According to Exhibit Surveys Inc.’s annual Trade Show Trends report, 84 percent of exhibition attendees make or recommend final purchasing decisions at their companies. Therefore, failing to promote an organization’s event attendance effectively can factor to a colossal missed opportunity.

To maximize your event marketing and exhibition ROI, we’ve put together 3 essential tips you should implement when exhibiting at an industry event.

1. Creative CTAs Stimulate Interest

Calls-to-action (CTA) are integral to the success of all campaigns. A well-written and strategically placed CTA will convert site visitors to event attendees, and cold leads to prospects.

Use CTAs that speak directly to your audience and address their business needs or any hurdles that hinder conversion. Your messaging must clearly communicate the value your audience will receive by taking the action you are proposing.

Some Common Event CTAs are:

·      Register for our webinar

·      Sign up for a free demo!

·      Get our event-exclusive whitepaper here

·      Join us for our presentation

·      Come see us for a free trial of our product

In your initial contact, asking prospects to schedule a meeting with your event representatives will likely overwhelm them. Alternatively, multiple CTAs will take your audience through a series of effortless commitments – leading them further down the conversion funnel.

Your CTAs should:

·      Provide social proof

·      Offer instant gratification

·      Evoke curiosity

·      Leverage an urge to belong to something

·      Use “strategic cliffhangers”

2. Bidding on Trade Show Keywords is Imperative

Bidding on trade show keywords is a highly effective way to reach information-seeking, event attendees. Targeting event-related keywords can bolster booth traffic, help secure meetings, and generate new leads and prospects.

Types of keywords you should bid on include:

·      Branded keywords

·      Event-related keywords

·      Up-the-funnel industry keywords

Utilize these keywords to appear prominently in search results before and during the event. Experiment with the positioning of your ads to reduce the cost-per-bid and determine traffic and conversion-generation positions.

You can also employ AdWords' 'customer match' feature to reconnect with prospects you’ve previously contacted or those who have expressed interest in your brand, which can drastically increase ad conversion rates.

3. Advertising on Contextually Relevant Websites Drives Engagement

Promote your event presence by creating display banners on relevant websites. News, trade organization and industry-influencer websites are some of the best channels for effective banner placement.

Effective event-related display ads emphasize the value of the product or service the company is promoting – including information about the event itself, a value proposition and a CTA that encourages banner-clicks.

To capture additional leads, include promotional elements in your banner, such as a free demo or access to event-specific gated content available to your audience if they sign up. Additionally, create a custom email signature banner – promoting your event attendance and sharing contact information – for your teams to include in their emails.

Reap the Benefits

These three trade show tricks will build your organization a meaningful presence at exhibitions and ensure high ROI through guaranteeing high-quality meetings with your sales team PRIOR to the event start.