Lead generation revolves around finding unique ways of attracting prospects to your business.
From content and email marketing to search engine optimisation, paid social media campaigns and more, there are numerous ways that companies can appeal to their ideal audience, with the aim of turning them into loyal customers and advocates of their brand.
Of all lead generation strategies however, events and exhibitions appear to be a favourite among many of these businesses.
For starters, the Event Marketing 2019: Benchmarks and Trends Report outlines that most marketers believe events are the most effective channel for achieving their business goals.
What’s more, according to Marketing Charts, events help B2B businesses generate the most leads compared to other methods.
Why are events such a powerful lead generation strategy?
Quite simply, events offer the opportunity for business owners and employees to truly interact with their prospects, as opposed to simply taking action by promoting a product or service via other channels. As we mentioned in a previous blog, event booths that offer a more interactive experience with their visitors tend to be more successful!
In light of the coronavirus pandemic however, in-person events have been cancelled and postponed across the country over the last year, leaving many of these businesses without this impactful source of lead generation.
This is where an interactive online exhibition platform makes all the difference.
With an online exhibition platform, businesses can enjoy all the benefits of an in-person event, combined with the best features of popular digital lead generation and marketing techniques.
More specifically, they allow for experiential marketing. As outlined by inglegrain.com, experiential marketing is:
“[…] more than just promoting a certain product to a passive audience; [experiential marketing] is designed to have customers actively engage with a brand’s identity and its core values.
“By providing an immersive experience, a brand is able to create an impression in their audience’s mind that will stay with them far longer than any advertisement would.
“Successful experiential marketing doesn’t just introduce people to their brand, but serves as a way to activate new customers and introduce them into their sales funnel, with 65% of brands saying that their experiential marketing efforts lead to direct sales.”
Indeed, at Gravit8, our own online exhibition platform is designed to create emotive, resonating brand experiences for businesses and visitors alike through immersive virtual events and exhibitions.
But how do online exhibition platforms achieve this impact, exactly?
Read on to find out…
3 ways interactive online exhibition platforms will accelerate your lead generation:
1. They place your prospects directly in front of you
Lead generation remains one of the biggest challenges for businesses today due to the number of barriers placed between them and prospects.
As examples, 32% of users that interact with a brand on social media expect a reply in 30 minutes or less, and 76% of B2B buyers prefer to speak to an expert when they are researching a new product or service – neither of which are always possible on a busy day at the office.
Just like an in-person event, however, an interactive online exhibition platform provides the perfect launch over these barriers by placing your ideal prospects right in front of you and allowing you to connect with them in a personable, meaningful way.
If your employees were managing an online exhibition booth, for example, they’d be able to see who was looking at that booth and answer any questions or strike up a discussion immediately.
This puts online exhibition platforms way ahead of other kinds for your lead generation efforts; for example, standard webinar software cannot offer video and chat solutions as a means of holding in-person conversations compared to virtual platform solutions.
The Gravit8 platform specifically can provide video meeting rooms and “meet the expert” chat areas to make this as interactive as possible!
2. They give your prospects a chance to interact with your products and services
Despite the increasingly digital nature of today’s world (exacerbated further by the current pandemic), most people still prefer to physically interact with or experience a product or service before committing to a purchase.
Physical events give prospects the perfect opportunity to get hands-on with your business’ offering, and with an online exhibition platform, you can replicate this experience for prospects without them even needing to leave their desks.
For example, depending on your chosen platform, you can create 3D models of your products that visitors can play around with using a cursor or via a touchscreen, or your event staff can host live recordings of your products and open the floor to any questions visitors may have.
If you’re planning a new product launch, you could also incorporate professionally produced live or recorded video streams to broadcast demonstrations of your product, and perhaps even host an interactive Q&A session afterwards.
What’s more, online exhibition planforms will enable you to provide unlimited digital resources, such as branded guides and downloads for visitors to take away with them, giving them a link back to you long after the event is over.
The Gravit8 platform is a great example of where this can be made possible. For starters, you can incorporate 3D interactive models of your products into your event spaces, as well as offer visitors a virtual library of digital information, such as virtual business cards, video links, brochures and so on.
3. They are primed for data capture
During your online exhibition, you’ll be in the perfect position to gather contact details of those who have expressed an interest in what your business offers, and subsequently, you’ll be able to nurture those leads long after the event through email campaigns, content and additional offerings.
In addition, with a platform like Gravit8, you can also collect in-depth insights and analytics around your exhibition, which you can then use to investigate the elements of your event that produced the greatest lead generation and implement within your future strategies.
In conclusion…
At the same time as offering your business the chance to communicate with prospects in a meaningful way, interactive online exhibition platforms also provide those prospects with an immersive, interactive and exciting experience that will last long after the virtual doors of your event close.
As a result, your lead generation will be set to skyrocket!
Ready to accelerate your lead generation with a powerful online exhibition?
Our whole-event exhibition platform here at Gravit8 has all the features you need to connect with your ideal audience and see your lead generation soar. For more information, simply speak to us today and we’ll be in touch to discuss your unique requirements.