Creating an event strategy

It’s now no longer enough to just tell your contacts that you are going to be at an exhibition; if they aren’t attending the event, then you need to bring the event to them!  If you are going to go to the expense of doing a major show, you need to get as much out of it as you can.  Make sure that you have help on the stand so that you can be free to connect with what’s going on around you and increase your company’s visibility.

Break down your event planning into three phases: before, during and after the event.

In the run up to the event:

• Create a short video of yourself inviting your contacts to the show, telling people what they can expect to see from your company at the event.
• Update your social media with posts of you preparing for the show – getting new products ready, getting your new leaflets printed, packing up your van or car the day before. Use the event hashtag and tag in the event’s official social media accounts.
• Find other people who are also posting using the event hashtag, like their posts to increase your company’s visibility, follow them, say hi and tell them you’ll look out for them at the event.
• Send out emails to all your contacts telling them that you are going to be at the event, and tell them what you are going to be showing there (put a link in the email to the video you have created).
• Include a note in the email saying that even if people are not going to the event, they can still book a chat with you to talk about your product or what’s new.
• After the event you will send out emails to people who visited your stand.  Prepare those emails before the event as much as you can.  If you are going to send them to a page on your website after the event then make sure that page is built and ready before the day – don’t wait until after.
• Plan what content you are going to make at the event, don’t just hope for random inspiration on the day.
• Find out who else is going to be there.  Is there anyone you can set up an interview with that your customers would be interested in hearing from, or who has an audience you would like to get noticed by?

When you are at the event:

• Record content live at the event.  This might be a video tour of your stand and what you are offering, or interviews with your team and other experts.
• As well as recording a video, ‘go live’ on Facebook or YouTube a couple of times throughout the event for a more authentic view of the show.
• Events are noisy!  So get a clip-mike for your camera or phone so that you can be heard above the din.
• Encourage visitors to post their own photos from your stand and tag you in.  Can you take a prop for people to pose with at your stand?  Can you get someone with a companion animal to visit your stand for a short time to create some social media cuteness?
• If you are recording interviews, do them early in the morning before the event gets busy or at the end of the day when things start to quieten down.
• Follow the event hashtag and see who else is posting.  Like their posts, share their posts and use it to make new connections.  You don’t have to even do this yourself – get one of your team who isn’t at the show to monitor it on your behalf for the day.
• If someone is posting a lot on social media from the show or has a huge following, go find them!  Get a photo with them, take your prop, give them a free sample to get into their posts!
• Make sure you are collecting everyone’s email address that you talk to.  Run a competition in exchange for their email address or just be honest and say you’re sending an email out at the end of the show with photos and updates from the event and you’d like them to receive it.

After the event:

• Don’t just say ‘phew’ and crack open the tea bags – you’re not done yet!  Book out the evening after the event or the next morning to do the follow-on activity.  Treat it as part of the event itself.
• Send an email to the people who visited your stand as soon as possible, ideally the next day.  You only have a short window in which people will remember visiting your stand, so sending a follow-up email a week later won’t be as effective.  Have everything as set up before the event as you can so that you’re just dropping in the photos from the day.  Remember, you don’t know who all these people were.  The person who stopped briefly but didn’t really want to talk could be the head of buying at a major retailer, so connect while the event is still in their mind.
• Send another email to all your current contacts telling them what happened at the show.  Link to your video from the day, or send them to a blog page or gallery on your website so that they can see what they missed out on.
• Share the content you made at the event to all your social media channels.  If you need time to edit a video then plan this in to your schedule.  If it’s a two-day event then record a video on the first day and edit it in the evening.
• For those who you really connected with on the day, send them an additional personal message.  Suggest times for follow-up chats or set up a Zoom meeting for the following week.
• Post ‘echo’ content exactly one week later.  “Do you remember this time last week we were at this show?”