Simple additions to your marketing program help enhance visibility and increase revenue.
By Alex Yewdell
How do you ensure that an exhibitor will come back from one year to the next? The answer is simple: they have a successful show. Sure, there are a lot of factors and the formula for a successful tradeshow can be complicated. But with key additions to your advertising and marketing offerings, you can help set your exhibitors up for success and increase your advertising revenue. Win-win, right?
Below I will lay out simple additions to your advertising and marketing program that will help exhibitors enhance their visibility around your event and increase revenue for your group.
Pre-Meeting Marketing
- If you have an official publication, create a conference preview issue. Encourage your exhibitors to advertise with special discounted rates and highlight their presence at your meeting.
- Offer a for-purchase Pre-Show Mailing List that is made available to the participating exhibitors well in advance of your meeting. This allows interested exhibitors to reach attendees before the meeting to highlight their presence.
- Monetize your official conference website. Allow exhibitors to advertise on the conference website to connect with attendees as they search for registration information, look up the schedule or book their hotel rooms.
During the Event
- Sell onsite signage add-ons à la carte. From floor-graphics to standing signs, offering exhibitors the chance to purchase additional signage outside of sponsorship packages will strengthen your conference in a multitude of ways. First, you will increase overall revenue from your meeting as companies that may not be able to afford your traditional sponsorship offerings will now be able to spend a little a more to enhance their visibility. You will also increase revenue from sponsors, as many will be interested in spending a little more to further grow their brand onsite. On top of the additional revenue, you will create a more vibrant meeting as the additional signage will help fill the conference space and create an immersive experience for attendees and exhibitors.
- Widely promote the exhibitor raffles taking place in your exhibit hall. There is a good chance many of your exhibitors will want to host a raffle from their exhibit space. This tried and true exhibit hall tactic drives traffic to booths and gets attendees excited about the potential of returning home from the conference with a fun new gadget or gift card! By promoting the raffles taking place in the exhibit hall, you will spread the word on each exhibitors’ drawing, further drive booth traffic to support your exhibitors and promote engagement in the exhibit hall.
- Allow your exhibitors to host private events onsite during your conference. First, set some parameters and make sure that these events do not take place during scheduled events. When the meeting concludes for the day, you should allow your exhibitors to host parties and social events. This is the ultimate win-win: attendees have more to do while exhibitors have new ways to engage with your attendees in a different setting.
Post Show Marketing
- Offer a Post-Show Mailing List rental. Much like the Pre-Show list, a Post Show Mailing List allows exhibitors to reach EVERY attendee with a final thank you note after the meeting wraps up.
- If you have a publication, encourage exhibitors to advertise in the issue immediately following the conference. Offer reduced advertising rates for exhibitors and promote the idea of delivering one final message to attendees after they have returned home.
- Provide exhibitors with the opportunity to opt in on a wide spread digital advertising campaign following the conference. Create a custom package that utilizes your best digital avenues and provide a discounted rate, available only to your exhibitors.
- Encourage your exhibitors to share content outside of the meeting. Exhibitors will share their wealth of industry knowledge onsite—but often, after the tradeshow ends, so does the sharing of information. Let your exhibitors be labeled as thought leaders. Support and drive content from exhibitors in the form of whitepapers.
Many of these options are simple additions and require only a little bit of leg work on your end. But most importantly, nearly all will enhance your show, strengthen your exhibitors’ experience and help increase your advertising revenue.