◗◗End The Trade Show Nightmare: Lead-capturing and Event ROI

While marketing automation tools and a steady stream of relevant content are every marketer’s dream today, nothing can replace face-to-face interaction at a live event or trade show. As a result, event marketers persist in figuring out how to use the best Lead-capturing techniques, ensure follow-up, and track event ROI.  

According to a study this year by Hubspot, 40% of the 500 marketers that responded to their survey said they have difficulty in “proving the ROI of marketing activities.” As many marketers know, events are especially challenging when it comes to capturing contact data, pushing it to sales for follow-up, and tracking the overall event ROI. 

At the same time, many marketers plan to increase their event marketing budgets because they allow salespeople to interact with prospects face to face, and they’re a great way to announce or get feedback on new products.  It’s tough to beat the value of an in-person interaction for both salespeople and prospects. 

In order to capture the important data points from every booth visitor and ensure post-event follow-up, marketing automation tools, like momencio, are a must-have today since they help drive those actions. But there are a few secrets to success you can’t find in an event marketing app.  It’s also in how you educate and motivate your booth staff. 

 Let’s outline what you need to know to become your company’s new event marketing hero! 

Best Practices for Event Marketers to Ensure Lead-capturing and Event ROI

Unfortunately, lead capture seems to vary greatly by event host and type.  Conferences are hosted by hundreds of different companies, all of whom use different lead-capturing systems.  In addition, smaller regional events have no lead-capturing system at all, leaving that up to the salesperson on site. Yikes! 

Once you adopt and use a universal lead capture tool, one great best practice to put into place is to educate your staff on how to use the tool during the event.  Event coordinators may cover this topic in a live conference call before the event and on-site right before the event starts.

Make both attendance mandatory to ensure your message gets through.  In order to do that, get buy-in that everyone must attend one or both of those pre-event meetings from the most senior sales manager. By joining in solidarity, your chances for event success are far greater than if you work alone, in silos.   

In pre-event briefings, event marketers should cover and share the following so that there are no staffing snafus or points of confusion during your event.  Here’s what we cover in an event pre-briefing:  

• Hours of event, specifically the hours and days the booth should be staffed and the date/time of your on-site pre-briefing 
• The schedule for who staffs the booth by hour or day 
• Where to pick up your event badge 
• What to wear while working the booth 
• Mobile phone numbers of everyone staffing the booth (in case of a no-show at the booth) 
• How to capture booth visitor’s info via Momencio  
• What is the booth giveaway or promotion? 
• Key messaging points for brand and products being highlighted at the event (everyone should be singing the same tune!) 
• Event goals: how many leads do you expect the team to gather? 
• Show up early, on time, and caffeinated! Seriously! 

Now that you have every detail covered for the event and you’ve shared it with the team staffing it, be present in the booth until everyone is comfortable with the systems in place and how to use them.  Now, we can move on to the important things you’ll need to know to ensure leads are properly contacted. 

Best Practices for Event Marketers to Ensure Lead Follow-Up 

The good news is that if you choose to use momencio at your event, the app automatically emails tradeshow attendees with a link to your personalized microsite after the salesperson has met with them in the booth.  In today’s digital economy, your prospects will undoubtedly ask you to email them any relevant information.

No one wants to carry around and lug home copious amounts of literature that could be viewed online or in a post-event email. 

If you don’t have an event marketing solution like momencio, choose a solution that integrates with your CRM.  Otherwise, you’re manually formatting cumbersome contact lists after the event and uploading them to your CRM, which lengthens the time between prospect contact at the event and actual follow-up. And, we all know the quicker the contact, the better chance of closing a deal. 

Because events are costly and time consuming for companies and marketers, management will want to know you have a process in place for making follow-up easy and efficient.

Additionally, event marketers should be prepared to answer how many booth visitors there were and the level and type of product interest.  Management might want to know which salespersons generated the most conversations and leads to get insight into who made the most of the event.  

Wrap-up 

The best event marketers hold a post-show call with all attendees to get feedback on how the event was organized.  Marketers should ask what was challenging and what was considered a success by those in attendance.

Capture this feedback with other event data, like leads generated and deals closed, so that anyone can make a sound judgment on whether to exhibit the following year.  

FAQs on Lead-Capturing

1. How does lead-capturing at live events enhance the marketing strategy?
   1. Lead-capturing at live events enhances the marketing strategy by enabling direct, face-to-face interactions with prospects, which is invaluable for understanding their needs and interests. These interactions provide rich data that, when effectively captured and followed up on, can significantly increase the conversion rates and overall ROI of marketing activities.
2. What challenges do marketers face in proving the ROI of marketing activities from events?
   1. Marketers often struggle with capturing contact data, pushing it to sales for timely follow-up, and tracking overall event ROI. According to a Hubspot study, 40% of marketers find it difficult to prove the ROI of their marketing activities, particularly with events, due to these challenges.
3. Why is it important to use a universal lead capture tool at events?
   1. Using a universal lead-capture tool is crucial as it standardizes the lead-capturing process across different events, regardless of the host or type. This ensures that valuable lead information is not missed due to inconsistent capturing methods and that sales teams can follow up promptly, increasing the chances of closing deals.
4. How can educating booth staff improve lead-capturing and event ROI?
   1. Educating booth staff on how to use lead capture tools effectively ensures that every team member is equipped to gather valuable data from booth visitors. This unified approach prevents staffing snafus and ensures consistent messaging and lead-capturing efforts, contributing to the event’s success and ROI.
5. What best practices should event marketers follow to ensure effective lead follow-up?
   1. Event marketers should leverage marketing automation tools like momencio, which automatically email trade show attendees with links to personalized microsites post-interaction. Choosing a solution that integrates with your CRM is crucial to avoid manual data entry and ensure quick, efficient follow-up, which is key to converting prospects into sales.