How To Build Efficient Trade Show Follow Up Emails

During a major Exhibition event like TOSSE, optimism and motivation are through the roof. You talk with lots of people, receive valuable feedback and hear promises of future orders.

But as the trade show ends and you return to your office, what happens?

On an average, it takes 5 working days to follow up on potential customers. . In many cases, there is no follow up at all and the business cards end up in a folder somewhere.

Exhibitions are resources consuming hence, it’s important to maximize gains immediately.

Follow up emails must start with instant follow up – the best way to do this to send a “thank you” message. Just after your discussion, send a short email with basic background information, making sure that your potential customers remember you.

Continue with thorough follow up – send in personalized messages that remind them of your business and answer their business questions.

Make follow up emails Stand out – leverage on the conversation you had with your potential customers in the stand, make them know you care.

Record Customer data using the right business tools – this simplifies you email dispatch and helps you understand the chronology of your data. There are various online tools like “myfairtool”.

All this process will succeed in helping you transition efficiently from trade show setting to daily business schedule and activities.

https://tosse.ng/tosse-visitor-information/visitors-registration-form/

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Brand flyer

How to maximize your Brand presence at Exhibitions

It takes a lot of marketing efforts to sell-out innovative products/services to key decision makers in most sectors.

Event hosts will propose a value driven partnership that will offer your organisation different opportunities, but you must also know what you want to achieve with your marketing objectives.

Here is a checklist to help you maximize your brand presence at exhibitions, trade shows and seminars and generate .

  1. Branding of Seminar Room: With sponsorship, your organisation has the opportunity to brand any of the seminar rooms making your brand visible to thousands of participants and other exhibitors at the event.
  2. Official Bag Branding: Your organisation’s logo on official bags to be given to all participants. The below-the-line advertising keeps your brand name in the minds of the audience.
  3. 3m by 3m Well-located Stand: Your organization should be allocated a 3 meters by 3 meters exhibition stand in a unique position that is open to the traffic of visitors and prospective clients.
  4. Presentation Opportunity: In-event speaking engagement to boost your brand equity. It is best practice to get a time slot to make a sales pitch to thousands of participants at the event.
  5. Press Conference Right: A special mention and participation at the exhibition’s press briefing will further put your brand out there to the prying eyes of the media.
  6. Ushers Branding Right: Your Company’s logo at the back of the T-Shirt of all Ushers will give your brand 360 degree awareness at the event.
  7. Pre and Post Event Advisory Service: Get pre/post event advisory services on how to better chart your path in the Education sector for greater customer conversion.
  8. Pre and Post Event Brand Publicity: Pre-event offline and online promotional campaign for brand presence at the event will drive footfall to your exhibition stand. This will create some form of familiarity between your brand and prospective clients.

Get access to over 7000 attendees at Africa’s biggest education show, register here

The list is not exhaustible but your organization can use this checklist to negotiate for the best deals that will maximize your brand presence at exhibitions which will ultimately convert to quality leads for your business.

Furthermore, organizations also need to recognize the value of leads acquired to put that information into use after events. You can read more about this here.

To exhibit at TOSSE 2022, register here to apply for stand.

How Likely Are You to Buy from Yourself – Thinking Like The Customer

Marketing your business has evolved over time. Apart from the traditional methods of marketing, one way to get a proper marketing strategy is by getting into the mind of the consumer. Let us do a little exercise to help do this.

Everyone is familiar with role-playing games. Let’s do a little role play now: You are the customer and you want to purchase an item or service from your franchise. Be completely honest, will you be willing to sanction the purchase? There are a few parameters you can use to evaluate this. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • How easily did I find the product?
  • How does the product compare with other competitors in the market?
  • Is there any benefit from further patronage?
  • How good is the customer service?
  • Does the product keep up with recent technological trends?

The idea of this exercise is to make you understand exactly the thought process of the consumers. This will give you a basis to work with a  better strategy.

