• Exhibitions provide participating brands with a way to reach target audiences. 
• This is not a single marketing strategy but a broader goal achieved through a combination of tactics. 

Exhibitions allow brands to showcase their products and services, and making this ordeal successful is the core of “Making the Exhibitions Work” marketing strategy. However, this is not a specific marketing strategy but a result-oriented approach to maximize the exhibition expenses. 

Before digging deeper into the marketing strategy, it’s important to define what” works” for your brand in the exhibition. Basically, what do you want to achieve by presenting your products and services there? Is it to drive sales, increase brand awareness, lead generation, or something else? It is advised to clearly define the goals to guide your marketing efforts. 

LEGOs Triumphant Consumer Electronic Show (CES): Making Exhibitions Work

At the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a tech-focused event, LEGO, the toy manufacturing company, took the visitors by storm. They were not showcasing any of the latest virtual reality headsets or groundbreaking pieces of technology. Still, the LEGO booth became a significant highlight while demonstrating the power of engaging in the exhibition strategy. 

The CES Challenge

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a massive annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). It is a giant exhibition where brands showcase the latest and greatest in consumer electronics and technology. So, how does a toy manufacturer like LEGO fit into the premise of CES? 

When participating in the CES, LEGO faced the massive challenge of capturing the audience’s attention and demonstrating its product’s relevance in this tech-centric environment. Somehow, the team skillfully devised solutions to make this exhibition work for them. 

The solution is Simple: Embracing the Playful Interaction

LEGO transformed its booth into a wonderland and not just a display stand to set it apart from the rest. They allowed attendees of all ages to interact with oversized LEGO creations, fostering a sense of fun and discovery. Furthermore, they offered stations with various Lego sets, encouraging attendees to build their own creations. This allowed people to experience the joy of LEGO building firsthand. 

LEGO also incorporated digital elements into its booths alongside physical bricks. This included a scenario where tablets were used to control Lego robots or view augmented reality experiences to enhance the building experience. This digital integration allowed LEGO to take the CES exhibition floor by storm. 

Outcome of CES 

Incorporating a playful atmosphere into the booth and creating social media buzz generated significant brand awareness. After this exhibition, LEGO was no longer just a toy company; it was also about providing interactive experiences transcending age groups. 

LEGO’s presence at CES was an anomaly and created a massive online buzz. The media also took notice of the innovative approach, and soon, they were showcasing LEGO in their articles and broadcasts, further amplifying the brand message across the spectrum. 

Facilitating attendees’ interaction with the product allowed LEGO to create a solid emotional connection. It helped foster brand loyalty and positive word-of-mouth marketing, transforming the brand from just a toy manufacturer into a budding giant in the tech world. 

Key Takeaways from CES

Lego went beyond showcasing its products like other brands at the Consumer Electronics Show. The brand resonated seamlessly with the attendees by skillfully creating an immersive and engaging experience. As the brand primarily targets children, it displayed transcended age groups at CES. 

Attending adults rediscovered the joy of Lego, which influenced future purchases for their families. By integrating the digital element into the booth with physical bricks, Lego demonstrated an understanding of the ever-evolving play landscape and the company’s ability to adapt. 

Explaining the “Making Exhibitions Work” Marketing Strategy

LEGO’s case study signifies the success of incorporating this marketing strategy into your business. But before doing so, it’s crucial to understand what “work” means for your exhibition, what you expect from the exhibition, and how you want it to help in your business. You must have a clearly defined goal while entering this marketing strategy. 

• Is it to boost sales and generate revenue? 
• Is it to increase brand awareness, reach and engagement?
• It is to create credible leads. 
• Or is it to increase your brand visibility in a particular market segment? 

Moreover, it’s essential to know and understand your target audience. The brand must have a clear answer as to who it is trying to attract through the exhibition. Understanding their demographics, interests, and online behavior could provide critical insights, making the exhibition successful. 

