before the Event

There is so much to do and organise before you attend an exhibition, so social media may be the last thing on your list, but it’s actually one of the first things that you should be doing.

Little things like announcing your attendance can make all the difference and help raise awareness of the event to your audience. Remember, your social audience isn’t just your clients and you may have a prospect ready to buy amongst your followers.

Use Instagram stories to help encourage people to buy tickets, you can add a swipe up link directly to the event page. Stories work really well because it’s bitesize information which makes it so much more digestible for consumers and therefore more effective.

The event organisers will likely have set up and be using a hashtag to promote the event, jump on this and start tagging your posts and stories with this. This will help you reach a wider audience of attendees and other exhibitors before you’ve even step foot through the door.

Hashtags are also a really good way to scope out who will be there, this could be other exhibitors (remember these people are also business owners and could be looking for your service), or people attending. You can start interacting with like-minded people, or companies who are in your target market.

During the Event

You’re going to be busy at the exhibition, but make sure you bring a good team of people with you to help with this. However, just because you’re busy, doesn’t mean you should forget about Instagram.

You’ve been working hard to raise awareness and get involved in the event community so don’t miss out on the opportunity to reap the rewards of this work.

Keep your followers updated with stories throughout the day, they will take you minutes to create but using the right hashtags could double the footfall at your stand. If you have any competitions, exciting news or even just a really good USP, make sure you’re posting all about it.

Encourage the people who visit your stand to follow your Instagram to behind the scenes content and top tips from your expert team. You could even announce the competition winner or provide VIP access to a new product for your Instagram followers.

After the Event

The hard work must be over now, right? Well, not quite, there is still more that can be done!

If you’ve attended your fair share of exhibitions in the past, you may have heard the phrase “follow up is key”, and it’s true. However, following up with prospects and clients from the event doesn’t have to mean a phone call.

You may want to phone the leads who are ‘hot’ and you want to get a meeting in the diary, but actually following everybody on Instagram and sending them a DM can be useful as well.

You’ll be likely to get a follow returned, so even if they’re not ready to buy now, you’ve got a ticket into their newsfeed. So, when they’re ready to make the purchase, who’s going to come to mind? You, the company that they see on their Instagram every week, who they trust.

 

It may be time to start your business Instagram account if you haven’t already, and if you’re still looking for a show-stopping stand, contact our team of stand experts.

Social Media Trends for 2019 That You Can Use for Your Next Exhibition

Social Media Trends for 2019 That You Can Use for Your Next Exhibition

2019 produces plenty of opportunities to revamp your strategies when it comes to exhibiting in the coming year. We recently published a blog post with some of the upcoming trends for 2019 in the exhibition circle, and a lot of these involved social media.

Given that this is such a huge element of marketing and exhibiting (sharing your attendance on multiple platforms in advance, running competitions etc) it could never be a bad idea to run through some of the 2019 social media trends that you can incorporate into your exhibition plans this year.

Personal Branding

Every business should know the importance of presenting their brand, particularly over social media. Giving your business a cohesive brand helps immensely in making your business recognisable and can only help further at exhibitions.

Passers-by will automatically form a perception of your company based on your visual identity. If this is recognisable in connection with your social media identity, you have expanded your personal brand to your exhibition.

This can be a huge attraction for some businesses, often people will visit a stand purely on the impression from a business’s social media, but it’s the continuation of the brand throughout the stand and those manning it that encourages people to stay and converse.

Video Content

Video has proven itself over and over to be one of, if not the, most popular and engaging pieces of content. According to Forbes, 64% of customers are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video about it.

This goes to show that video content has a huge impact in how people will receive you and your business. Incorporating videos of product demonstrations for example, into the display of your stand could be a great persuasive feature to encourage people to request more information or indeed make a purchase.

Of course, sharing these videos on social media beforehand will also help create a buzz for your product, potentially encouraging people to visit in person come exhibition day.

Podcasts and Live Streaming

Another video-based element that could work wonders and is set to hold its popularity in 2019 is live content. Podcasts and live streaming saw a huge increase in popularity in 2018 and were harnessed by several businesses.

Live streaming a competition win or Q&A from your exhibition stand could pull in a lot of visitors both online and in person due to the intrigue this creates. When coupled with hashtags related to the exhibition, this could catch the attention of exhibition attendees that previously wouldn’t have visited your stand, but now are due to this association.

