OUTSIDE-IN AND INSIDE-OUT THINKING FOR YOUR FACE TO FACE MARKETING
Map your customer journeys from the outside in.
Don’t start with your products and services — start with the outcome that your customers seek.
"Understanding the predominant problem that has brought your previous customers to your door – especially your best and most profitable customers – helps you recognize that motivation in others. Your pattern recognition for the people that comprise your best customers will improve dramatically. It also helps you create content that attracts more of those prospects."
Polls work great if you need to know more about your audience within the show/event deadline.
ALIGN CUSTOMER NEEDS WITH YOUR BRAND OFFERING
Start by understanding the customer experience ecosystem that your brand has created to serve your them, and then, connect this outside-in view of your customers to the business capabilities that you need to help your customers achieve their outcome. This requires the participation of the upper management team. Because, it requires the linking of business capability mapping to customer journey mapping. This exercise will help you formulate a set of goals that you need to architect for your next trade show exhibition.
HOW TO EXPAND YOUR OUTSIDE-IN THINKING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA AND PROMOTIONS
Start by ReLearning Your Audience
Know that your audience will look and behave differently on social networks.
This is because each social network:
Attracts a self-selecting subset of your audience — reason for social participants are different than a random cross-section of your target audience.
Inspires different behaviors and attitudes — each network has its own context and “feel” (for example, playfulness on Snapchat, or planning and browsing on Pinterest).
According to comScore — In addition to communication, social networks tend to skew toward entertainment
(Facebook, Snapchat); browsing and immersion (Instagram, Pinterest); and utility (Twitter, LinkedIn). These skews naturally point toward different parts of the marketing funnel: branding, consideration and action. Hence, if you are going to develop Social ads, keep in mind of being context-sensitive.
For example,
BMW was a pioneer of short-form “viral videos” in the late 1990s with its “BMW Films” series, and the company continues to create striking video campaigns. For the launch of the centennial model, BMW launched a series of 10 and 15 second short videos.
The brand selected Facebook and Instagram rather than Snapchat because of a better fit with its target. Studying how prospects used the networks, BMW created different ad approaches: Facebook with a two-second, high-energy opening sequence, and Instagram with a single striking initial impression or “hook.”
Design Your Campaign with an Impending Goal
The first step in setting up a campaign is to pick a goal.
To guide self-serve advertisers, for example, Facebook and Instagram lets you pick a specific goal such as “raise attendance at your event” or “send people to your website.”
Other common social advertising goals are, clicks to website, mobile app installs, video views and sign-ups.
As an exhibitor, you may want to design your campaign that will lead the visitors for specialized one-one-one product training or reviewing your product for a chance to win a raffle.
Goals matter more on social networks because campaigns are auto-optimized against the chosen KPI.
For example, Facebook penalizes ads for low or falling click-through rates. If the campaign doesn’t succeed against the defined goal, it will require higher bids and may not be seen much.
KEEP THE MOMENTUM OF YOUR EVENT GOING BY CHOOSING A GOAL THAT WILL ADD MORE FOLLOWERS
Equipment maker Ricoh is a B2B marketer campaign goal was to get IT professionals in a specific set of industries to become followers. It used LinkedIn’s role and industry-targeting capabilities to deliver sponsored posts and display ads. It's purpose was to expose the company’s ads and content over a longer period of time, as purchase cycles for many Ricoh products are long.
Over the course of the campaign, Ricoh gained 6,000 followers.
The first step in setting up a campaign is to pick a goal.
To guide self-serve advertisers, for example, Facebook and Instagram lets you pick a specific goal such as “raise attendance at your event” or “send people to your website.”
Other common social advertising goals are, clicks to website, mobile app installs, video views and sign-ups.
As an exhibitor, you may want to design your campaign that will lead the visitors for specialized one-one-one product training or reviewing your product for a chance to win a raffle.
Goals matter more on social networks because campaigns are auto-optimized against the chosen KPI.
For example, Facebook penalizes ads for low or falling click-through rates. If the campaign doesn’t succeed against the defined goal, it will require higher bids and may not be seen much.
KEEP THE MOMENTUM OF YOUR EVENT GOING BY CHOOSING A GOAL THAT WILL ADD MORE FOLLOWERS
Equipment maker Ricoh is a B2B marketer campaign goal was to get IT professionals in a specific set of industries to become followers. It used LinkedIn’s role and industry-targeting capabilities to deliver sponsored posts and display ads. It's purpose was to expose the company’s ads and content over a longer period of time, as purchase cycles for many Ricoh products are long.
