Tips for Quality Trade Show Lead Generation

Tips for Quality Trade Show Lead Generation

Attending trade shows are a great opportunity to network and advertise a new product to the public. Yet, it can be very difficult to measure the success of a trade show display without pre-established goals to track.

One of the biggest reasons B2B marketers attend trade shows is to gather leads for their business. Trade show lead generation strategies will revolve around more traditional outreach, such as quick elevator pitches to attendees and pen and paper email signup forms. While these tactics may not be sophisticated, your lead generation strategy can be.

Between the use of digital booth displays and social media promotion throughout the conference, your business can meticulously track and nurture leads through your sales funnel to increase your sales, word-of-mouth advertising, or e-newsletter signups. If you are really struggling to do this by yourself then you could take a look at something like this insurance agency sales team to help you improve and grow your business quicker.

You could also just leverage these trade show ideas to acquire high quality leads at your next trade show.

Set Up KPIs and Goals

The first step is to actually understand what you’re tracking. Are you seeking to acquire a few highly qualified leads for a B2B partnership opportunity or are you looking to reach every customer available. Obviously, your lead generation tactics will differ among these approaches and so will your lead vetting process.

Set up lead generation targets that you will aid in your follow up. This includes email signup forms, order placements, or even acquiring business cards from other businesses your sales team can use to contact after the show.

Invest in data collection apps and software. From quick mobile surveys at your booth to automated email form integration, these apps will provide you with analytics tools that provide you with lead counts and lead scoring solutions. Compare these against the total number of attendees and segment leads based on their willingness to commit to your company.

Promote Your Booth Before the Show

If you want to gather more leads and foot traffic at your next conference, build awareness for your booth before the show. Create a landing page and advertisements with a countdown clock that will unveil and livestream your booth/presentation at your next trade show. Provide helpful information about your business that will filter through clients and customers who are most interested in your display.

Some other strategies include:

• Sending social media alerts to people interested or attending your show
• Hosting pre-show webinars to build awareness around your product or revolutionary service
• Writing blog posts about upcoming trade shows and then following up with photos and content collected at the show to provide a recap

Keep Messaging Consistent

Following this last sentiment, it’s crucial to keep your messaging consistent so that you can acquire the right leads. Depending on your business model, it’s far more cost-effective and profitable to center your business offerings and trade show messaging on the people who are most likely to purchase from your business.

Consider asking clients from a previous trade show on feedback to acquire insight on which strategies appealed most to your leads. From signage to your video display, make sure that all messaging is consistent and clear so that people readily understand and remember what it is your business actually offers.

Make Visuals a Priority

Handing out brochures and leveraging your sales staff to sell to clients face-to-face is a good start, but there’s only so much manpower you have at your disposal. The key to any good lead generation strategy is nurturing leads. Trade shows offer the unique opportunity to nurture leads through video content, powerpoint displays, and keynote speeches that seek to offer prescriptions for underserved needs.

The key to effective trade show lead capture is to keep people engaged and present at your booth. The longer they interact with you, the more likely they are to remember your brand in the future.

Stay Online During the Show

Again, you only have so much labor at your disposal to entertain trade show attendees and reach people in person. Leverage social media channels and email marketing to alert customers about potential sales opportunities, video presentations, giveaways, or contests being held at your booth.

There’s many ways to communicate with people during a trade show and this doesn’t solely involve being at the booth. Use your CRM and contact management system to keep people up-to-date on developments as they occur live at your booth and follow up with courteous thank you emails and reach outs.

Give Away Free Swag and Merchandise

Ask any trade show contractor and they’ll swear by the importance of swag. In terms of trade show lead generation, free merchandise, that people actually keep, will keep your brand top-of-mind following a show and increase word-of-mouth marketing around your brand.

Here’s the catch though, give away swag only after they’ve signed up for your email list or filled out a survey. This way there’s obvious incentive, and good swag is irresistable.

Commit to Follow Up

Finally, commit to follow up and post trade show outreach strategies. The key here is to build relationships among potential clients. Educate them about the benefits of your products and keep in regular contact until they commit.

You can start this process immediately. Consider conducting some hotel drops, such as hosting your own party or giving out free swag to everybody as they leave the hotel.

Conclusion

If acquiring high quality leads at trade shows is your main focus, your strategy doesn’t need to be costly. It just requires a commitment to following up and keeping customers engaged at your booth.