Instagram and Facebook stories are also a good way to promote the ‘in the moment’ action focused part of an exhibition.

This could produce a great amount of traffic for you both on site and online.

Focus on UGC

UGC, or user generated content, is content produced or posted by users of online platforms. It’s already a popular form of content generation for a lot of businesses in their social media plans and can be harnessed for use during an exhibition too.

It can be as simple as displaying a slideshow of Tweeted reviews, or as complex as inviting users to become part of your stand or exhibit through programs reminiscent of the Christmas “Elf Yourself” phenomenon, or by creating something to display on your exhibition stand.

UGC is great because it really emphasises an engagement between brand and customer, rather than just customer to brand.

These interactions harness social media strategies to use in coming exhibitions and help promote a brand as customer friendly.

Influencer Marketing

A tried and tested technique proven to give results, influencer marketing is great since the collaboration can help intrigue a completely new audience and invite them to interact with your company.

This does not just have to be done online – bringing an influencer you work with to an exhibition could have a great effect on attracting a new audience on the day, leading to more visits from previously disengaged attendees, and therefore more opportunities to sell.

The integrity of influencer marketing could be saved by this – whilst fake accounts are an issue for the trustworthiness of influencer marketing currently, you cannot turn down or dispute an in-person appearance

If you need help designing a stand or strategy to help align with these social media trends and make 2019 your best exhibition year yet, please get in touch with 200m2 today!

A Guide for Using Social Media at Your Next Trade Show

A Guide for Using Social Media at Your Next Trade Show

Social media allows you to connect with people both at the trade show and those who couldn’t attend. It is a useful tool for before, during and after an event and something that you should definitely be utilising at your next show.

It can be difficult to keep your feed updated at a trade show or even just trying to think of what content to post. This is why we have created a short guide to using social media at your next trade show.

Being in the Moment

It is really important to keep your social media channels updated throughout the day but remember you are there to talk to the visitors and engage with other exhibitors. If you cannot bring another team member or the social media account manager with you, be wary of how much time you’re spending on your device and when you’re using it.

Try to use your device when there are no visitors around or a limited number, this way you are not putting them off coming over to your stand. Another way you can make your device look more professional whether it is a personal phone or work tablet is to get a branded case for it. This way it does look more like a work device rather then you checking your personal phone all day.

Photos

Social media is such a visual form of content, and it is no lie that photos do much better on social media than just text posts. It is also a shareable form of content so make sure you’re tagging your location, the event organisers and using the right hashtags to get your posts seen.  

Photos can be shared directly from your Instagram to Facebook and Twitter to save even more time when you’re at the expo, and it will give your other channels exposure.

Another form of visual content you could think about using is Instagram stories; this is a story of photos and videos only available to users for 24 hours. Using hashtags, locations and tagging other users in these will help you to gain views and attention from these stories.

Photos are not only great for your social channels, but they will also aid your visitors in remembering who you are and what you do. When a visitor sees your photos from the day, they will remember who you are and be able to put a name to a face.

Seminars, talks or other exhibitors you know will be great to snap photos of throughout the day.

Schedule

Some trade shows get extremely busy and, especially if you’re on your own, there may be no time to post on social media. This is why it is a good idea to schedule some generic posts about the day beforehand. This way if you are rushed off your feet at least there are some “live” posts about the expo going out – your followers won’t know that they were scheduled.

These posts can be generic posts about the trade show that you’re at; they won’t include any photos or specific details about the people you have met. They could mention about any guest speakers you’re hoping to see, the timings for the day or even just to say that it has been a great day so far.

Remember to schedule information like any offers or competitions you’re running on the day to keep people informed and attracted to your stand.

Live Video

Facebook Live Video is a brilliant platform to use in general and especially at a trade show. Facebook gives a slight push to live videos as well so it will help all your followers see this post and even notify them when you’ve gone live!

Seminars or talks are great to video, make sure you have an unobstructed view and good audio though. Even though it is live, you will still want to keep the quality good.

Another idea for a live video would be a tour of the trade show space, showing people who are there and some of the stands – this may help attract people to the event.

There are so many ways you can use social media to your advantage at an event like a trade show, so find the way that works best for you and run with it. These are just a few ways you can use your channels to your advantage, and we would definitely recommend using your social media throughout shows.