Written by: Mackenzie Wilson
Submit! You’ve just signed up to attend an event where you plan to promote your business. Now what? The natural first instinct is to start thinking about booth visuals and which promo item will generate the most buzz. And yes, those things matter (and are exciting to plan). But the real opportunity lies in what happens before you’ve even arrived at the event and long after you’ve packed up.
Here’s how to maximize your visibility and value at every stage of the event.
Contact List Research
One of the main benefits of sponsoring an event is the contact list. A contact list is one of the most effective ways to extend the value of an event. Sometimes the contact list only includes names and titles, but if you are lucky, it will include email addresses as well. In either scenario, it’s best to review the list and identify a few groups of people – those you would like to meet and those you already have a relationship with. By taking this approach, you can determine how to build out your structured communication strategy.
Obtaining a Contact List
For event sponsors, the attendee contact list is everything. It allows you to easily turn a short conversation at your booth into a long-term relationship. If a contact list is provided, whether to sponsors or all attendees, this would come from the event organizer or someone on their team. If you aren’t sure if you get one, just ask! Pro tip – if they don’t provide email addresses, check their company website or head over to LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great place to connect and communicate with your target audience.
There are a few more organic ways to develop an email list from events you are attending. The tried-and-true method – the fish bowl. Place a “fish bowl” on your booth and allow attendees to drop in their business cards. You can also think about digital contact signs or business cards that allow attendees to scan and get your contact information easily. There are apps that will then send you their contact information as well! And, if those aren’t great options for your event, you can do some digging on LinkedIn. It’s very common for events to get shared on LinkedIn, where attendees and sponsors will be tagged. Feel free to connect and communicate with people who are included in that post!
Structured Communication
Communication is key, especially at larger events. To cut through the clutter, multiple touchpoints are a great strategy. Using the contact list provided or your manually curated list, it’s important to send emails before, during, and after the event. This allows you to provide direct information about yourself, your business, and where they can connect with you at the event. You can also take a segmented email approach and reach out to a small group of people to schedule coffee meet-ups, happy hours, or dinners throughout the event, to make the most of your time with attendees.
The days and weeks following an event are almost as important as the event itself. To finalize the relationship, it’s important to stay connected to the attendees you had a conversation with. Connect with them on LinkedIn and add them to your email database. They need to see your brand message across multiple platforms to form a connection and ideally reach out to you when they are ready to make a sale on your product or service.
Sponsorship Enhancements
If you have additional room in your budget, sponsorship enhancements or ‘add-ons’ are a great way to add value to your event investment. In addition to the standard benefits like a 10×10 booth, tickets to the event, or your logo included on a banner, some events include add-on activities such as a feature in a newsletter, an ad in their monthly publication, or an option to host a webinar with their members months after the event has concluded. These are a great way to extend your visibility outside of the event with organization members and attendees.
Events are what you make of them. By putting these strategies into practice, you’ll extend the value of each experience far beyond the event, maximizing your brand visibility and turning every investment of time and money into long-standing relationships and future leads.