As a software company, you know the value of inbound marketing and having a strong digital marketing strategy. You also know the importance of meeting prospects face to face. That’s why you invest in attending trade shows, industry conferences, and other in-person B2B events that provide opportunities for vendor marketing.
But B2B event marketing often falls by the wayside after the event ends, leaving a lot of untapped potential on the table. We’re here to explain not only why events are important in marketing but also how to nurture the relationships you make with connections at events — whether it’s a widely attended B2B conference, a private B2B meeting with a vendor, or a B2B event that’s highlighting your SaaS solution on the grand stage.
Once you determine which events your prospects are attending, take the time beforehand to design an event plan and assign roles to each member of your team. Getting intentional about your B2B event marketing strategy can help you get the most out of your time. With a careful selection of events and thoughtful planning, you can set realistic B2B marketing event goals, realize a strong ROI, and walk away with several new qualified leads.
But be aware: What happens after you connect can make or break your hard work up to this point. Failing to follow up right away — or taking the wrong approach — can scare off valuable leads. In addition to losing potential business, you could inadvertently waste marketing dollars.
To get the most out of your marketing leads, use the following B2B event marketing best practices to nurture the leads you made and convert them into clients.
After a B2B event — whether it’s an in-person B2B conference or a B2B online conference — post event photos, videos, and links on your social media pages. Let your connections know about what happened at the trade show or conference, and thank the people you met at the event on their social media pages.
Connect with or follow all leads, especially the sales-qualified leads (SQLs), on their social media channels. Remember, you’re not dealing with businesses but people who spend a lot of time on social media.
Most people have several social media accounts, so don’t restrict your connections to LinkedIn. Find out which social media platforms they spend their time on the most. Follow and engage with them on those platforms — in a natural and not overbearing way — to build relationships. Engage in two-way conversations by answering questions, making comments, and providing your opinions on their posts.
You can also use post-event exhibitor lists to connect with other vendors. One of your leads may be engaging with their content, so you’ll want to make establishing a presence in these post-show conversations a key B2B event marketing tactic.
You probably spoke with a lot of people at the event, and each conversation was different, ranging from casual to business focused. Ideally, you took notes on each of these conversations.
Use these notes to group your leads into three categories:
Performing this categorization is a necessary part of event marketing for B2B companies. But even if you didn’t take notes, you can still qualify the leads.
For example, send a brief survey to all marketing leads. Ask them to provide basic contact information and answer a question tied to a problem your product or service solves. Provide a free report, white paper, or other valuable incentive to encourage responses.
Then, group survey recipients into three categories:
In B2B event marketing, the quality and pacing of your communication matter. Don’t send a generic email to every SQL from the event, and don’t try to make the sale on the first interaction.
Using details from your notes or survey responses, do some research to identify common ground or a focal point for the initial email. Look for a connection between what you learned about them and your solution. Then, personalize the email to initiate the conversation.
Follow the inbound sales approach. Focus on answering leads' questions or addressing their pain points. Before trying to convert a lead into a customer, build the relationship by helping them solve problems and weigh solutions.
Also, don’t wait too long to follow up with SQLs — send the first email within one week of the event.
Some leads will need more qualifications and nurturing before you can establish their interest. Don’t rush into trying to make the sale or overwhelming them with emails.
To nurture the rest of the leads you acquired from the B2B event:
Track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of follow-up B2B event marketing efforts. This enables you to calculate the return on your investment of attending different types of events and using different marketing approaches.
Examples of KPIs for marketers include:
Spot On specializes in B2B digital marketing for software companies, especially within highly regulated industries like healthcare, cybersecurity, financial services, and legal services. We focus on understanding marketers’ needs and helping you create content that pulls leads to your website and keeps them engaged as they learn about your solution.
Designing a perfect post-event nurture plan is critical to any successful B2B event marketing strategy. Schedule a time to chat with us for a free consultation on how to help your company get more marketing leads out of your events.