Over the course of the campaign, Ricoh gained 6,000 followers.
While facing customer needs in the office market rapidly shifting from "possessing equipment" to "using it", and customer changing workstyle into digital communication at anytime and anywhere, Ricoh's integrated products, services and solutions includes network communication products, document management systems, IT services and production print solutions as such.
Laser Target your Audience for Your Social Campaigns
Some of the most successful campaigns make smart use of special targeting features, including:
Customer and Prospect Targeting: All the networks have introduced ways to directly target a list of customers and/or prospects (and lookalikes) by uploading a list of emails, phone numbers, social IDs, mobile app actions or website tags.
This highly targeted form of advertising is called Custom Audiences (Facebook), Tailored Audiences (Twitter) or Matched Audiences (LinkedIn). Clever way to get attention from these targeted audience is to set specific codes to different set of inquiries. Over time, you will get an impression on the topic that your audience is highly interested in.
Get that data and design your exhibit and your product presentation based on the imperatives of your audience interest.
Be active at social listening. Every day there are over 500 million Tweets, 4.5 billion Likes on Facebook, and 95 million photos and videos uploaded to Instagram.Know the likes and dislikes of the segment of prospects that you will be targeting at trade shows — who are these people, what are their concerns, can you possibly reach out and address those concerns even before they go the event — a positive way to introduce your brand.
Companies and Titles: B2B marketers are able to target employees of specific companies from segmented industries, and people with certain titles.
Competitive Trolling: Campaigns focused on competitive differentiation can target people who follow competitors (Twitter, LinkedIn); have liked their brand pages (Facebook, Instagram); or who are searching for them.
Second-screening: Reinforcing or drafting on news, sports and other events as they happen can improve campaign impact. For example, Twitter enables targeting against TV shows and sports events based on timing, user actions and posts.
Life events and circumstances: Some of the most interesting targeting options are related to a person’s social life. For example, social channel allow marketers to target movers, newlyweds, and people who are living away from their family or hometown, have a new job, or are in a long-distance relationship.
Some of the most successful campaigns make smart use of special targeting features, including:
Customer and Prospect Targeting: All the networks have introduced ways to directly target a list of customers and/or prospects (and lookalikes) by uploading a list of emails, phone numbers, social IDs, mobile app actions or website tags.
This highly targeted form of advertising is called Custom Audiences (Facebook), Tailored Audiences (Twitter) or Matched Audiences (LinkedIn). Clever way to get attention from these targeted audience is to set specific codes to different set of inquiries. Over time, you will get an impression on the topic that your audience is highly interested in.
Get that data and design your exhibit and your product presentation based on the imperatives of your audience interest.
Be active at social listening. Every day there are over 500 million Tweets, 4.5 billion Likes on Facebook, and 95 million photos and videos uploaded to Instagram.Know the likes and dislikes of the segment of prospects that you will be targeting at trade shows — who are these people, what are their concerns, can you possibly reach out and address those concerns even before they go the event — a positive way to introduce your brand.
Companies and Titles: B2B marketers are able to target employees of specific companies from segmented industries, and people with certain titles.
Competitive Trolling: Campaigns focused on competitive differentiation can target people who follow competitors (Twitter, LinkedIn); have liked their brand pages (Facebook, Instagram); or who are searching for them.
Second-screening: Reinforcing or drafting on news, sports and other events as they happen can improve campaign impact. For example, Twitter enables targeting against TV shows and sports events based on timing, user actions and posts.
Life events and circumstances: Some of the most interesting targeting options are related to a person’s social life. For example, social channel allow marketers to target movers, newlyweds, and people who are living away from their family or hometown, have a new job, or are in a long-distance relationship.
Design your Social Campaign Ads to be Social
Social networks are entertaining and functional, but above all, they are social.
They are built for sharing, commenting and reacting. Social advertising should be built to share and encourage reactions. How is this done? Tom Affinito, CMO of social ad and search platform Kenshoo, puts shareable ads into three categories:
Silly — Cadbury’s “Obey Your Mouth” Snapchat Lens campaign, which turned users’ heads into disco balls, is an example.
Sincere — British retailer Marks & Spencer gained positive attention for its Twitter video campaign “#LoveMrsClaus,” which featured a pensive snowy spouse.
