You-know-what is putting many trade fairs on hold. A real setback for your company, as those fairs likely accounted for a significant percentage of your leads. What now? Don’t panic: there are several alternatives to put (part of) your trade fair budget to work. And we are certain that for some companies, these will even yield better returns…
First things first. This is not a plea against trade fairs. Certainly not. For certain companies, participating in one or more fairs is a logical part of their marketing mix. Because a trade fair is more than just capturing leads; it’s also about establishing professional contacts and networking.
But reality is what it is. As a company, you have to bridge this period in a different way. Here are some suggestions to make that different way a bit more concrete:
Online advertising is an umbrella term for various ways of advertising online: sponsoring your social posts, remarketing…
If you are already active in online advertising, now more than ever is the time to scrutinize your results. To analyze what works and to double down on that.
If you have little or no experience with this yet, now is the time to get acquainted and discover the various possibilities. Our blog Online advertising: up to speed with the basics in five minutes is a quick first introduction.
Orientation phase: shift to online
Online advertising is an accessible and logical solution for generating new leads in the short term. Logical, for two reasons.
One: because a trade fair visit often happens during the orientation phase of the customer journey. That orientation is increasingly shifting toward online.
Two: a trade fair attracts a very targeted audience. The Builder, The Family with Green Thumbs, The Second Home Seekers… With online advertising, you can translate that ideal visitor into a digital profile based on interests, age, profession, place of residence…
Another advantage: you can test and continuously optimize. For our clients, we set up different variants and then analyze after a while what works best. Until we find the ideal formula that maximizes the return on their advertising budget.
Where on your website do you capture your visitors’ data? Where do you invite them to leave their email address, phone number, and/or address details?
Of course, your website serves to inform… but it must also convert. It must turn your visitors into leads.
Shall we make that concrete? We’ll take our client and veranda builder Miniflat as an example. For them, in addition to classics like quote requests and contact forms, we built in three other conversion points:
Inform and convert
How about the conversion points on your website? Because that is a must if you want to turn your website into a lead machine in addition to a source of information. Not scoring well enough? Good news: you certainly don’t have to overhaul your entire website. A few extra pages can already make a world of difference.
This is an investment that will yield many leads in the long run. Especially in combination with online advertising. Online advertising drives traffic to your website, and your conversion points then turn those visitors into leads.
Collecting leads goes beyond the digital realm. Think of a compelling sales letter. A brochure you send out. A creative mailing, including a gadget. Here too, there are solutions tailored to every budget.
In case you were doubting: you can also target specifically with direct mailings. Bpost offers various formulas to reach new customers. Formulas that go beyond just the zip code.
Curious if this is the right approach for your company? And how you can make print measurable? You can read all about it in our blog Is the door-to-door flyer still at home?
The previous three solutions focused on new leads. But all those previous trade fairs must have yielded some address data by now. Right? Some leads went nowhere, others became customers. Hopefully, you have collected those customers in a database or can pull them from your CRM.
Work that list. Think about what you can offer those customers right now.
Installed a fireplace a year ago? Then now is the time to remind them it’s time for maintenance.
All those customers you delivered an expensive playhouse for in the garden? They might be interested in a lounge set now.
Those couples who bought a spacious but basic family car five years ago? They might have the budget now to go for something more luxurious.
Email marketing is a great solution here. It allows you to segment your customers and create a tailored offer per segment.
Hopefully, you’ve gained more insight into what your options are.
Perhaps you were already playing with the idea of doing something other than that one trade fair. Because I feel that for some companies, it’s a mandatory routine. An old habit. In a previous professional life, I spent several years visiting various construction fairs as an editor: Batibouw, BIS, Wonen, Bouwinnovatie, Bouw & Reno…
For some companies, that worked perfectly. Other exhibitors saw their participation as something they simply couldn’t avoid. Because the competitor was there, after all. If they’re not coming, neither am I! Or there was dissatisfaction with the quality of visitors. They’re just handing out free tickets here; too few people walking around with concrete plans. Or dissatisfaction with their spot in the hall. At the root of it all: doubts about whether their investment actually yielded sufficient returns.
Because of corona, it’s now a matter of having to. But I suspect that for those doubting exhibitors, this will be the moment they definitively reshuffle their marketing budgets. Because now you will have a concrete view of what works best.
Therefore, ask your marketing agency for transparency. Ask them to give you a clear view of how much one or more of the above trade fair alternatives will cost you. And what that has concretely yielded in leads.
That way, you can compare that investment with your trade fair participation. A price tag that always has four zeros: participation, stand, staff hours… And what all that brings you.
To finally create an optimal marketing mix based on those figures. With perhaps less or even more focus on trade fairs.
Need advice? Want to get started during these fair-less weeks and months? We are ready for you.