The Biggest Mistake That Trade Show Marketers Make Following An Event

When it comes to Event Marketing strategy, most companies use qualified leads as a measure of their event success. There’s a lot of different ways you can engage your audience and maximize lead capture at your trade show booth. We have previously covered how you can create a buzz around your trade show booth using a quiz or a trivia challenge. Once you have done the hard work and collected the leads, do not make this simple mistake!

#1 Mistake: 80% of trade show exhibitors don’t follow up with trade show leads.

That’s a huge missed opportunity to really drive home your brand message and close the gap with new leads.

Once you have captured the potential customer’s information from the trade show quiz conducted at your booth, there are a few ways to keep the relationship going when it’s over. If your company does not employ a good customer outreach strategy a few days after the trade show is over, an even better idea is an ‘after the show’ email marketing campaign.

A good email campaign will make all the difference in just getting a few trade show attendees and turning them into true to life clients for your business. You set the relationship in stone with the follow-up, rather than giving everything to chance or leaving it up to the customer to reach out to you.

The email sequence suggested should go something like this:

1. First send a thank you for attending email, in which you highlight some of the best and most memorable moments of the event. Make sure to reintroduce your new lead to your brand to include your possible solution for helping them.
2. The next email sent should be a thank you gift. Give your new lead the lucky chance to try out your service or product for a free trial or for a deep discount. This will help to pique their curiosity about your product and turn them into an actual customer. After this, you have successfully come full circle from turning a trade show lead to a customer.
3. If they do sign up immediately, the next thing you want to do is send them a congratulatory email. The purpose of this is just to welcome them. This is a chance to highlight to company culture and create customer loyalty.
4. If they sign up right away, you want to continue corresponding with them with good content from your blog, or maybe even invite them to join you over on your social media channels. You’ll continue to put your brand’s message front and center and educate them about your products and services. Don’t forget the occasional promotion to urge them to buy.

‍