Brands are increasingly aware of the critical role trade shows play in modern B2B marketing. Yet, a large number of companies are unable to get the right ROI from their event marketing. Events are expensive and need a lot of planning to get the desired results. Marketers can often find themselves ill-equipped to tap the true potential B2B events offer.
The B2B event marketing landscape is changing with the fast expanding marketing technology ecosystem, and so is the way businesses manage their affairs during B2B events.
In this blog, we’re going to discuss six important traits that B2B marketing and sales teams should master to create maximum impact at B2B events.
The Ability To Plan Ahead
Everything starts with planning. Teams must plan well ahead of their event. It ideally starts with pre-event activities such as prospecting, event registrations, branding, messaging and positioning. Planning ahead always gives you an edge, for instance, if you have your list of registered attendees, you can start nurturing them, offering goodies and so on -- ensuring they are committed to visiting your booth on the day of the event. It’s always a great way to qualify prospects so you can focus on the leads that are more likely to convert.
The Ability To Focus On Relevant Audience
It makes little sense to try to meet everybody. There are going to be hundreds or thousands of attendees at an event, depending on the type and nature of the event. It’s imperative to focus on prospects that you feel are qualified. Positioning yourself well, and being visible on the event floor is key. It’s quite easy to get lost in the crowd at large conventions, being hidden away won't fetch you any leads. It helps to keep one of your marketing or sales reps positioned to keep an eye on the peripheries of your booth so they can see who is curious to visit your booth. Likewise, if they spot representatives of a logo you’d like to add to your client list, they can make the first move of trying to invite them in. Be receptive to everyone visiting your booth. Still, make sure you focus on the people that are most relevant.
The Ability To Focus On Generating Leads (At All Times)
The main goal of exhibiting at or attending an event is lead generation. And so the focus should always remain on capturing every single lead. Exchange business cards to make sure you have your prospects’ contact information. There are super useful tools, e.g., business card scanner apps like ScanBizCards that let you instantly capture contacts from business cards or conference badges just by clicking a photo. Save contacts of all the qualified people you meet, so you can follow up immediately after the event.
The Ability To Persuade
The goal of setting up a booth at an event is two-fold: creating brand awareness, and generating net new leads. Ultimately, effective branding will create a lasting impact on the prospects that visit your booth if you are exhibiting, or people you meet if you're attending. You can nurture them into qualified leads over time. Being persuasive can help to leave your brand’s impression in your prospect’s memory. You don't have to try to be too aggressive with your sales pitch, but be persuasive, ask questions and try to leave an impact so your prospects can open up to you.
The Ability To Organize
If you’re well organized, you can’t do much wrong. Being organized for an event requires a lot of planning and attention to detail, but once you get it right, managing things at the event becomes much easier. Organization starts from the pre-event stage, and things you do before the event have an impact on your performance at the event, and ultimately, on your post-event follow up campaigns. Keep your marketing collateral and product demos organized for presenting at your booth. Ensure you have reliable lead generation tools and your team is strategically positioned at your booth, welcoming visitors! It becomes so much easier to focus on making conversation when you have all your assets ready just like you need them to be.
The Ability To Multitask
You’ll never have enough people at your disposal to handle everything needed to present at an event. Travel, lodging, food -- events are high-cost affairs, and it’s always advisable to make the best of what you have, and that also includes human-skills. Training your event marketing or sales teams to be able to multitask goes a long way in optimal utilization of your available resources. You may have to handle different equipment, manage brochures, forms, iPads, demo your products and much more all at the same time. Multitasking skills will always come in handy.
To Conclude...
If you’re an event marketing leader or part of an event team, you can easily follow some of these event marketing ideas to maximize your event lead generation, and ultimately, your ROI. Events are a great platform to engage with prospects, clients and partners, all under one roof, and these traits, where interpersonal skills are imperative, can help you create maximum impact.
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