As a B2B marketer, I’m pretty sure that you know the importance of showing up at a B2B trade show. Such events are considered ideal to meet your potential clients all in one place. Therefore, adding trade shows in your B2B marketing plan is often a great way to meet and greet your target prospects.
There are numerous ways to market your brand and inform the world that you are about to attend an upcoming B2B trade show. Take a look at the best ones in order of costs from the least to most expensive.
1. BECOME A SPEAKER IN THE B2B EVENT
Showcase your authority in the B2B event by becoming the speaker or host of the B2B trade show. However, that doesn’t mean that you can only speak about your brand and get away with it. As the speaker, you have to be neutral. Guide the audience by informing them about all businesses there. In addition, while introducing yourself, you are welcome to give a brief introduction to your business as well.
One great way of promoting your B2B platform or booth at the trade show is by inviting one of your prospects to share their story. The authenticity of the story will definitely help you gain a presence in the event.
2. SIMPLY ATTEND
If you aren’t in any mood to make efforts in promoting your brand, you’ll generate many leads by merely attending and setting up a booth. Thousands of visitors come to the event, so there are strong chances that if you’ve got your booth at an excellent location and made it look attractive than many people will step up to your stall.
Though event organizers charge money for booths, you can always speak with them for negotiations, or you can even request them to let you set up for free in return for a favor. For example, in return for a free booth, you can offer them to promote their event by writing blogs or merely using social media networks. – Believe me, it works!
3. PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS THROUGH DIFFERENT MEDIA CHANNELS
If you are ready to spend a few bucks, then there are many ways to market your online B2B portal during, before, or even after the event. If there is any trade show website, directory, or even magazine, you can feature your brand on it by paying the publishers or organizers.
On the other hand, you can also hand out fliers at specific locations locally or place an ad in the newspapers to inform your target audience that you’ll be at the event. These techniques are excellent lead generators as they’ll invite many future clients to come especially for your brand at the B2B trade show.
4. BECOME A SPONSOR
Though this may sound like an expensive technique, there are ways to still get in under your budget. If you are a sponsor, it’s pretty apparent that you’ll get special privileges. Therefore, instead of setting up a boost to share your contact details, you can do all that on the website, event page, or magazine of the B2B trade show.
In addition, you should also visit the event and meet business personals to share your expertise with them. You can physically visit your target buyers’ stalls as well for their contact details. Once you have the details, it’s up to your sales team to make calls or emails to them to convert them into leads. That apparently gives you two unique ways of generating leads. It also means that your cost of sponsoring the event will surely be covered.
THE BOTTOM LINE…
B2B trade shows are great for an international B2B marketplace to make a statement and garner lead. However, the drawback is that many competitors and businesses are also present at every event. In order to become the real winner, you have to make efforts to lure your target audience towards your booth. Or, you can use other techniques merely to promote your brand in the name of the event. The strategies mentioned above are exceptional in all ways. Feel free to try any or all of them according to your budget.
