How can a trade show or expo help you promote your business online? Every business has a website nowadays, but not all businesses have made the most of launching their own blog. Blogging allows much more flexibility than a website, but a common problem people face is – what to blog about.
Here’s how you can use your next trade show or expo event to generate plenty of creative ideas for your business blog.
Expos are Rich in Resources
Being at an expo or trade show offers a unique opportunity to interact and engage with prospective customers, existing customers, competitors and industry peers. This is a resource-rich environment, so treat it as such and mine it for all it’s worth:
- Approach it as more than just a lead-collection exercise
- Be open to engaging with and getting feedback from all exhibitors and visitors
- When interacting, look for opportunities to get insight, ideas, and alternative perspectives
- Listen more and speak less – listen to a visitor’s view or opinion rather than always trying to push your own agenda
Try vlogging your expo or tradeshow to capture those magic moments in detail – when a casual conversation suddenly turns into ‘a great idea for a blog post’ or a ‘new idea for a product’.
Interactive Interviews
Try getting visitors to your exhibition stands to participate in short, focused interviews. It’s a lot easier to concentrate on what’s happening in the moment when you simply vlog such encounters rather than worrying about taking notes.
Make sure your stand is optimized for visitor engagement and interaction – check out great marketing ideas by eazy print to arm your exhibit for optimal effect.
Prospect-generated Blog Topics
Here’s what to be on the lookout for while engaging with attendees at a trade show or expo:
- What is the problem they need to solve? Could your business provide the answer? If your business website doesn’t deal directly with the issue, create a specialized blog post targeted at this niche group of prospects.
- Are you getting enquiries or visits from a demographic you have never considered previously as prospects? There may be an opportunity to address specific issues this group is facing with a blog post specifically targeting them and providing solutions.
- What issues or key words come up again and again when you speak to people? Compile a simple list of these to get better insight into how other people actually think about a certain problem, product or service, or go about looking for a solution.
- Get ideas for what’s hot and trending. Blogging on topics or issues which lots of people are talking about will only help to raise your business profile.
Finally, don’t forget to capture the general expo or trade show experience through pictures and video clips, which alone could be a source of quotes and unique comments about the show, providing plenty of material for various blog and other social media posts.
