The newest in an occasional column on bringing products to market in emerging technologies, by industry marketing expert Amy T. Wiegand: Go-to-Market Propeller. The deep dive on how decision makers maximize trade show ROI: from selecting the appropriate events to post show follow up.
Within the rapidly evolving world of drone technology, tradeshows are pivotal events for networking, brand exposure, and business growth. Nonetheless, the success of tradeshows depends upon strategic decision-making, efficient budgeting, and effective planning. We’ll explore how decision-makers can extract maximum return on investment (ROI) from their tradeshow spend, covering the whole lot from selecting laser-targeted events to preparing for attendance.
Plan Ahead
Maximizing ROI starts with planning ahead. Most tradeshows sell their prime spots a yr out or more. Start planning one yr to 6 months ahead to assist save costs related to planning. This planning allowance will leave your team time to optimize your strategy, prepare the obligatory initiatives, and even order items at early bird prices – saving you money. Planning only a brief distance from the event may cause a rise in cost with items like storage and rush fees. Be mindful of speaker submissions and other tradeshow deadline cut-offs.
For those who hire an event planning team, hire them a minimum of six months prior. Also, realize your overall cost may increase when hiring a contractor, yet an authority planning team will know the way to save on overall cost and maximize your tradeshow goals and outcomes.
Plan a Participant’s Strategy
T & E is where we are able to break the bank. Everyone desires to go to the show, yet to maximise ROI, we should have a transparent participant strategy. Start by aligning the attending teams along with your organization’s business goals, objectives, and KPIs so that you just realize faster and greater tradeshow success. Pending your tradeshow objectives, the attendee teams should be a strategic selection and comprise the superstars and brand ambassadors from sales, marketing, tech, product, regulatory, recruiting, and customer success.
Understand Tradeshow Objectives
To maximise ROI, attend tradeshows that align along with your goal audiences and business objectives. Then, create a tradeshow objectives strategy to find out your organization’s needed final result at each event.
- Ensure alignment on business goals and objectives, after which tradeshow objectives.
- Determine a participant strategy based on tradeshow objectives.
Segment Your Audiences & Evaluate Attendee Profiles
Before understanding our tradeshow objectives, we must prioritize our business objectives, identifying short-term and long-term goals. Review the attendee profiles at potential tradeshows—segment by industries and direct customers, alliances, partnerships, investors, recruits, industry experts, etc. Plan your tradeshow objectives in line with the audience and business objectives.
Tradeshow Objectives
Select a tradeshow objective technique to maximize ROI in your team. Not all returns will probably be monetary, yet each objective show relevant gains so as to add value to your attendance. Take a look at the 21 tradeshow objectives below:
- : Increase brand visibility and recognition inside your goal industry.
- : Analyze competitor offerings and methods to refine your corporation approach.
- : Collect feedback from existing and potential customers to enhance services or products.
- : Strengthen relationships with existing clients and reinforce their loyalty to your brand.
- : Successfully reveal your services or products to showcase their capabilities.
- : Educate attendees about your technology, products, or industry trends.
- : Explore opportunities for international expansion by connecting with global industry players.
- : Attract potential investors or funding by showcasing your organization’s potential and growth prospects.
- : Generate a selected variety of qualified results in expand your customer base.
- : Gather insights about market trends, competitor products, and customer preferences.
- : Attract attention from industry media to realize coverage and exposure.
- : Construct and strengthen relationships with industry professionals, potential clients, and partners.
- : Discover and establish partnerships with other businesses for mutual profit.
- : Set objectives for post-event follow-up activities, corresponding to sending thank-you emails, scheduling meetings, or delivering promised materials.
- : Launch a brand new services or products and create buzz around its features and advantages
- : Source potential talent in your organization through networking and engagement.
- : Close on-site deals or secure commitments for future business opportunities.
- : Boost social media engagement and followership by promoting your tradeshow presence.
- : Position your organization as a thought leader through speaking engagements, panel discussions, or presentations.
- : Provide training sessions or workshops to coach attendees on industry best practices.
Maximize ROI as an Exhibitor
As an exhibitor, concentrate on turning your tradeshow presence into tangible and non-tangible returns. Track as much as possible for post-show review.
- Spend money on prime booth locations with high foot traffic. Strategic booth visibility greatly influences attendee engagement. Send invitations to go to your booth to tradeshow targets pre-show with a map and booth number. Mention an incentive to stop by, as well. While email invites are okay, email is less affected than it was once. Send a handwritten note to key targets via FedEx. Then, follow up with a call.
- Submit thought leaders to talk at keynotes, panels, and workshops. Post videos or media coverage post-event. Speaker submissions are due months upfront, so planning the tradeshow strategy must coincide with speaking engagements and messaging to create integrated value.
- Ensure the appropriate team members are working the booth. This is vital to maximizing value. Be a stickler on this.
- Create a tradeshow playbook for team participants to align everyone on the tradeshow objectives and plan. Include a script to align the team with initiating conversations with common talking points from business and tradeshow objectives. Meet before the ground opens to unify the team.
- Train booth staff on the way to showcase product demos confidently. Everyone within the booth must know the way to demo the product, or only those who do should work the demo.
