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An essential part of a successful event are certainly the exhibitors. But how can you attract the right ones? The Pre-event marketing is the solution!
Organizing a trade fair event is a complex process made up of many phases. One of these is to identify the exhibitors and speakers who will participate. It is a fundamental phase, especially if we consider the key role of exhibitors in attracting participants (and sponsors) and, therefore, in generating turnover for the fair.
Let's therefore try to identify the pre-event marketing activities to carry out to attract the right exhibitors for your fair, your conference, or any activity you have in the pipeline.
Analyze the audience and identify exhibitors
To attract the right exhibitors, it is first essential to identify your target audience and understand their expectations of the event experience. So, if you haven't already done so, invest in an in-depth industry analysis to study your audience and identify buyer personas, or – if you're organizing a recurring event – analyze historical data.
This first step is crucial to tailoring the event to your audience's needs and desires, ensuring maximum engagement and event success.
Then you can start looking for potential exhibitors: do market research, read lists of exhibitors who have participated in similar events or past editions of your event, study their websites and social channels.
Analyze potential exhibitors and identify:
- theirs target: is it in line with that of your event?
- i products and services that they offer: are they in line with the theme of the fair and with the expectations of the participants?
- past experiences: Have they already participated in similar events? What was their impact?
- budget and other requirements: do they, for example, have logistical requirements such as space requirements or set-up requirements?
So, use this phase of pre-event marketing to study the exhibitors and make an initial selection of those who seem to be most suitable for your event.
Prepare an irresistible value proposition
Identifying the right exhibitors is not enough, it is essential to develop a value proposition and an attractive communication strategy, which explain to potential exhibitors the value of participating in your event. After all, the goal of pre-event marketing is to attract the best exhibitors to our event, not just identify them.
Get in touch with pre-event marketing
The first point of contact between you – the event organizer – and potential exhibitors will usually be an email or event landing page; for this reason it is essential that we both have a good design but, above all, that they contain the right information.
So, considering the information exhibitors need before deciding whether to invest in a trade show presence or not, include:
- what display packages could you offer,
- pitches, documents and success stories from past editions,
- call-to-action to get more information or register,
- other details, such as the complete program of the event, any speakers already confirmed, etc.
Provide additional information
Sometimes the information contained in an email or on the landing page of your website is not always enough to convince potential exhibitors to participate in your event, they may in fact need further information and it is essential that you provide it to them. But what is this information?
- Data on the number of participants expected and their characteristics: Provide as detailed data as possible on expected attendees, so that exhibitors can predict how many of them are within their target audience and how many actually have the ability to make purchasing decisions
- Expected ROI and opportunities of the event: use market data or historical data (obviously if present) to provide a realistic forecast of the expected ROI and indicate what activities they could carry out (sales, networking, lead generation etc.)
- Cost: with the inflation and increase in costs that characterize recent years, this aspect becomes very important in exhibitors' decisions to participate or not in an event; therefore clearly indicates the costs that the exhibitor will have to bear and creates packages at different price levels, to attract exhibitors with various budget ranges
Communicate clearly and transparently from the beginning to build a relationship of trust with potential exhibitors and foster solid, long-lasting relationships.
Maintain open and constant communication throughout the pre-event period: send updates and useful information and answer all the questions that exhibitors ask you, to avoid any misunderstandings.
Offer valuable experiences
However, providing information and data on participants, costs, expected ROI etc. is not enough to have an irresistible value proposition and a successful pre-event marketing strategy. What really matters is the extensive experience that you create and transmit to exhibitors, in particular: does the environment of your event actively promote the achievement of exhibitors' objectives? If the answer is yes, everyone will want to attend your event.
Don't know how to create the ideal environment? Here are some things to work on:
- Program of the event: if your event other than the trade fair aspect includes speakers or other activities, make sure the program supports the exhibitors; for example, avoid scheduling high-profile speakers during trade show hours.
- Networking and training: Provide exhibitors with opportunities for networking or training. You could use an event app like Letz Fair to encourage networking, thanks to the AI-based matchmaking system it will be easier to create valuable connections and it will be possible to fill empty moments in the program of both exhibitors and participants.
- Increases the visibility of exhibitors: Offer exhibitors opportunities to stand out; create premium exhibitor or additional sponsorship packages on your event app or website, and other benefits.
- Use an event app: LetzFair offers an all-in-one platform packed with the features which will allow exhibitors to create their own virtual stand in which to insert information and documents, communicate with participants via private chats, obtain real-time feedback thanks to the ability to create quizzes and surveys and much more.
Clearly conveying the benefits and opportunities exhibitors can expect from attending your event is critical to having a successful pre-event marketing strategy.
Monitor and optimize
Track the most important metrics – such as the number of responses to event invitations and the number of exhibitor registrations – and collect feedback on your pre-event marketing activities to evaluate their effectiveness; use this information to improve your future marketing tactics and increase the level of exhibitor engagement.
One way to measure the level of satisfaction of exhibitors is the NPS, or Net Promoter Score, which answers the question: “From 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend a product, service or company to a friend or colleague?”. Read this article to find out what it is.
Conclusion
In summary, using the pre-event marketing you will be able to attract exhibitors and - consequently - generate interest with your target audience, to have a successful event.
Developing a convincing value proposition and clearly communicating the benefits for exhibitors is essential to having an effective strategy; but don't forget the analysis phase, which will allow you to identify any points of improvement for the future.
Contact us to better understand how Letzfair can support you in your pre-event marketing activities and more!
