How Inbound Marketing Draws People to Your Trade Show

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Most businesses think of trade shows as opportunities to find new customers and clients. Others think of them as opportunities to showcase their brand and become one of their industry’s leaders.

Savvy marketers, however, know that trade shows are more than just opportunities for direct marketing and branding. Using inbound marketing, trade shows can be an excellent source of growth prospects from your existing customer and user base.

These five techniques from Display Wizard are designed to help small businesses and enterprises capitalise on inbound marketing for effective trade show results.

1.    Let prospects know where and when your company can be found

Important trade shows can often attract hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of attendees. Inbound marketing makes it easy to let your customers and prospects know where you are, when you’ll be around, and exactly how to find you.

2.    Focus on warm prospects, not cold leads and difficult sales targets

Outbound marketing is all about closing tough prospects – people that, while good for business, can take a lot of work to convert into customers. Inbound marketing, on the other hand, lets you focus on marketing to existing customers and warmer prospects for a far better success rate.

3.    Market to your existing customers before an event using email

Email marketing is an excellent tool for alerting your customers to upcoming trade shows and industry events. Offer exclusive discounts and offers to customers that visit you at a trade show for a significant boost to your sales team’s results.

You can also use email marketing to work out which trade shows are worth it, and which aren’t. Poll your existing customers about their favourite trade shows to get an insider’s understanding of your best marketing opportunities.

4.    Capitalise on your social media audience for special promotions

Trade show promotions can be hugely effective when marketed properly. Use your company’s Facebook page or email database to alert customers and clients to trade show events, and offer special prizes for customers that can retweet your message or bring new prospects to the event with them.

5.    Start marketing early and build anticipation for your customers

Great marketing is all about suspense. Instead of surprising customers with a last-minute announcement that you’ll be attending a trade show, use your network to hint at your exhibit for the weeks – or even months – leading up to the event.

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By releasing snippets of your promotions and snapshots of your booth, you’ll build anticipation amongst customers and prospects, giving them a reason to visit your booth as soon as the show begins.