- Leverage social media platforms to create pre-event buzz, showcase influencer marketing or brand activation ops, and share live updates. Use event hashtags to widen your reach. Encourage your team to share social posts for max exposure. Create a team contest for probably the most engagement – likes, reshares, etc.
- Organize side events corresponding to workshops, meet-n-greets, presentations, or pleased hours. Invite your targeted customers, partners, investors, etc. Keep costs minimal by meeting within the lobby and social areas at show hotels and the tradeshow center (where allowed). Pay attention to the quiet times and vacant spaces to maximise time well spent along with your guests at no charge!
- Only spend on giveaways that maximize your brand’s value post-tradeshow. Turn attendees into brand ambassadors with giveaways contributing to referrals or broad brand awareness.
- Use lead-gathering devices that help organize leads for simple import into your CRM. Promptly follow up with leads gathered through the event. Share additional resources, schedule follow-up calls, conduct surveys, and nurture relationships established on the tradeshow.
- Announce product launches or strategic PR so your PR is just not in the combo of a whole lot of announcements through the tradeshow.
Lora Burns, Marketing Manager with Business UAV Expo, states, “Maximizing time at events is one of the crucial pivotal facets of strategic marketing. If you will have a booth, try incorporating engaging or hands-on activities, hosting giveaways to draw leads, and leveraging pre-event social media promotion. For those who are an attendee, ensure that you will have a game plan. Intentional participation in networking activities is crucial. Be proactive in your approach. Make a yearly “Call for Speakers” calendar to amplify organizational visibility and position yourself as an influential thought leader throughout the industry. Although the upfront costs related to events could seem substantial, the potential impact of creating only one good connection or a couple of contracts can return tenfold in ROI for years to return.”
Prepare as an Attendee
Attendee preparation is just as crucial should you’re attending a tradeshow as an exhibitor.
- Discover key exhibitors you must visit. Prioritize those aligned with your corporation goals and industry interests.
- Plan to examine out the critical competition.
- Craft concise yet compelling elevator pitches for introducing yourself and discussing your organization. Be able to articulate your value proposition clearly.
- Review the event schedule and plan your agenda. Attend relevant keynotes, panel discussions, and networking events.
- Set a schedule to satisfy targeted in-market prospects you realize will probably be on the show. Even when just for a fast meet-n-greet. Schedule it to maximise your time value.
- Ensure you will have ample business cards or a digital business card to share. This traditional networking tool stays effective for quick and efficient information exchange.
- Dress in skilled attire that aligns with the industry norms. Represent your brand, too. In case your brand reflects wearing three-piece suits, wear three-piece suits. In case your brand represents casual, be brand casual, yet remember a cultured appearance can positively impact first impressions.
Create Budgets
Efficient budgeting is critical to taking advantage of tradeshow investments. Have an annual budget and a per-show budget. Track all line items, goals, KPIs, and outcomes for historical purposes and annual decision-making. Extracting max value out of every tradeshow means:
- Understanding your overall business goals and the way they impact your tradeshow objectives.
- Aligning with financial leadership to guage and align on expectations and outcomes. What are the tangible ROI goals? What are the non-tangible goals? E.g., lead generation, brand visibility, recruitment, partnership opportunities, etc.
- Prioritizing tradeshow investments based in your ROI goals.
Plan for Optimal Outcomes
Strategic planning is the backbone of a successful tradeshow experience. Clearly define what success looks like for every tradeshow, and know your objectives, whether or not they’re brand awareness, a selected variety of leads, recruitment, partnerships, exercising mass product demonstrations, signed contracts, or a focused mix. Hire event pros, and refrain from attempting to stay this job on a novice. You’ll find yourself spending more cash and getting less return. Yet, one of the best investment is ensuring seamless communication inside your team. Each team participant should understand their role and the way it contributes to achieving overall objectives.
NUAIR’s Director of Marketing, Megan Crout, stated, “I’ve been supported by teams that offer me the flexibility to align business objectives with proactive, strategic marketing plans. This enables me to hone in on ROI and create programs of value.”
While Megan is recent in her role with NUAIR, she is just not recent to marketing within the emerging technology ecosystem. She was asked to create an ROI plan for a $40,000 total conference spend. And he or she did. Events are notorious for having a repute as cost-sucking initiatives without the flexibility to attribute ROI. Yet, they don’t should be. She and the sales team met to align before the event to plan for customer acquisition, tighten talk tracks, and more; she then had only the essential team attend the event, saving on expenses. She divided and scheduled them to work the booth on the event equitably. When not managing the booth, each sales rep in attendance was held accountable for booking five meetings with in-market opportunities while on the conference. That took team effort and planning. Yet, this plan gained her team $500,000 in closed-woncontracts inside a couple of months post-event. And, “Voila,” Megan’s common sense approach to team alignment, proactive planning, and accountability created an ROI for her organization.
Within the dynamic landscape of drone technology, tradeshows provide invaluable opportunities for growth, collaboration, and visibility. By strategically selecting events, budgeting effectively, maximizing exhibitor strategies, planning meticulously, and preparing as an attendee, decision-makers can unlock the complete potential of their tradeshow investments. Embrace a holistic approach to tradeshow participation, and watch your ROI soar on this exciting and progressive industry.
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