A successful trade fair post-corona: how do you achieve that?
HOW YOU CAN STAND OUT AT FAIRS
Attending a fair is no longer the same as it was before the pandemic. Currently, fewer visitors are allowed, but the number of attendees is slowly but surely beginning to rise again. The regulations have changed, and you must now seriously consider whether you want a physical, online, or hybrid exhibition stand. Especially since competitors are already making full use of it. Due to the pandemic and the reconsideration of organizing a fair, the importance of sales and lead generation may have become even more critical than before. In this blog, we are happy to share our insights on organizing a successful fair that distinguishes your exhibition stand from that of your competitors and gives a boost to lead conversions.
Manage the visitor's expectations
Because it is not immediately clear in this time how a fair will take place - physically, online or hybrid - and what a visitor can or cannot do based on COVID-19 measures, it is essential to communicate in advance what a visitor can expect. This way, you eliminate the barrier for the visitor to have to figure everything out themselves, give them a sense of safety, and at the same time, excite the visitor with great promotional material.
An exhibition as part of your strategy
Many companies use exhibitions in the traditional way, where less attention is paid to the purpose of the exhibition, why they are participating, and which KPIs need to be achieved. The exhibition then becomes a goal in itself. “If you integrate an exhibition into your overall marketing strategy, you use the exhibition as a smart tool at the right moment in the customer journey. It becomes part of the entire marketing process,” says Ton Kuper, founder and managing director of C4Real. “An exhibition is successful if you have properly integrated it into your overall marketing strategy and sales strategy, and when it represents a role of value therein and ultimately achieves the objectives you have set.”
Define your goals
SPECIFIC EXHIBITION OBJECTIVES PROVIDE FOCUS
Therefore, first think about the objectives: why are you at the exhibition and what are the KPIs? How many leads do you want to draw or convert in the marketing funnel? It is important to consider how to get the target audience to your exhibition stand and how to follow up effectively on the leads coming from the exhibition. For instance, create exhibition personas, advertise with a cool teaser as an invitation, and ensure you include a few questions in the registration form to find out what the expectations and needs of that specific person are. This way, you can respond well to that. You can personalize the marketing activities leading up to the exhibition (tailoring them to the person) and also during the visit itself. The account manager present at the exhibition can thus prepare well for the conversation. They will know where the interest and needs of the visitor lie. This significantly increases the chances of the lead moving to the next step in the sales funnel.
Also consider the choice of a physical, online, or hybrid exhibition. Sometimes it simply makes more sense to organize an online event, as it often reduces the budget planning. But that also depends on the goals you want to achieve. It’s never just about a product or service. An exhibition is about the solutions you provide (products and services portfolio), relationship management with existing customers, showcasing innovation capabilities, or strengthening your branding against your competition.
Design and visual content
Based on the strategy, you determine the design and subsequently the necessary visual content (materials) for the exhibition stand to fully align the experience and perception during the entire customer journey. The flow in which a visitor moves through the exhibition is already a customer journey in itself. Therefore, it is important to create several points that encourage people to leave their contact details or make a purchase, each with a different teaser to engage the target audience. The goal of collecting those contact details is, of course, to have leads come into your sales and marketing automation system.”
Stimulate the visual experience of the visitor
TOOLS FOR VISUAL EXPERIENCE
Many exhibition stands seem similar at their core. This can make it difficult to stand out and engage and surprise visitors. Therefore, focus on the visual experience you want to create for the visitor: how do you attract attention and maintain it? Companies do this, for example, by organizing a spectacular show of light, image, and sound at the stand to unveil a new product launch. Innovative technological tools such as holographic, interactive touchscreens, moving screens in unique shapes with spectacular animations and films, or projection mapping (projections on 3D-printed objects) are also used to showcase products or services.
Context and Recognition
Many companies only showcase their products at a trade fair: 'This is our beautiful product and this is what it does'. However, they often forget to provide some context and to take the potential customer along in a situation that is recognizable to them, where the product or service offers the perfect solution. Some of these products are not visible to the eye or are too large to take to the fair, such as machines. It can also concern services or technological solutions that cannot be demonstrated at the fair. How should you then show what you solve?
A virtual showroom
Our Virtual Showroom can work very well for this purpose. The potential customer virtually steps into a world where products and services are presented in a market context, making it clear which solution it offers. Augmented Reality (AR) innovatively shows products in reality, so you don't have to drag all your products – such as large, heavy machines – or other valuable items to the trade fair or to a customer. The product is displayed with AR as a visual layer over the real world. This is also used by IKEA, for example, to see how furniture will look in your home.
Need help creating visual impact or a distinctive trade show strategy?
C4Real is always full of creative ideas and strategic knowledge. We have been creating impressive visual experiences for years. In addition to delivering visual content, we also consider the overall marketing strategy and what content is needed where.
We are your sparring partner for concept development, designing and producing visual and virtual content, interactive events, and a complete marketing strategy. Are you ready to see your most fantastic trade show stand ever come to life?