From trade fair day to brand experience

The last visitor has left the booth, the team has handed out the last giveaways, and the lights are slowly going out. The trade show is over. And yet, for trade show exhibitors, this is when a phase begins that is at least as important as the planning and execution itself: the time after the trade show. Because what remains once the booth has been dismantled? This is precisely where it is decided whether your trade show appearance will be a brief moment or a lasting experience. 

In this article, we would like to give you practical tips on how you can prolong the impact of your trade fair appearance, make the most of your investment, and build long-term customer relationships.

Create emotions – prolong memories

A successful trade fair appearance thrives on emotions. Visitors remember less the facts and more the feeling they associate with your stand: an inspiring conversation, an impressive product presentation, or a moment that surprised them. It is precisely these experiences that anchor your brand in their memory for the long term. 

To turn emotions into lasting memories, it is worth capturing these moments and skillfully continuing them, whether through photos, videos, or interactive content. After all, what inspires at the trade fair can be extended digitally and thus have an impact far beyond the actual trade fair day. 

Find out how to showcase your brand in a targeted manner and turn your trade show booth into an experience in our blog post: “Your trade show booth as a stage: How to turn your brand into an experience.”

Content reuse

Many highlights, exciting discussions, product presentations, live demonstrations, or inspiring lectures. However, these disappear as soon as the trade fair stand is dismantled. This is where you should start: use your digital content even after the trade fair. 

During the trade show, you have the opportunity to set up digital touchpoints at your booth to increase attention and interaction:

• LED trade show walls: Use digital, customizable video elements. With multimedia content such as presentations, videos, and images, you can generate more attention and greater reach for your trade show appearance. 
• Touchsteles & touchscreens: Visualize different product variants and functions interactively. These displays can also be used to offer games or competitions that increase visitor interaction. At the same time, valuable leads can be generated when visitors leave their contact details – an important step for follow-up and further measures. 
• Virtual showroom: As a digital companion to your trade fair appearance, visitors can view all information at any time. In addition, the showroom allows you to extend your physical trade fair appearance beyond the trade fair period in order to reach a higher number of visitors and attract further interest in your product range. Take a look at our reference to the virtual showroom for K Messe 2022.

The digital content used at the trade fair stand can be reused directly:

• Documentation and content reuse: Professional preparation of trade fair highlights for your communication channels. Videos, presentations, and photos can also be used in campaigns, newsletters, or on the company website.
  
• Technical articles & white papers: Summary of trends and discussions at the trade fair to position yourself as a thought leader.

This ensures that your trade fair appearance remains visible for a long time, your brand is strengthened in the long term, and the digital content ensures that the investment in the trade fair booth continues to have an impact beyond the last day of the trade fair. 

Follow-Ups: Turning visitors into customers

The content and impressions generated at the trade fair stand can be directly incorporated into the follow-up process: documentation, videos, presentations, or specialist articles not only serve as content, but also as a basis for structured follow-ups. After all, the contacts you made at the trade fair are only valuable if you follow up on them in a targeted manner. 

The following applies:

• Speed counts: Contact your contacts within a few days of the trade fair. This will keep your company fresh in their minds.
• Personalization instead of mass emails: Refer to specific conversations or content that was shared during the trade fair to show genuine interest. 
• Deliver added value: Use your prepared content, e.g., videos, white papers, or summaries of trade fair highlights, to offer your contacts useful information. 

This creates a continuous connection between trade fair content and customer care: Your trade fair appearance has an impact far beyond the trade fair day, and fleeting encounters can develop into lasting business relationships. 

After the trade fair: Evaluate success based on data

When following up on your trade fair appearance, it is important to systematically evaluate the contacts, content, and impressions you have gathered. Finally, you should check which stand elements, products, and promotions worked particularly well, where there is room for improvement, and whether your staff was deployed optimally. 

With EVENT-METRICS, visitor flows can be measured in real time in compliance with GDPR: the length of time spent at exhibits, frequented stand areas, and particularly interested visitor groups become visible.

The data obtained flows directly into the follow-up and planning of your next trade show stand. You can identify priorities, optimize content and booth design, and plan future trade fair appearances precisely, based on data and previous experience. 

Conclusion

A trade fair appearance does not end with the dismantling of the stand. It only unfolds its full effect when the impressions, contacts, and content gained are specifically followed up and extended. Those who create emotions, cleverly reuse digital content, personally follow up on contacts, and evaluate the results based on data transform a one-time presence into a lasting brand experience. This turns a trade fair day into not just an event, but the beginning of lasting relationships and the foundation for future success. 

We at WWM are happy to accompany you on this journey. Contact us if you would like to work with us to develop concepts that will turn your trade fair into a lasting experience. 

Let's talk about how we can extend the impact of your trade fair presence.

Get in touch now!