Ok, so you’ve stood at an exhibition, welcomed lots of keen visitors onto your stand, provided them with goodness knows how many pounds’ worth of free giveaways and advice. In return you’ve received promises they’ll contact you next week, to place that all important order.
What could possibly go wrong!
It doesn’t usually work out that way, that’s what can go wrong!
It’s the reason many exhibitors are left out of pocket and deflated, they receive promises from dream customers, only to be let down. So, it’s now our job as exhibitors to keep that interest alive and healthy and push the sales all the way to the finish line.
I think it goes without saying that once the exhibition is over, it’s time for the all-important follow up.
However, you would be amazed at how rarely this follow-up happens. Most exhibitors know how important it is, but once the show is over, they are not only exhausted, but have a mountain of work awaiting them in the office, so the follow-up only gets completed by around 30% of the exhibitors!
Out of that 30% it is estimated that at least half of those follow-ups have barely any thought put into them, so they fail to deliver. Therefore, only around 15% of those exhibitors follow up on those all-important exhibition generated leads!
So how do you go about creating an effective follow-up campaign?
If you do some research on Google, around 95% of results tell you to follow up by email. This is good, but if everyone follows up in the same way it rather dilutes it.
We’re not saying don’t follow up by email, in fact it’s our no. 1 recommendation, but how you construct those emails is very important, and it’s also very important to build in a sequence of emails to essentially follow up the follow-up, in order to keep the prospect alive and front of mind for as long as possible.
1) The emailer follow-ups
Create at least two lists, the first being those golden opportunities that presented themselves at the show. Send them personalised emails from your own work email, not from an emailer template. The second list usually holds all the other visitors to the stand, usually far too many to send personalised emails too, so build a friendly and non-salesy emailer to follow up with those. Ironically it’s often a contact or two in that second list that turns out to be the real gem, so make sure it’s good.
2) Automated emailer sequence
Create a batch of useful and well written emailers that will be sent to that list on a regular basis. As it is automated, it will never be missed no matter how busy you become with other tasks. Make those emailers very attractive and useful to the recipient though, they don’t want to hear about your news, they want important and useful insights that they can use in their business.
3) Remarketing
Wherever possible, direct the email recipient to a super useful and interesting page on your website, then add Google remarketing to this page so that your visitors will start to see your adverts on other websites! It keeps you front of mind and makes you seem even bigger and more popular than they realised.
4) The greeting card trick
The emailers listed above are a fast and effective way to follow up on the visit to your stand, but what else can you do to really stand out?
One method we often use is a handwritten card. This will be noticed by the recipient as it’s unlikely your competitors will go so far out of their way to say thank you and stay in touch!
*INSIGHT – Not only does a greeting card set you apart, but it turns into a 3D reminder as they put it up on their desk. It’s your way to claim your very own piece of real estate on their office!
5) A webinar
Invite your stand visitors to a webinar on your product or service within a couple of weeks of the exhibition. It’s amazing how often this one strategy alone can push people over that final hurdle to becoming your next customer! It’s so easy!
6) The phone call
We have mixed feelings about this one as it can be a bit invasive and catch people at a bad time. But, in some industries an early phone call can win the contract!
What else can you do to keep their interest?
Here’s a list of other cool engagement ideas to follow your initial contact:
- Write a post about the event you attended, reporting on the show highlights, then send out a link to each of your contacts. Back this up with Google remarketing so they see your ads around the internet.
- Invite them to follow your social platforms if you actively update them.
- Tag key prospects into relevant social posts.
- Send them a personalised invite to connect via LinkedIn.
- Let them be the first to know of any new and relevant services or products.
- Send them video links or flyers of case studies and demos.
- Invite them to the next exhibition you attend.
- Send Christmas cards.
- Email out links to relevant pages and features of your website.
- Utilise Lead Forensics (or similar) to work out the right time to contact a potential client.
- Single out your list with targeted ads
- Remarketing via Google. Get your ads showing up all over the internet!
- Where applicable ask if you can call in to their place of work to drop in a brochure or maybe a sample. This gets some valuable one-to-one time with the prospect.
Trade shows can be tough going. Before you know it they’re over and you’re left trying to work out if it was worth it.
We can help you keep the momentum going! Get in touch, we have so many more ideas we’re excited and happy to share with you.
You can call us on 01455 561561 or get in touch online now.
Want a bit of extra reading? Why not check out one of our Case Studies?
