Virtual trade fair stands are wonderful information carriers for online lead generation: the association with real trade fair stands gives visitors to the virtual stand an orientation. As an online marketing tool to accompany face-to-face events, the virtual trade fair stand has become indispensable. But how can information be conveyed on a virtual trade fair stand that offers visitors real added value?
This is where the famous widgets come into play. In this blog, we would like to present the diverse possibilities of widgets and applications in virtual trade fair stands.
Widgets (or infopoints/interaction points) are small programs that are integrated into other programs; they are also known as “gadgets”. For widgets to work, they require their own engine. This then acts as an interface between the operating system and the widget. They consist of a visible area, the window, which reacts to keyboard or mouse events and an invisible object, which can change the visible area using certain character combinations and saves the status of the component.
Your visitor comes to your real stand to find out about your products and your company. If you create a virtual exhibition stand, a simple presentation of your real stand is not enough to fulfill your visitor's wishes. By integrating info points and widgets, your stand becomes a multimedia infotainment experience for your visitors.
Once the visitor has reached the virtual trade fair stand interface, the aim is to maximize interaction with the visitor. Here too, the aim is to maximize information transfer and create attention, trust and interest in the company. If the visitor is not yet a real contact, it must be possible to capture the visitor and classify them as a lead.
The virtual trade fair stand does not always have to look like a real trade fair stand. The real trade fair stand is subject to many restrictions, e.g. space rental and stand construction costs, stand location in the hall or stand construction regulations. A virtual trade fair stand, on the other hand, can be freely designed: either much larger and higher than the real trade fair stand. Or at a different location: Why not on the moon or in the sea? Thinking outside the box, the virtual trade fair stand can provide entertainment if you take a creative approach.
This is where widgets come into play: Widgets are the info points that take you to various linked information or websites, some of which have interactive applications..
You can generate leads by integrating forms - just like at a real trade fair. You can create a simple contact form and the data entered will then be sent to your desired e-mail address. If you work with the CRM tool HubSpot, you can use our “HubSpot form” widget. This allows you to simply use the script of your HubSpot form and the data entered is sent directly to your CRM.
VirtualShow offers you numerous options for integrating documents into your virtual exhibition stand. If you want to display an info text for your product, you can simply upload a Word document. You can also integrate presentations via PowerPoint or integrate calculations and overviews in an Excel file. You also always have the option of integrating PDF files into your virtual stand.
A text explaining a product can often be complex and confusing. Simply use the option of integrating images into your info points to illustrate the structure of your product, for example, but also to liven up the stand. Videos are an important and popular medium in the online world. Given the choice between an information text and an explanatory video, many will probably choose the video. Upload a video directly to VirtualShow or use videos already published on YouTube or Vimeo.
We are currently encountering virtual meetings everywhere. They are the best alternative to the face-to-face meetings that are held at trade fairs instead. You should also integrate a link to a virtual meeting on your virtual trade fair stand. This way, visitors who have questions or are interested in a product can speak directly to an employee. We offer you interfaces to various meeting platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Jitsi via the “Meetings” widget.
At a real trade fair, the customer walks across your stand, looks at everything and then leaves. Only if they are really interested will they take the trouble to visit your website again afterwards. You can easily integrate websites into your virtual trade fair stand using info points. You can choose between two options here:
By linking to your website in your virtual trade fair stand, you don't lose the visitor after the trade fair experience, but guide them directly to your website and thus generate leads.
If stand visitors have questions about a product, they simply approach your employees at the stand. But how does this work with a virtual trade fair stand? You can use the chat tool for this.
On the one hand, there is text chat. Here, a chat partner, one of your employees, chats with interested parties in real time and is available to provide advice and assistance. This is an individual and human dialog. The chat scripts are logged in your CRM system.
There is also the option of a chatbot. Here, certain chat scripts are specified that ask visitors specific questions on specific topics or based on their behavior. Possible answers are also provided directly. The visitors thus act according to the predefined scripts. With a chat bot, no human capacity needs to be available, which is why the chatbot is available at all times and the interaction scripts can range from simple to complex. This tool can also be used to pre-qualify contacts and generate leads. Here too, the chat scripts are logged in your CRM.
If you want to display a product in more detail, it makes sense to show it in a separate view. To do this, link high-resolution images via info points. This is very suitable for viewing a product that requires explanation interactively by rotating and zooming in order to understand it.
The integration of the info points and the links to the respective applications can be easily created with VirtualShow. This is very important because most providers of a virtual trade fair do not offer this service and charge money for each link. With Virtual Show, you can set your info points at any time and create links as the situation requires. If you want to show a different video, link new documents or presentations, no problem.
The design of the Infopoints, i.e. the icon, can also be customized. As a rule, an I is shown in a circle, but a play button for a movie is also conceivable, or you can use a Zoom or Teams camera icon for meetings. Icons can be freely selected.
By integrating info points, you can offer visitors to your virtual trade fair stand an interactive experience. Whether in 2D or 3D, info points can be used in both variants. With a 2D trade fair stand, use the link to a 3D stand to provide a more in-depth insight into specific topics. Documents, forms, videos, images, meetings, websites and chats can also be integrated. You can also customize the appearance of the info point depending on the widget behind it.
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