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How to Incorporate Experiential Marketing at Your Trade Show

Trade shows are the perfect opportunity to use new marketing techniques to attract your prospective client base. Experiential marketing is the newest trend and emphasizes the holistic experience customers have with brands, not just moment-to-moment instances. This article will cover some tips for integrating experiential marketing at your trade shows to get the best return on your efforts.

Contact us today to discuss our trade show marketing by Oser Communications Group.

Experiential Marketing: The Basics

Experiential marketing, or ‘participation marketing,’ is a marketing approach that focuses on creating a unique experience with your brand. Engagement marketing is especially potent for trade shows because your booth provides opportunities for event-based marketing and interaction with prospects one-on-one, providing hands-on brand experiences of your products and services. Successful organizations understand how to best leverage their assets to create memorable experiences for their prospects.

Integrating Experiential Marketing Into Your Trade Shows

Below are some expert tips on how to integrate experiential marketing into your trade shows.

Identify Audience

The first step with any marketing effort is identifying your target audience. Casting your net too wide wastes marketing resources when a more focused approach has better returns. You need to thoroughly segment your prospective clients so you understand their unique desires and needs. That way, you can tailor your experience specifically for them.

Focus on Brand Story

Experiential marketing is so useful because it can translate a brand’s identity through storytelling. Storytelling is powerful as it gives your brand a sense of place and identity, differentiating it from others. Connecting with customers through storytelling is how you build a personal and emotional connection with prospects. Your company’s story is a constitutive element of its identity, and you should lean into that element with your marketing materials.

Messaging Consistency

Brands operate marketing through multiple mediums, so it is important that the different channels complement one another and express consistent messaging across marketing formats. One way to think about it is that your various marketing mediums should feed and flow into one another. This can be achieved through simple concrete design elements, such as texts, fonts, and colors, or through more abstract elements like themes and visual imagery.

Don’t Forget Social Media

Social media is one of the greatest tools for immersive marketing experiences, as it allows for a level of personalized engagement that other marketing mediums lack. Social media not only allows you to connect with your customers but allows customers to connect with one another, sharing their experiences with your brand and their stories. This allows the formation of a vibrant and engaged community under your brand, creating more interactive brand activations.

Trade Show Marketing

Getting the right prospective clients is all about crafting the right kind of trade show invitation. If you would like to discuss your experiential marketing efforts for trade shows or want to discuss marketing strategy, contact Oser Communications Group online or call today at (520) 721-1300 to schedule a consultation session!

Understanding Customer Life Cycle in Trade Show Marketing

Traditional marketing efforts focus on defining the customer experience lifecycle through the marketing funnel—i.e., the steps that guide a potential customer into becoming a loyal paying customer. However, people’s consumer relationships are more complex now, signaling a need for a new understanding of the customer life cycle.

This new life cycle emphasizes how consumers engage with brands in a continuous and cyclical manner, going from exploring to buying to engaging back to exploring. Read on to learn more about this paradigm shift in client lifecycle management.

Send a message today to discuss trade show marketing by Oser Communications Group!

Trade Show Customer Life Cycle Stages

This understanding of the customer life cycle can be broken into four distinct customer journey stages that feed into each other:

  • Discovery

  • Exploration

  • Purchase

  • Engagement

Successful organizations are ones that pursue their best prospects to maximize returns, so your marketing scheme should focus on cultivating their journey through the customer lifecycle phases.

Discovery

Trade shows are all about discovery, with hundreds of potential customers walking past your booth. Trade show visitors are there for a specific purpose, so you need to tailor your presence to meet their objectives and goals. The key to attracting attention isn’t just grabbing whoever walks by. Pinpointing your best prospects helps identify your brand and differentiate yourself from the competition, making them more likely to engage in discovery with your products or services.

Exploration

Trade shows are the perfect opportunity to give potential prospects a means to explore your offerings. This can be in the form of brochures, video presentations, and, the best option in our opinion, hands-on demonstrations. At the very least, your marketing spiel should contain an overview of your product, why it fits their needs, and how the product reflects your unique brand identity. This step of the consumer lifecycle process leads to purchasing.

Purchase

The next step of the customer life cycle is moving them to make a purchase. Your trade show booth can contain a private section for one-on-one customer sales. The trick to getting sales at a trade show is to work your prospective clients beforehand through things such as digital marketing, email blasts, and even direct mail advertisers. However, you should never be pushy about sales. All you need to do is sufficiently demonstrate how your product solves their problems and let the marketing do the rest.

Engagement

Engagement is a continual process that diffuses into the entire marketing life cycle—it doesn’t stop after they make a purchase. Engagement can take many forms, such as post-sale follow-ups and customer nurturing through loyalty efforts. Engagement should lead to more customer discovery, which starts the marketing cycle over again.

Your No. 1 Source of Trade Advertising

Companies rely on their marketing for creating a lasting impact and boosting their online presence. Contact Oser Communications Group online or call today at (520) 721-1300 if you have any more questions about the customer life cycle or lifecycle marketing strategies for trade show advertising!

Are Trade Shows Considered Advertising?

Business leaders looking to drum up new leads can greatly benefit from showcasing their products and services at an industry-wide trade show. One question that tends to leave corporate executives torn is, “Are trade shows considered advertising or a sales-centric event?” Learn how you can take part in a successful trade show with helpful tips from Oser Communications Group, a team that specializes in trade show marketing

Trade Shows Reach Your Target Audience

A major reason why experts view trade shows as advertising material is because they often focus on a niche audience. Whether it be industry peers or potential clients looking for your products and services, every trade show has a unique group of attendees. It’s your responsibility to cater to that audience and make sure you advertise the show to them. 

For example, if your target audience is young tech entrepreneurs, use social media and technology forums that those entrepreneurs are likely to frequent. Spread the message that you’ll be showcasing your brand at an industry trade show and that it will benefit them to attend. 

You Meet with Prospective Clients Face-to-Face

How are trade shows considered advertising rather than sales-focused? A successful show satisfies both of these areas. Both regional and international trade shows bring together professionals who all share the same goal. 

Getting your company’s name out there and meeting one-on-one with prospective clients is one of the most effective forms of advertising. You can introduce your business to those in attendance with an interactive demonstration highlighting your goods or services. The sole purpose of these demonstrations is to connect with potential clients and generate leads. 

Trade Shows Enhance Traditional Advertising Methods

All of the standard and modern forms of advertising remain a staple when you’re gearing up for an industry trade show. The following marketing techniques play a crucial role in letting your audience know that you’ll be at an upcoming event:

  • Pay-per-click ads
  • Social media
  • Print media
  • Television and radio ads

Think of these forms of marketing as the opening act. You’ll need to use them to get the word out about your appearance at a future trade show. This helps establish your brand and also lets your target audience know how they can benefit from attending the event. 

Once the trade show happens, it will serve as an extended form of advertising. The main difference is that meeting with attendees makes for a more interactive and personalized approach. 

Prepare for Your Upcoming Trade Show with Professional Marketing Experts

Not only are trade shows considered advertising, but they also require the proper marketing strategy before they even take place. The experts at Oser Communications Group can take the lead when it comes to your advertising strategy so you can have a successful show. We’ll teach you how to qualify leads, create eye-catching trade show invitations, and much more. 

Give Oser Communications Group a call at (520) 721-1300 to learn more about our services and how we’ll help you prepare for an upcoming trade show.