CONTACTS ARE THE NEW GOLD

Whether advertising budgets, planned events or trade fair appearances: The sales and marketing world has not spared Corona either. In recent weeks, countless companies have rescheduled, cancelled and tried out a lot. Those responsible have asked themselves numerous questions: How much cutback can my advertising budget take? How much potential would my trade fair appearance have in a completely digital version? How can generated leads become paying customers as efficiently as possible? The question marks will remain with us for some time to come. But already now we can be sure that post-corona leads will be worth much more than generated new customer contacts before the pandemic. We will tell you here how you can deal with them …

A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE

Trade fairs act as a driving force for the economy – before, during and after the pandemic. And Germany as a trade fair location is not only of great importance in terms of sales figures in a global comparison. The industry association AUMA assumes that in the last two years, around 180,000 exhibitors have courted the favour of around 10 million visitors annually. One does not have to be a prophet to predict that these figures will be lower in the near future. And we all know: When something becomes scarcer on the market, its value increases.

THE NEW GOLD

If fewer and fewer visitors can be expected at trade fairs in the future, every new customer contact acquired will become all the more important – we think almost like the popular precious metal. Now it is time to promote the popular “raw material” lead. But can this be done effectively? This is precisely where there are extensive possibilities for questioning existing processes and, if necessary, optimising them before the next upcoming trade fair appearance. We show you here how you can best proceed:

LIFTING DATA TREASURES AT YOUR OWN EXHIBITION STAND

Marketing and sales staff are familiar with this: “Should we exhibit at trade fairs at all?” is a question that is asked far too quickly, mostly by budget allocators. In the meantime, similarly precise figures can be generated from trade fair appearances as from digital campaigns. Resourceful marketers or their sales colleagues have the start and reason for a visit to the stand, contact details, discussion details and follow-up actions for individual contacts just as quickly at hand as precise insights into the total number of visitors to the stand.

And the tools for this are extremely easy to use. Individual leads are quickly qualified by scans, voice or electronic notes and with the right electronic means, the “Thank you for visiting us” newsletter is guaranteed to get out faster than the one of your competitor´s company. To cut long things short: there are real data treasures on your own stand ready to be unearthed. In future, these will not only help you to effectively optimise your own business processes. The next discussion about future trade fair budgets and the corresponding data will also take place under completely different circumstances.

ORGANISER: STRIVING FOR LONG-TERM BRAND LOYALTY

Let’s assume that you are organising any sports and leisure fair. A person in their early 20s visits this fair because they can get fashion items or sports equipment there before anyone else. The years go by and the person successfully completes his or her studies and makes a career. Fifteen years later, they have long since built up a close brand bond because of the positive experiences at the sports and leisure fair and countless interesting newsletters and social media posts. In the meantime, the role model is in a decision making position in a large company. And it is a particular concern of hers to close the decisive deals at her sports and leisure fair. This is why the outlined company has long become a regular exhibitor at the instigation of the former student.

Sounds too good to be true? We think that the scenario described can become reality if trade fair organisers now also use the time sensibly and ask the right questions: Do I record all visitors and their interests? Do I do this only at the entrance and exit or do I also want to know the exact frequency of visitors per hall? Do I have the right IT infrastructure in place to process the acquired data sensibly and effectively? And once the technical side has been clarified, is there a comprehensive data utilisation strategy?

MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN EVER BEFORE

Corona has already forced the world – just like the trade fair industry – to rethink. So why not take the current situation as an opportunity to bid farewell to old, entrenched processes? Right now is the time to learn how to use digital tools sensibly. So that you will soon be more successful than ever before.

Munich, 16. September 2020, © adventics GmbH