With digitisation accelerating in businesses around the world, the events industry has not been left behind. Technology has changed the way in which participants are engaging and interacting at exhibitions and events.
By NOMATHEMBA NDLOVU
Add to that the global trend of shrinking marketing budgets, chief marketing officers (CMOs) being called upon to justify their spend and demonstrate return on investment (ROI) on money spent on exhibitions, then small wonder that exhibitors are now demanding more! They want, inter alia:
l To be connected to more customers
l To expand beyond their stand
l Economical avenues for additional marketing exposure
The exhibitions industry has risen to the challenge of re-inventing the exhibition experience by investing in data and technology to drive profitability and ROI for participants while simultaneously delivering a frictionless customer experience. A few of the benefits presented by this digital revolution are:
Enhanced brand visibility
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By following a few simple steps to manage your digital company profile, adding stand personnel profiles, and uploading collateral, you can support your brand presence at the show.
Generate high quality leads
Through the use of the technological services on offer, you can now create promotional offers that are targeted and delivered to highly-qualified attendees. Digital tools such as event apps allow you to define your audience and not just generate additional traffic to your stand, but the right kind of traffic.
Retrieve leads with zero-effort
As more and more events go green, exhibitors can now eliminate clunky hardware and mounds of printed material. By embracing mobile, you can engage in unlimited lead scanning, access to leads anytime and immediate lead qualification — all at the touch of a screen.
Trackable metrics
Arguably the biggest benefit of digital to trade show participation is that it gives marketers the ability to track performance against targets, obtain feedback and make adjustments to their exhibition strategy. You can even quantify the number of visitors interested in your targeted offer, even if they never visited your stand!
Digital is no longer the future of events, but it is the now! If you are serious about realising a positive return on exhibition investment, then you should not just be using the digital tools supplied by your exhibition host, but you should be demanding more. Some of the tools to look out for when planning your next participation are:
Event apps
The biggest and most widely-used event digital tool is the mobile app as it not only allows participants to plan their exhibition experience better, but it also allows them to share it.
A few megabytes of data and you have up-to-date information at your fingertips, including last-minute changes and announcements. There is no longer any need to carry a printed programme as push notifications and alerts are great ways to remind you about events you tagged, or to share important announcements and news.
The event app is also the greatest thing to happen to sufferers of fear-of-missing-out (fomo) as it enables you to share your experience with others at the event and those not attending via social media integrated with the app. Live and/or on-demand streaming can allow those who can’t attend in person the ability to experience the event too.
A classic example is the Zimbabwe International Tradefair 2017 international business conference which was live-streamed on the organisers’ YouTube channel and shared via the event app. Marketers can also utilise event apps to go beyond the confines of their standby advertising on the app to reach a broader audience.
Gamefication
One of the latest tools being used by exhibition organisers is the use of game-like elements embedded on the mobile app to attract more uses and improve engagement, participation, learning and networking during the show. “Players” are rewarded for fulfilling assigned tasks such as updating profiles, uploading collateral, scanning exhibitors and attendees QR Codes, scheduling meetings, posting to social networks, visiting certain stands etc.
The results are openly available to view on the game leaderboard and competitors can engage in some friendly competition. Savvy marketers are now partnering with exhibition organisers to use the games to drive traffic to their stand as one of the points-generating functions can be to collect a password from Exhibitor X. A good example of this is “Mine Hunter”, the event app game for Mine Entra 2017.
Match-making and meeting scheduling
Online meeting scheduling and matchmaking may be incorporated into the event app or run as a separate system. Basically, the system allows participants to optimise their business-matching opportunities and ensure successful meetings that lead to concrete business projects by scheduling meetings with carefully-targeted and qualified contacts.
The system displays mutually available meeting times for each delegate, with a simple click-to-request function. You can then email meeting requests, confirmations and declines to other participants. All parties fully control their availability for each time slot which reduces the number of unproductive sessions and “no shows”.
Lead retrieval and management
When the show is over and the last case is packed, there are only two things you have to show for time you spent at an exhibition:
l Your orders
l Your leads
Through the use of automated lead retrieval systems such as bar code/ QR code scanners, mobile app scanners and pokens, you can quickly and easily generate lead lists.
These can be held for use after the event or be immediately used to prepare and send follow-up emails, direct mail pieces, and other forms of communication to those leads. Done correctly, no enquiry is lost and all qualified leads are pursued by the sales team.
Given that the CMO council research estimates that 40-80% of leads generated by the typical marketing department fall through the cracks because sales people and channel partners lose or ignore leads, this attribute of digital event services is a major boon for all astute marketers.
If the exhibition/event in which you are participating in does not support your strategy by providing these tools, then shouldn’t you be thinking about moving to one that does?
l Nomathemba Ndlovu is the general manager of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Company from July 2013. She started her career as a management trainee at Edgars and rose through the ranks to head the marketing department as well as the loyalty programme, The Club.
The young and vibrant strategist once headed the Group and Public Relations of the Red Star Holdings, shortly after the company listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. She holds a BComm and Msc Degree majoring in Marketing. She was also accorded the Marketing Practitioner status by the Marketers Association Zimbabwe in 2012 and 2012 Megafest Female Manager of the Year.
*This article was contributed on behalf the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe, a leading body of marketing professionals promoting professionalism to the highest standards for the benefit of the industry and the economy at large. For any further information kindly contact [email protected] or visit the website on www.maz.co.zw
