Expobo: Norwegian digital/virtual events solution available for clients in Asia

Newsletter 16

The Baltics-Nordics-Asia Business Bulletin, BNABB, this time highlights a cutting-edge virtual/hybrid events platform and digital marketplace from Norway called Expobo (powered by Netfair), now being promoted in Asia. Expobo is just the kind of technology businesses will need (and be able to utilise with great benefit) going forward, for their sales and marketing efforts (supporting omnichannel sales) to adapt in line with structural changes. Here is how to achieve that key part as the world of business and shopping is increasingly moving online!?

Not only has the traditional events market been disrupted, but there is (not least in Asia) a surge in online commerce and live streaming as tools for selling as well. So businesses are adapting to a new and also fast-changing media-, sales- and marketing landscape, in their efforts to reach their prospects and customers.

Key questions for most are: How to conduct sales going forward? How to reach prospects and customers? How can we hold trade shows? And how can these efforts improve by using digital tools and be cost-efficient?

As we know, Covid-19 regulations enforced by governments currently prevent lots of physical events to be held, and physically attended, as was previously the case. The main solution is to go hybrid, which means a mix of physical and virtual events, where some can partake on site while others can join digitally. This enables organisations to continue their engagement with prospects and customers even when they cannot meet face to face. It of course also requires organisers and users getting accustomed to new ways of conducting sales-driven meetings and events. And it puts up new requirements and sets in motion new opportunities that blend the benefits of live events and digital.

All the while, the realisation is taking hold that virtual marketing/sales can really be a game-changer for improved trade shows and events, contributing to regained and better business. And as a tool to achieve this Expobo is a strong contender.

Virtual marketplaces/trade shows are worthwhile and in general cost-effective alternatives, as complement to physical exhibitions. Virtual/hybrid trade shows can offer enhanced ways to reach prospects and also generate more customers than previously was the case. With the power to connect people from around the world with increased flexibility and measurable results, virtual/hybrid is gaining momentum.

Designed to meet those needs Expobo’s Virtual Trade Show/marketplace (based on the successful and proven job expo platform jobexpo.com from Norway) functions like a social platform, designed for trade shows and digital sales-oriented events within any sector.?

Expobo also brings the marketplace effect (same as a cluster of many business booths inside large events and trade shows) to the virtual trade show market: It allows any business/group the ability to create virtual events and build communities to connect buyers and sellers.

And specifically it brings a much more complete system to the market; as noted in the provider’s benchmarking: “Our advantage is the LinkedIn social media look and feel, that each booth has web shop capability and comes with video chat/chat request options. Also the ‘Design your own booth’ feature stands out,” begins English-Swede Alexander Parry (whose Thai company Silicon Venture represents Expobo for the Asian markets.

Expobo is designed as a highly competitive digital event platform/marketplace and where your corporate design/branding is also of key importance. It is ideally suited to be used for virtual events/trade shows, conferences with exhibitions, virtual road shows/sales tours and B2B/B2C sales activities or be such a component in hybrid event

“It’s a combination between a platform and social network that makes it very unique and that can simultaneously handle a large number of users thanks to the service structure and enterprise level technology behind it.”

It aims to be a game-changer for the way digital events/trade fairs are conducted, where the fundamental goal at least for Expobo is to allow for the same type of interaction that is available at traditional trade shows – focused on the selling. It can also boost this interaction further.

“It’s important to note that Expobo is built up as a social network which allows multiple businesses to connect with visitors/customers at the same time and that they can have multiple users behind each business. And with Expobo in the virtual world, compared to a webinar, which is just a presentation, you can have an event with multiple salespersons simultaneously. And the one visiting the booth can have a direct one-on-one relationship with such a representative and learn about the products and the services,” explains Alexander and adds: “So it’s very important to understand that you can have multiple staff serving many people simultaneously.”

“At a physical event selling requires having lots of sales staff for one-on-one meetings as you often have quite a lot of people visiting to your booth. And you must have your payment solution if selling vouchers, and communication technology etc. You have the same thinking at Expobo, that multiple guests can visit simultaneously, you have a link button for transactions when needed, and multiple sales staff with own user logins. There’s also a queue system so that visitors can wait and then talk via chat or video call. In essence you get exactly the same as in a physical event, to promote and sell products or services!”?

Also, Expobo’s high-capacity and flawless virtual trade show technology ensures that event organisers do not need to be concerned about web capacity versus users.

“If an organiser wants be a presenter too they can use Expobo’s ‘auditorium’ webinar feature or Teams, Zoom etc. and integrated at the same time and place.?You can then benefit from and bring more value and monetise by having a unique design etc. So you can ask yourself: ‘Do I only want to arrange webinars or do I want to have the ability to do events as well?’”?

And as further improvement of business relationships, prospects can be found strategically. Based on requiring enough details in the profiles every participating stakeholder can search for and find prospects/other persons one would like to interact with, compared to randomised encounters in a physical event.

“As an individual business buying into an expo I can get access to all the visitors digitally and connect with them since they are all registered, which is far from the case in a physical tradeshow, where I might not know who is attending. Therefore I can digitally connect with them. So what Expobo has is a social networking feature,” Alexander continues.

Netfair has also added additional functionality in Expobo to support this. A pretty smart feature implemented based on customer feedback is that the exhibitor can now actually see who is looking at the booth at any given time and can then invite that visitor – same as one would do in a physical trade show scenario.

Another feature is that a visitor can via peer-to-peer video go to a booth and chat live. It also enables having meetings between more than two people. Virtual meetings can thus easily be scheduled on booth-level!

