The Best B2B Tradeshow & Conference Marketing Tips, <Before / During / After>

“Joe, what is the best way to network at a tradeshow and get the maximum ROI from our investment?” 

This is a question I often get asked from clients and here is what I say to them: 

Trade show marketing is very powerful. People are at the tradeshow or conference to do business, to network, and to get educated. It's the perfect place to generate qualified leads if your ideal prospects are going to the tradeshow. 

The problem I see with many people, who exhibit at tradeshows, is that they lack a proper plan to know how to maximize their return on investment. 

Maybe they have a great booth from a company like Gilbert Displays, and they stand out with amazing marketing material from Cox Printers. What else can you possibly do to generate qualified leads and maximize your experience?

Here are a few ideas that will help you be able to take your tradeshow marketing to a whole new level. 

First, realize that there are three stages to tradeshow marketing. There are the BEFORE, DURING and AFTER stages. Let's break each one down separately. 

Before the Tradeshow Marketing & Networking Ideas

• Create a list of Vendors that are going to be exhibiting and contact the owners of the companies letting them know that you will be there, too. See if they are up for a quick networking call to see if your target markets align and you can do some joint marketing exercises to help each other before the show. 
• Connect with those vendors on LinkedIn and send them a message letting them know that you are excited to be exhibiting alongside them in the same conference. 
• Contact the tradeshow organizers and see if you can do an educational webinar for the registrants before the show even begins. This might be a nice offering to engage people that plan on coming virtually before you meet them in person. 
• Buy a list of attendees from last year's show and email them letting them know that you will be exhibiting this year and you hope they can come to stop by your booth. People usually attend shows year after year, especially in close knit industries. 
• Try to get a call going with all the exhibitors before the show and do a quick training informing them of these marketing strategies. 
• Make sure that you thought up a nice way of engaging people during the show and order the supplies way before the show happens. Some props take a while to order so prepare early so that you can really stand out. 
• Create a Google Ad targeting people looking for information on that specific tradeshow. It's a very inexpensive way to get all the Google traffic for that specific tradeshow to your landing page and get leads in your marketing funnel. 
• Have a hashtag prepared for the show that you can let people know to use along side the tag that the tradeshow uses. Make sure that it's branded with your company and give out prizes to people who use the tag during the show. Print something out like a selfie wall for people to use in their photos and include your hashtag on the selfie wall. 
• Send out an email newsletter to your entire list, letting them know that you will be exhibiting and invite them to join you at the tradeshow. 
• Invite all your relevant Linkedin Connections to come and join you at the show. Most people will not be able to join you but it's a good invitation that will help you stay top of mind with many people that you need to network with in your industry. People love getting invited, and even if they decline, you built good karma.
• Find a performer that will be at your booth entertaining people. A magician or juggler is really not expensive and it can add so much to your brand at a show. Some people have had mind readers, acrobats, musicians and other talented folks. 
• Make sure you arrange to have a photographer or video person that you bring along to capture your journey way before the day of the conference. 
• Update your social media letting people know that you will be going to the conference and what booth you will be at. Use the right hashtags so everyone going will find you and want to engage with your brand both at the show and online. 

During the Trade Show Marketing & Networking Ideas

• The best thing you can do at the show is NOT collect EVERYONE'S card. Instead make sure you qualify people that come by your booth and collect only the RIGHT PEOPLE’S contact information. You can get a list of everyone that attended or everyone that registered for a fee, you don't need that right now. At the show you need to know who you MUST Follow up with. This is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do at a tradeshow. The fortune is in the follow up and most people will never follow up. This is your advantage. Follow up like a champ and you will see a massive ROI. 
• Have a script that you use and train everyone to use the same script for when people ask you what you do, for the objections people have for way to qualify people by asking them the right questions. 
• Have a form that qualified leads fill out with key information to make sure that the information that you get is consistent and complete. When possible, schedule a follow up meeting during the show so people that are qualified have time to speak to you after the show already setup. 
• For those people who are not qualified, offer to enter them into your marketing funnel by text or by email. Capture their email and send them an email with something educational. 
• Take photos with the people who come to your booth, especially if you plan on following up with them. The best way to get someone's cell is to take a photo and offer to text the photo to them. They will give you their cell on the spot.
• Post Instagram stories about you being at the show, post on twitter with the right hashtags, post on LinkedIn with the right hashtags and go on Facebook live a few times from the show interviewing prospects and other vendors.  
• Take photos of everyone's booth so you can send them the photo later - the vendors will really appreciate that. Do this specifically with the vendors that are most likely to have the same target market with you, but do not compete directly with your company. 

After The Trade Show Marketing & Networking Ideas

• Once the show is over, make time to properly follow up with each person that stopped by your booth, inviting them to a follow up meeting with you. Do not wait a week to follow up, do it as soon as possible or even prepare templates in advance so you fire off the emails quickly. 
• Post photos and videos on all the social media platforms telling people how great it was to be at the show. Tag your prospects and other vendors that were at the show with you and use the proper hashtags. 
• Ask the event organizers if you can do a follow up webinar or virtual education piece for the attendees of the show after the show is over as extra value. 
• Connect with all the people you met at the show on LinkedIn and Facebook. Send them messages thanking them for meeting with you and remind them about your meeting by sending them the photo you took with them. 
• Create a recap of the educational content that was taught at the event and send it out to the people that attended the show as well as to all the vendors, People really appreciate cheat sheets and summaries of valuable education in their industry. 
• Keep following up with all attendees via email telling them to stay in touch. This is a great reason to keep emailing people and also let them know that you are excited about next year's tradeshow. 
• Share the interviews you did on Facebook live on your social media and email them out to the attendees for them to enjoy! 
• Email the other exhibitors the photos you took of their booth with you and them and ask them if you can setup a call to see how the show went. During the call to see if there are ways that you can create joint venture marketing initiatives that go out to the same target market. 

I am sure that you may have lots of other ideas for things that you can do to take your tradeshow marketing experience to the next level. Please take a moment to leave a comment with your ideas below and if you got some value from this article, please share it with your network so other people can read and enjoy it. 

Joe Apfelbaum

Ajax Union, B2B Marketing Agency

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