Try to Create a Pre-Exhibition Buzz

Visitors will only visit your stall or booth if they know you are participating. This can be done by intelligently creating a pre-event marketing campaign. Using the power of social media, email marketing, and press releases, brands can announce the exhibition while also highlighting the key exhibits to generate buzz and excitement. 

Running targeted advertising campaigns on platforms frequented by your niche can be a good start. The brand can also create a buzz by developing a compelling online presence for the exhibition. This can be done by creating a dedicated event page, hashtags, or social media account. Partnering with relevant influencers or media outlets also helps spread the word. 

Provide Excellent Exhibition Design and Visitor Experience

Excellent design can make your booth stand out from the rest, so it is essential to design a visually appealing and informative booth. You can showcase your exhibits by using clear signage, interactive elements, and high-quality visuals. Also, the staff must be well-trained, knowledgeable, engaging, and enthusiastic about the exhibit. 

If a brand incorporates virtual reality, augmented reality, and other interactive elements into the exhibit, it will help enhance the visitor experience. Similar to what LEGO did at the Consumer Electronics Show, it made them stand out and made the exhibition work for the company. 

Brands can run contests and giveaways during the exhibition to attract visitors and collect leads. By offering live demonstrations or presentations, brands can showcase the exhibits in action. You can engage potential clients and partners by hosting a networking event at your booth. 

Also, brands must focus on utilizing the power of social media, sharing live updates, photos, and behind-the-scenes content from the exhibition. This could help the brand reach people who could not visit the exhibition. By encouraging visitors to share their experiences on social media with designed hashtags, brands can increase their social media presence as well. 

Post-Exhibition Follow Up is Equally Important Exhibitions

Brands must take measures to follow up with the leads after the exhibition, as it was one of the main goals in the first place. Sharing a post-event recap on social media, thanking the attendees, and highlighting the key takeaways can be beneficial for the brand. 

Although there are no direct and clear metrics to measure the success of the “making the exhibitions work” marketing strategy, brands can still measure success using metrics like Website traffic, social media engagement, lead generation, etc. With the skillful implementation of these strategies, brands can create a comprehensive marketing plan to ensure that the exhibition ordeal succeeds. 

Pros and Cons of “Making the Exhibition Work” Marketing Strategy

Like every other marketing strategy, the “making the exhibition work” marketing strategy has pros and cons, as discussed below. 

Pros

Exhibitions offer a unique opportunity for face-to-face interaction with your audience. Brands can directly address customers’ needs, answer their questions, and build long-lasting relationships, which could be difficult to achieve online. Providing interactive elements like demonstrations and contests would further boost brand engagement. 

These trade shows and exhibitions mostly attract a concentrated group of potential customers already interested in the industry. Also, a well-designed booth is well-dotted with engaging activities that can significantly increase brand awareness. It could allow you to showcase the brand personality and what makes you stand out. 

Exhibitions are prime opportunities to collect qualified leads. These leads can be gathered using contests, giveaways, registration forms, etc., to capture potential customers’ information for future follow-up. This direct interaction with visitors would allow a brand to gather real-time feedback on its products, services, and marketing messages; all this information is invaluable and can be used to refine the marketing strategy. 

Cons Exhibitions

Exhibition fees, booth design costs, travel, staff training and related logistics could be expensive and an upfront cost. Brands must carefully plan the budget to ensure a good return on investment (ROI). Unusually, exhibitions cater to a specific region or industry, which could limit the reach compared to broader online marketing campaigns. 

The impact can be short-lived even if the exhibitions could generate leads and brand awareness. To enhance the effectiveness of this marketing campaign, brands require a strong follow-up strategy to convert these leads into sales. Trade shows can be crowded, and getting customers’ attention can be tedious. 

Creating a booth that stands out and providing interactive and engaging presentations is crucial to this but requires investment. Quantifying the return on investment can be challenging. Measuring lead generation and sales is easy, but brand awareness and relationship building are hard to measure. 

Ultimately, by implementing this “making the exhibitions work” marketing strategy, brands can transform their exhibition participation from a costly ordeal into a strategic investment. As already discussed, brands need to have ready pointers and a plan to leverage the buzz created through such exhibitions.