As an exhibitor, uncontrollable factors such as audience, schedule, and format can mean the difference between memorable conversations and cursory glances across the exhibition hall. This event season, take control of your exhibitor experience and utilize inbound marketing to make the most of your investment.

Creating and promoting awesome content before, during, and after you exhibit at an event gives you the opportunity to join the conversation, generate interest, and increase the likelihood that event attendees will visit your booth.

Here are three types of inbound marketing content that will help you make the most of your tradeshow exhibition.

Downloadable content

Downloadable content (eBooks, whitepapers, etc.) allows you to share your expertise with event attendees and enhance brand recognition.

Those who find your content before and during the event will gain understanding of your company and your solutions. As a result, you will be top of mind with event attendees, and they will be more likely to visit your booth and initiate a conversation.

Post-event, downloadable content will help you nurture leads that you generated during the exhibit, but weren’t quite sales-ready. It’s appropriate to send these leads emails or connect with them on social media after the event, so use these avenues to personally recommend content that’s relevant to them.

Offers that will bring prospects to your booth

Go beyond the simple, “Come see us!” to generate interest and give prospects a reason to visit your booth. You can drive prospects to your exhibit with a little forethought, strategic offers, and optimized landing pages.

Develop offers for attendees to schedule one-on-one consultations during exhibition times, view a demo of your product, or pick up their copy of a limited-quantity report. Create landing pages for each offer so they can tell you who they are and schedule appointments.

Setting a personal appointment will make prospects more likely to follow through, and will allow your team to do some research prior to meeting them. It also eliminates the chances that your prospect will stop by the booth while you are engaged in another conversation.

Social media content

After you’ve created awesome content and offers, promote them on social media to maximize their impact. Remember to take advantage of the event’s social media pages, groups, and hashtags. Attendees follow these forums to learn about the event, so using them gives you a rare opportunity to deliver highly-targeted social media messaging.

Also, make a point of contributing to discussions that are relevant to your business. If an attendee poses a question that falls into your area of expertise, your response will set your company apart from the competition while also introducing you to the prospect.

Lastly, stay active on social media throughout the duration of the event. You are sharing an experience with your prospects, and there’s no better way to make connections than getting social.

Takeaway

Before you exhibit at a tradeshow, think about how an inbound marketing strategy can maximize your company’s presence. Publish downloadable content, create strategic offers, and maximize your social media usage, and you will begin your next event with new connections and invaluable brand awareness.