How you can now generate leads despite trade fair cancellations
Why are trade fairs so important for many companies? On the one hand, new products can be presented to existing customers. On the other hand, new contacts can be made with people you did not have on the screen before. In both cases, however, direct exchange is the most important criterion. You can inquire about specific needs and offer solutions. Most other communication channels only work in one direction, and if the crucial information is not available, contact will not be established.
WEBINARS AS "DIGITAL FAIRS"
Companies like Google, Microsoft and Facebook have also cancelled their conferences and are holding digital counterparts instead. Thanks to digital tools, you have the opportunity to communicate your products and innovations to existing and potential new customers.
All you have to do is hold webinars. What do you need? A screen sharing tool such as Zoom, Clickmeeting, GoToMeeting, Cisco WebEx, Microsoft Teams or Skype. You can also hold a live event on your Facebook or Youtube channel. On your website you should implement a registration option for the live webinars. In the run-up to the webinars you should create a meaningful presentation and video material of the highest possible quality. For the webinar itself you need a good webcam as well as a high resolution camera.
Of course you should at least hold the webinars in English. The more languages you can offer, the more users you will have and thus reach potential customers.
Plan time for questions from participants. You will have virtually the same contact and consulting opportunities here as at your stand. If the customer is there, give them the opportunity to ask questions. It is advantageous for this if, in addition to the host, other people are present who can answer the participants' questions parallel to the webinar.
To generate as many participants as possible for your webinars, send newsletters to your customers and prospects. Another possibility is to apply for the seminars on social networks like Xing and LinkedIn. In addition to product-specific hashtags, use hashtags of the trade fairs so that your contributions can be found.
Another possibility is to place ads via Google Ads, Xing and LinkedIn. On these platforms you can control your target group very precisely, so that you can keep wastage low.
An advantage of webinars is that you can record them and make them available to visitors of your website. This means that people who cannot attend the live event can still consume the information.
SYSTEMS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF COMPANY VISITORS
Every day people visit your website, but only a fraction leave their contact details. The majority of visitors leave the site for various reasons.
- The information on the website was not sufficient.
- The product did not meet the expectations 100%.
- The visitor was distracted by colleagues.
Take the chance and address these companies actively. LeadingReports recognizes company visitors on your website. You can see which company the call came from, which products they were interested in and the data is enriched with further information such as industry, turnover and number of employees.
So you can use Xing or LinkedIn to contact decision makers and offer your solutions, because you know that the company has a need. A product in this area from our company is for example LeadingReports
For you the advantage is immense. With low monthly costs you can identify and address companies and their needs. In addition, you can even see if your existing customers have a new need.
Chat(bots)
An even more direct way to communicate are chat functions on your website. These can now be integrated cost-effectively on your website and serve to chat live with visitors to your website. This gives you the opportunity to answer your visitors' questions about your products and services directly and to provide further information that can contribute to a positive decision.
If you do not have the possibility to occupy the chat 24 hours a day, chatbots can help you. These bots can conduct AI-based conversations and provide visitors with information. If the bot cannot answer the question, it will ask for the visitor's contact details and tell the visitor that the information will be answered promptly by a specialist.
The advantage for you is that you can enter into a dialogue with the visitor on a medium that initially only communicates in one direction. This significantly increases the possibility that the visitor will leave his contact details.
WHITE PAPER BEHIND A DOWNLOADWALL
Another possibility is the so-called white paper (factsheets, tips, summaries) behind a download wall. Here, useful added value is usually made available to the reader as a free downloadable document in PDF format.
As a countervalue for the download, the contact details of the interested party are usually requested. It is important to remember when creating a white paper that it is not a sales prospectus - nothing deters a prospective customer more quickly than a sales prospectus presented as a white paper.
Summary
There are various digital possibilities to compensate for the loss of leads. We recommend that you implement all measures on a long-term basis and use them as constant tools for lead generation. In this way, you can fully exploit the potential of your digital communication channels and stay one step ahead of your competitors.
GAL Digital has 15 years of experience in generating digital leads. If you have any questions, we will be happy to help you.