Reverse-Engineer Your Findings To Your Benefit

After going through the process of getting into the consumer’s mindset, you most likely would find areas where improvements or adjustments can be made. You would find that you would be able to understand your customers better. This will help you to be able to tailor your correspondence to them in the future.

Showcase Your Product/Service At Africa’s Biggest Education Tradeshow & Conference 

If you can see yourself on the same level as your customers you can better drive customer loyalty and develop the trust that is so important these days and it humanizes your company and enhances your marketing capability. In the end, you will be able to anticipate your customer’s needs because you are thinking just like them. It will put you in the best spot to market with confidence.

Navigating The Path to Business Growth: Innovate or Die

Innovation is a key component of a business. For a business to grow appropriately, the key decision markers and business managers have to think innovatively and creatively. The benefits of innovation on business are already well-documented, so there isn’t really any need to go over it again. In any case, you can read about them here.

How exactly can you think innovatively? Here are a few tips:

  • Clear your head: This should be the first thing you do. Make sure you are relaxed and do not feel pressured. The best ideas are formed in a relaxed and calm atmosphere. If you find it hard to stay calm or keep a clear head, you can complete some relaxing activities like taking a walk while listening to calming music, preferably classical. It works for me and should work for you too.
  • Ask questions: ‘Curiosity kills the cat’ a common phrase. But this does not work when it comes to business. Prime your mind to observe, inquires, question and understand concepts around. Remove any constraints that might inhibit your inquisitive nature. Challenge old ways of doing things and try to imagine new ways that they can be done.

VISIT  AT THE AFRICA’S BIGGEST EDUCATION TRADE SHOW AND CONFERENCE

  • Increase your exposure: Make sure to put yourself in a position where you will be able to observe a wide variety of things. Never assume that any knowledge is useless. Note that ideas are usually birthed from other ideas. Henry Ford got his idea of the assembly line technique of mass production from observing a meatpacking plant. The more exposure you have, the more likely you’re going to pick up ideas for your ideas.
  • Be imaginative: You should be creative. Don’t squash that random idea that comes to you prematurely. Allow your imagination run wild. Think of ways things can be done differently. You can follow some tips to boost your creativity.
  • Exceed boundaries: Don’t feel caged or forced to follow the status quo. Be ready to think outside the box. Learn to deal with and learn from past failures; be ready to take risks to find out what works and what does not.
  • Welcome feedback: Ask for people’s opinions and ideas and gather these to come up with a better idea for your venture. Also, feedback is important to know if a current idea you implemented would be a hit. Never disregard this.
  • Run brainstorming sessions: This can be done individually or in a group, although it is usually more effective when done in a group. This would involve coming up with a large number of new product ideas. Make sure to have people from diverse backgrounds if you plan to have a group brainstorming session. You will be better served if you include a provocative outsider, like a consumer or supplier.

BREAK THROUGH THE NOISE IN THE MARKET – EXHIBIT AT TOSSE 2020

  • Adapt old solutions for new problems: You could do this by applying an existing product to a new need available. You could look for new uses of your product. For instance, De Beers produced industrial diamonds but found a new use for diamonds when they introduced the concept of engagement rings. It opened up a large new market for them.
  • Watch your competition: This does not mean to blindly follow whatever innovation they come up with. Instead, observe them intelligently. See if there are any of their ideas you can refine and adapt and even possibly license as your own. You can also acquire smaller profitable businesses if possible!
  • Look outside: You can outsource your new project development to external companies to work on this. Company like Edumark Consult can help us engage actively within the education community.  If that seems like a risk for you, you can ask individuals to come up with novel ideas for innovation. Countless big companies have been known to do this successfully.
  • Go back in time: Look back at older business models and products. Try to ascertain which of these models can work for the present market. Be sure to refine it, however, to fit into the current market trends.

The tips above are in no way exhaustive of all the tips that can be used to improve innovative thinking. Also, not all of them might apply to your business model. Whatever the case, use the tips as a guide to building your business even further through innovation.