Group adventures — Dutch airline KLM’s “Bonding Buffet” viral video campaign featured a group of travelers stranded at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Christmas Eve who share a meal together.
One good way to encourage sharing is by incorporating user-generated content (UGC) into your ad campaign Apple showcased images from users of its products for its ubiquitous “Shot on iPhone” campaign. Ben & Jerry’s invited customers to #captureeuphoria on Instagram, sharing random moments of delight.
Social networks are entertaining and functional, but above all, they are social.
They are built for sharing, commenting and reacting. Social advertising should be built to share and encourage reactions. How is this done? Tom Affinito, CMO of social ad and search platform Kenshoo, puts shareable ads into three categories:
Silly — Cadbury’s “Obey Your Mouth” Snapchat Lens campaign, which turned users’ heads into disco balls, is an example.
Sincere — British retailer Marks & Spencer gained positive attention for its Twitter video campaign “#LoveMrsClaus,” which featured a pensive snowy spouse.
Group adventures — Dutch airline KLM’s “Bonding Buffet” viral video campaign featured a group of travelers stranded at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Christmas Eve who share a meal together.
One good way to encourage sharing is by incorporating user-generated content (UGC) into your ad campaign Apple showcased images from users of its products for its ubiquitous “Shot on iPhone” campaign. Ben & Jerry’s invited customers to #captureeuphoria on Instagram, sharing random moments of delight.
Design your Social Campaign Ads to Match the Different Channel Tones
Instagram is the world’s biggest “look book,” requiring slick visuals.
Snapchat is whimsical and eschews obvious polish.
Facebook feels more “homey,” like a family album.
Capture gorgeous product shots for Instagram or Pinterest, whimsical 10-second snippets for a Snapchat sequential video, and functional shots for a Facebook Carousel ad.
That is if you want to play by the book.
If you are adventurous and want to blaze your creative path, on Instagram, you get the opportunity to be creative about the feeling and the perception of your brand, not just it's products and services.
On 2016, Instagram launched 'Instagram Stories' that disappear after 24 hours. ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT FEATURE — YOU CAN SEARCH STORIES BY LOCATION AND HASHTAG.
"You can bring your story to life in new ways with text and drawing tools. The photos and videos will disappear after 24 hours and won’t appear on your profile grid or in feed."
AND THIS COULD BE THE ONE SINGLE REASON THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO ADD INSTAGRAM IN THE MIX. Ofcourse, the fact that the stories features alone had around 200 million daily users in April, according to Instagram, compared to Snapchat’s 158 million is a big bonus.
How to Intermingle Instagram with your Exhibit Design — the fun, the goofs and the fabulous!
Instagram is the world’s biggest “look book,” requiring slick visuals.
Snapchat is whimsical and eschews obvious polish.
Facebook feels more “homey,” like a family album.
Capture gorgeous product shots for Instagram or Pinterest, whimsical 10-second snippets for a Snapchat sequential video, and functional shots for a Facebook Carousel ad.
That is if you want to play by the book.
If you are adventurous and want to blaze your creative path, on Instagram, you get the opportunity to be creative about the feeling and the perception of your brand, not just it's products and services.
On 2016, Instagram launched 'Instagram Stories' that disappear after 24 hours. ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT FEATURE — YOU CAN SEARCH STORIES BY LOCATION AND HASHTAG.
"You can bring your story to life in new ways with text and drawing tools. The photos and videos will disappear after 24 hours and won’t appear on your profile grid or in feed."
AND THIS COULD BE THE ONE SINGLE REASON THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO ADD INSTAGRAM IN THE MIX. Ofcourse, the fact that the stories features alone had around 200 million daily users in April, according to Instagram, compared to Snapchat’s 158 million is a big bonus.
How to Intermingle Instagram with your Exhibit Design — the fun, the goofs and the fabulous!
PROMOTING YOUR EVENTS AND TRADE SHOWS
#1 – LIST YOUR SHOW ON YOUR WEBSITE HOMEPAGE
This means you’ll need a place for dynamic content somewhere on your homepage; ideal locations are on a banner, badge or sidebar and always above the fold (in the area visible when you open a page without having to scroll down). Display with prominence your attendance on specific shows or a certain upcoming industry show. Doing this, will help capture customers and prospects who may have missed your direct marketing message, and, gives you the chance to capture interests of industry influencers and or interested parties that you weren’t even aware of.
