Think Outside the B2B Trade Show Booth
Here’s a quick B2B case study outlining how we helped our client turn another trip to a trade show into an opportunity to generate leads by integrating outbound tactics with their inbound marketing program.
SITUATION
Our client invested in a booth at an industry trade show and wanted to generate leads while promoting their presence at the show.
STRATEGY
- Promote before, during and after the show. As a standard course of action, our approach is to promote the client before, during and after the trade show. Each point on the timeline offers another opportunity to get in front of their audience with a slightly altered message, and each impression increases the likelihood the prospect will engage.
- Expand our reach to non-attendees. Additionally, we want to expand our reach beyond the registered attendees and look for ways to involve those who are not attending. While tradeshow attendance continues to show signs of improvement, it’s still safe to assume many of your top influencers and decision-makers are not going to make the trip. Why not reach out to them, too?
- Check our resources. What assets do we have available to us and how can we leverage them to the fullest? Are there any lists available (in-house, pre-registered attendees, etc.)? Are there any media placements reserved or available? Will there be a giveaway at the booth? Is there any valuable content we can share that would enable us to maintain some semblance of our newly adopted inbound philosophy?
EXECUTION
In this example, the client was planning to give away four iPads, which gave us the perfect offer to generate traffic to the landing page. Aside from the standard name, rank and serial number, we added four closed-ended questions to the form that would help rank prospects, as well as separate prospects from current customers.
In addition to paid media, the offer was promoted on the clients’ website and blog with call-to-action buttons. Since this was for a B2B
client, we made a point not to tweet the landing page for fear of generating unqualified leads. However, show-specific blogs were written and promoted via Twitter and LinkedIn.
As a follow-up, the leads were given an opportunity to download an industry-specific ezine and placed into a lead-nurturing campaign that would offer content geared towards educating prospects rather than hammering them with product features.
RESULTS
- 277 unique form submissions
- 209 (75%) unique form submissions are true leads/prospects
Remember, we were targeting a niche B2B crowd, so generating 209 qualified leads was a huge win!
SUMMARY
Time will tell what ROI our client will materialize from these 209 leads, but we will know soon enough. In the meantime, the media partner can make better decisions regarding future media buys thanks to tracking URLs.
TIP: If you’re going to buy media, you want to buy what works, so you’ll absolutely want to use tracking URLs. It’s a no-brainer, but one worth repeating.
If you’re concerned that integrating your inbound program with outbound tactics is somehow polluting the stream, think again. Yes, you’re pushing your message rather than relying on it to be found, but remember, it’s all about what you’re pushing. At the end of the day, as long as you’re providing your audience with content that will help them more than it helps you, you’re on the right track.
Have you had success integrating outbound and inbound? Please share your experiences AND your resutls.
Patrick Maness is Director of Marketing Strategy with B-to-B marketing agency MLT Creative and heads their Rhode Island office. Known as the Idea Launch PadTM for B-to-B marketers, MLT Creative's services include strategic planning, brand development, inbound marketing, direct marketing, advertising and sales promotions for business-to-business clients.