Advantages of hybrid trade fairs

In this blog, I describe the basics for marketing strategy decisions and focus on digital trade fair formats and trade fair stands, such as hybrid trade fairs. I define the basic concepts of digital marketing and put them in relation to real event formats.

Digital marketing must also be used in the B2B segment, not just in B2C, but increasingly so due to coronavirus. Companies that do not deal with terms such as “content marketing” or “inbound strategies” etc. will be overtaken in the medium term. Digitalization has therefore already arrived in marketing and is here to stay.

Summary

• ZConnection between customer journey and hybrid trade fairs

• Necessity of hybrid trade fairs

• Advantages of hybrid trade fairs

• Conclusion on hybrid trade fairs

Connection between customer journey and hybrid trade fairs

This diagram shows the most relevant basic terms at a glance and is easy to explain:

The respective stages (journey/lifecycle phase) in your relationship with the target person/target group always require different points of contact (touchpoints) in order to attract and maintain attention (customer engagement). The trick is to precisely define your target group on this journey (buyer personas) and even turn them into fans who will recommend your company to others. An essential tool for this are the touchpoints coordinated at each stage of the journey, which we distinguish between physical and digital touchpoints.

Physical touchpoints are the original marketing instruments such as:

• Trade fairs

• print media

• radio

• Direct call/mail

• customer events

• and much more.

In the wake of digitalization and the establishment of the web, the possibilities are expanding to digital touchpoints:

• Social Media

• Webinare

• Paid Content

• Live Demos

• and much more

The need for hybrid trade fair formats

 I use this heading to refer to the term “hybrid trade fair”. A hybrid trade fair means that targeted digital marketing is carried out alongside the real event and the physical event is flanked by digital formats before, during and after the real trade fair. An event is also referred to as a hybrid event if the real trade fair is accompanied by a holistic digital trade fair platform. A virtual trade fair held in parallel to the real trade fair is ideal for this. The virtual trade fair platform can start before the real event, play out digital content during the trade fair and continue to generate leads after the trade fair, 365/24/7.

What is the point of hybrid trade fair formats?

As part of the digital transformation, people's behavior and perception of products is changing. Conventional, typical push marketing tools such as cold calling, print media advertising or brochures are being replaced by social marketing, content marketing and inbound strategies. In the digital age, prospective customers first want to find out about a product online and get to know it as much as possible. The content and inbound strategy takes full advantage of this behavior by providing prospective customers with comprehensive information. The better the provider accompanies the customer on their journey with content, the higher the chance that a purchase will be concluded and the customer will even recommend the provider to others.

Digital and physical synergies must be used effectively. It therefore makes sense to use both digital and physical touchpoints along the entire customer journey to build customer loyalty. After all, hybrid events do not live from “real and virtual”, but from synergy and symbiosis.

Some valuable tools for this can be:

• An SEO-optimized website: use selected keywords and always keep your website up to date to bring your website to the top of the search engine results. When we want to find something on the Internet, we usually look at the first search results. Very rarely do we look at the results on the following pages.

• Regularly appearing blog posts give your customers the feeling that you are always up-to-date and that the development of your products never rests.

• Virtual trade fairs and virtual trade fair stands with chat function, multimedia integration, CRM integration and their integration on the website, in social networks or active placement of mailings to the target group (ATTENTION: Must be GDPR-compliant!)

Advantages of hybrid trade fairs

Accompanying virtual event platform

A virtual event platform can complement your real trade fair presence before, during and after the real trade fair. Before the trade fair, for example, you can tease your stand and train your staff. During the trade fair, you can use a “digital twin” to offer people who cannot come to the real trade fair the opportunity to visit your stand. Keep your trade fair presence online even after the physical trade fair. This gives you even more time to generate leads, and people who have already been to your real trade fair stand and have seen a product they are interested in, for example, can simply go to your virtual stand and view the information about the product there. Furthermore, you show your innovative attitude when you perform digitally. This creates recognition and trust among your target group. To this end, you should also pay attention to the versatile use of already created content in the digital media.

Greater reach

By using a virtual event platform, your (potential) customers are no longer bound by time and place. Anyone who cannot make it to the physical trade fair can easily view your stand via your website. This allows you to achieve a greater reach and a larger target group.

Lead generation

By integrating digital content, such as white papers, product videos or 3D objects of your products, you can increase the chance of lead generation. Use forms to obtain the most important information from your customers in compliance with the GDPR. Chats or opportunities to meet with your employees can also be helpful in generating leads. By integrating your virtual event into your own website, you can also generate more clicks on it. With the help of a virtual event platform, it is possible to generate leads worldwide 365/24.

Optimization of content through “try and error”

Another major advantage is the analysis of your target group's behavior using tracking. After the end of your event, see which content was clicked and downloaded the most and which was not.

Integration of content “on demand”

By integrating various content elements into your virtual event platform, you enable your visitors to download content at any time. At the same time, you can manage the content yourself and update it when changes occur. Your customers are therefore always kept up to date.

Conclusion on hybrid trade fairs:

Marketing only makes sense if the successes and failures can be measured.
The combination of physical and digital touchpoints on the customer journey brings great advantages: you can generate leads 365/24/7 and expand your target group. Your customers have the opportunity to find real experiences in the virtual world and you can use a variety of analyses to evaluate the benefits of your trade fair presence and, if necessary, optimize it for the future.
Real and virtual are by no means mutually exclusive. Rather, hybrid trade fairs thrive on synergy and symbiosis..