#2 – ENSURE YOUR SITE SPEED IS ADEQUATE
This is important any time of year; not just before an event. Think about this: Google can return 500,000 search results in under half a second. Today’s internet users expect speed. In fact, according to Kissmetrics, 40% of users abandon a website that takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
This is important any time of year; not just before an event. Think about this: Google can return 500,000 search results in under half a second. Today’s internet users expect speed. In fact, according to Kissmetrics, 40% of users abandon a website that takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
#3 – PROMOTE YOUR EVENT ON A LANDING PAGE, YOUR BLOG AND YOUR COMPANY SOCIAL MEDIA CHANELS
Consider a blog when you simply want to inform your customers about the basics of the event: when, where, how to find you, what to expect when they stop by. If you want to kick it up a notch, consider creating a dedicated landing page for the event or trade show with multimedia and maybe even an on-page form as part of a pre-show contest.
Whatever kind of contest you run, make sure that the prize can be picked up only at your booth within a set time and date.
According to Simply Measured, a couple of examples worth exploring:
Create a campaign hashtag and come up with a cross-channel challenge publicized on Facebook and Instagram. Ask followers to upload their own Hyperlapse videos using your chosen hashtag to one of those two channels. Then, measure that hashtag and the activity around your accounts to see if you’re on the right track.
Consider a blog when you simply want to inform your customers about the basics of the event: when, where, how to find you, what to expect when they stop by. If you want to kick it up a notch, consider creating a dedicated landing page for the event or trade show with multimedia and maybe even an on-page form as part of a pre-show contest.
Whatever kind of contest you run, make sure that the prize can be picked up only at your booth within a set time and date.
According to Simply Measured, a couple of examples worth exploring:
Create a campaign hashtag and come up with a cross-channel challenge publicized on Facebook and Instagram. Ask followers to upload their own Hyperlapse videos using your chosen hashtag to one of those two channels. Then, measure that hashtag and the activity around your accounts to see if you’re on the right track.
#4 – INVITE CURRENT AND PROSPECTIVE CLIENTS
But use a different message! Set up two campaigns in your email marketing software and send different messages to current and prospective customers. In your message, be sure to include all the basics of the event plus a teaser about some sort of incentive or giveaway you have planned.
But use a different message! Set up two campaigns in your email marketing software and send different messages to current and prospective customers. In your message, be sure to include all the basics of the event plus a teaser about some sort of incentive or giveaway you have planned.
#5 – AS PART OF #3 OR #4, CONSIDER INCLUDING A PRE-QUALIFYING QUESTIONNAIRE WITH AN INCENTIVE TO ANSWER IT
This allows you to segment clients and prospects so that you are prepared with “what pitch” to use when you meet them at the show. This also saves you valuable time pre-qualifying visitors at the show.
#6 – HAVE PDF/DIGITAL VERSIONS OF YOUR MARKETING MATERIAL AVAILABLE
Back to preferences in our digital age, some show-goers get downright mad if you try to offer them (gasp!) printed material. While it’s true that plenty of people still prefer printed collateral, and the industry tends to influence this as well, having high-quality digital versions ensures everyone is happy. QR codes are an easy way to send prospects directly to your marketing material; you can even have multiple codes that go to specific documents to satisfy different types of inquiries. You can have large codes printed as part of your booth display, or print them on anything from a business card to a stress ball.
Back to preferences in our digital age, some show-goers get downright mad if you try to offer them (gasp!) printed material. While it’s true that plenty of people still prefer printed collateral, and the industry tends to influence this as well, having high-quality digital versions ensures everyone is happy. QR codes are an easy way to send prospects directly to your marketing material; you can even have multiple codes that go to specific documents to satisfy different types of inquiries. You can have large codes printed as part of your booth display, or print them on anything from a business card to a stress ball.
#7 – SEND A PERSONAL THANK YOU EMAIL POST-SHOW
This doesn’t require a lot of explanation other than the personal part. Take the time to recall your conversation with the customer or prospect and write a follow-up email that both thanks them and sets the stage for additional sales dialogue.
#8 – VIRTUAL POST-SHOW PRESENCE
During the show, you can Tweet or even Livestream from Facebook. Using social media is a valuable tool for alerting show attendees to what’s going on in your booth right then, and the media can be used to create a virtual post-show presence to post on your site or blog for people who missed the show. Additional media from your staff, such as them walking the show and interacting with visitors, can also be included in the round up.