Beyond this, an exhibitor can also use the cell phone video camera to log in and showcase and do an audiovisual tour around the booth and perhaps its products.?

An exhibitor can also host a group video chat, for example to do a live presentation for select attendants/leads. And the booth owner will be able to see who all the visitors to the booth were – regardless if any dialogue took place or not.?

“A differentiation from physical is that in the digital event you can get much more information about your visitors and everything can be tracked. And when someone comes to the booth digitally they are already registered in the system via Expobo. If they in a physical event enter and visit your booth and leave without talking to someone then you still do not have their details. Then you have a missed opportunity. That will not happen in a digital Expobo booth,” he continues.

“When comparing the pros and cons in the physical world versus the virtual the benefit in the latter is that your visitors have already signed up with their profile. They may walk away from your booth without a conversation, but there is already a connection where it is easy to for instance just tap a button and send a message, thanking them individually for attending the event and stopping by, as starting point for follow-up marketing. You build your database of event visitors, while in the physical world you won’t have good tracking of the prospects like this.”

Expobo also enables extending the event, with the booth staying open for a certain time and continuing the conversation by uploading relevant information and content, like a social profile. For next time one can send an event invitation or a deal offer to the previous visitors. As marketplace capacity this means that opportunity is there to turn an annual brand event into a 365-day suite of products for the particular industry, or B2C community

“And the booth can of course be reused for the next event. So you can avoid redesigns and different practicalities etc. that you have in the physical world. In the digital you do it once and can reuse later on.”

Expobo enables that you can replicate very close to your design from a physical event to make it very genuine and streamlined with you brand. And should there be no suitable preset design in Expobo you can have either a custom-branded event or booth.

“Very few virtual platforms are able to completely replicate physical trade shows and make it look and feel impressive, while including analytical tools to improve leads engagement. Expobo ticks all the boxes and does just that,” states Alexander and summarises: “The most important features most others don’t have are the abilities to: have a two-way communication between several people in the same booth at the same time, be able to keep in touch with those users post-event, and reuse that event in the future. And aside Expobo there are limited solutions that can have the booth designed precisely to the look and feel of the brand.”

With it, you can also build better business relationships because in a physical world you cannot capture everyone that visits your booth, while in digital you actually can.

“What is more – and something that might be obvious but that is worth pointing out – is that it can be open not only to local/domestic attendants but also to those from other parts of the world, and from different online traffic sources - and that can be tracked.”

A key bonus is that the virtual component constitutes a new opportunity for businesses that have lacked the infrastructure and sales team to join physical events, either due to cost, size or location.?

With a platform like this it will also be easier for businesses to remotely reach their clients and to attend a branded group event virtually. They can also join last minute with much less advance planning required. For example, a business group can invite its distribution network to its very own trade show. Hybrid will then also be a popular scenario. Picture this: you want to hold a sales event and invite retailers/distributors in your network. Then they can then choose whether to attend remotely via a digital booth or on site.

And in the case a business is an organiser it can charge the event booth presenters and the visitors, Alexander points out. “If the organiser can market the event to a large audience maybe it will pay for the booths and resell those to the other participating businesses but still charge also for visitors to come in. Then one can earn money double if having enough popularity.”

“Expobo facilitates Software as a Service so that businesses can attract customers in a virtual world. Expobo focuses a lot on offering an opportunity to be found online simultaneously as having a physical event. I think that is the number one selling point. If one wishes to have a digital event only it can also be a good solution for businesses that already have its own following. “

He also highlights that currently businesses are often not able to organise physical events at all. “So you can start with organising a digital event and still arrange it as hybrid, should you be able to do a physical at the same time.”

For virtual needs, Expobo provides exactly the same opportunity as physical but at a much lower cost because if you rent the space in the physical world you have to pre-book, pay the deposit and get a guarantee. With Expobo you can say: ‘I want to book an event with 100 booths’. And if you sell only fifty booths you pay only for the 50.

“The bottom line is that thanks to lower buy-in via virtual you will have much faster ROI. You’ll need fewer sales for it to pay off. Thus, also small companies suddenly get an opportunity to have the same competitive edge as larger companies.”

“We are much committed to helping organisers to get started with Expobo’s digital events/marketplace platform. We have several no-risk options (allowing organisers to find exhibitors before launching their first trade show) for anyone who wants to create a virtual event,” says Alexander.

“And should you have a unique concept idea that you want to explore Expobo will be happy to collaborate and see how we can help you as an organiser or business to leverage your online events.”

Businesses who need can also be supported with content and marketing services, supplied via Netfair and Silicon Venture.

Commenting on any long-lasting impact from Covid-19 the Asia-representative believes: “One thing is for sure that for the coming years we will live with some trend of physical caution where people will be more concern than before to attend physical events. This is not to say we won’t have any such events but it means that maybe less people are keen to travel for these events and will opt more for the local ones. With Expobo you will be able to fill that void and reach the people that otherwise wouldn’t come and travel, internationally or by car domestically.

Clients of Expobo.com in 2021 are Aqua Nor, Nor Fishing and corporations such as COOP, Bygg Reís Deg, NAV, YARA, Equinor, Telenor.

For additional info on Expobo for Business and in what ways virtual trade shows and marketplaces can be utilised and what features you should be looking for - see also this two-part feature:

Increase business sales with virtual events and marketplace

What your virtual marketplace platform should deliver for improved business

For Expo info/features details and queries contact: [email protected]

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