Integrated Digital Experience:

Key Tools to Developing Trade Show and Marketing Communications Strategies

Who Am I?

•Christopher Justice–CEO, Sparksight, Inc. –Event Design and Technology–Background in corporate marketing but degree in computer science.–Started the company to serve a violently spoken need for the events industry.

Agenda

•Attendee and Industry Snapshot•Engagement Challenges and Strategies•Segmentation and Interaction•Technographic Exhibit Planning•Technology and Futures•Designing Digital Media•Summary and Questions

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Simple Goals

• Attraction• Engage• Capture• Follow Up• Score

Changing Attendee Behavior

•An enhanced communicator with unlimited power to influence. •High expectations of user experience and customer service.•Accessible and visible with an online persona.•Attendees are spending fewer days at the show.

Event Marketing Objectives

•Different Tactics Depending on the Exhibit and Attendee–Exhibition–Corporate–Industry Association

•Marketing Focus Points–Pre-Event Marketing–Concurrent Marketing–Post-Event Marketing

Shocking Attendee Behavior

•The average attendee crosses the carpet of 5-10% of the total exhibits.•Half of the stops to an exhibit are preplanned.•Most attendees visiting your exhibit expect something for free.•Most paper collateral is discarded as collected.

What is working?

•Content-based tactics•Free•Experiential•Entertainment•Advocacy•Relationship and dialog

New Approaches to Engagement• Motivate Attendees– Target a specific audience and target attendee.

• Focused Content– Filter content so visitors are not bombarded with information overload.

• Immersion– Engage visitors within a “story”.

• Modularity– Present smaller themes instead of one larger complex topic.

• Skimmability– Information should be easy to take in because visitors are often standing

and/or have different levels of education.

New Approaches to Engagement (cont.)

• Patterns– Incorporate traffic patterns and exhibit sequence patterns.

• Capture Curiosity– Use storytelling techniques to engage visitors.

• Interaction– Give visitors a “fun” experience and encouraging them to touch your

event/exhibit/conference.

• Integrate Technology– Technology should enhance visitor’s experience, not detract from it.

• Layer Content– Present information in a hierarchical manner.

Exhibit Attendee Strategy

•Biographical•Demographic•Psychographic•Lifestyle•Technographic–based on their ownership, use patterns, and attitudes toward information, communication and entertainment technologies.

Event Technographics• Consumers– Seeking information and validation and deep education.

• Buyers– Refining brand decision and purchase plan.

• Sales and Biz Development– Promoting and connecting opportunities.

• Media/Press/Critics/Amplifiers– Reporting and delivering information.

• Spectators– No intentions but influential in brand reputation.

• Seekers– Need focused – jobs opportunities, connections, industry education.

• Inactives– Those bodies that consume space and want the t-shirt.

Applying Technographics to Event Marketing

•The intersection between exhibit marketing and digital marketing has happened.–Traditional techniques are still used but have decreased in reach and increased in cost.–The event organizer will not provide digital tactics for the exhibitors. We must lead them. –The exhibit house and decorator do not yet understand the integration of digital and environment exhibit elements.

Digital Event Media Taxonomy

• Email marketing• Websites• Micro-sites• Touch screen kiosks• Social media• Online video• Webcasts• Mobile Applications– iPhone/BB/Android

• Blogs• Online advertising• Virtual events• Live broadcasts• SMS/MMS/Text• Online games• RSS and Syndication• Virtual Worlds• RFID

Online video is increasing.

Social media has a place but requires planning to achieve results.

Mobile applications will have segmented appeal.

Source: CEIR Digital + Exhibiting Marketing Insights 2010

Tactics by Utilization

Tactics by Spend

Exhibit Interaction

• Attendance• Exhibit Size• Location• Direction• Display points• Interaction Points

Redefining the Event Plan

•Designing for results and experience–What event elements are for existing customers?–What experience for the brand ignorant attendees?–How do you provide continuity from the event to the desktop – to the device?–When does the interaction begin?–How and when do leads get processed?–Timeliness means getting more real-time.

Impact of Digital Marketing

•Exhibits are redesigned with technographics in mind. •Exhibitors will ask more from exhibit houses and decorators to provide digital media strategies.•Exhibitors should demand more of event registration and lead management products. –Pre-event, during and post event access.

The Key to Better Exhibits and ROI

• Integrating the exhibit experience with the registration and lead capture.•Bar codes, magnetic stripe and other legacy systems should be retired.•RFID –Reduces cost and increase quantifiable metrics from the event.–Allows for the integration of attendee information into the exhibit.

Digital Exhibit Design Plan

•Educate•Validate•Entertain•Environmental –Noise–Light–Movement

Technographic Exhibit Design

Define Better Digital Interactive Points

Print on Demand

Touchscreen with RFID

Touchscreen Kiosk Lead Collection

Touchscreen Technologies

•Resistive–Cost effective, plastic over glass

•Surface Acoustic/Bending Wave–Cost effective, well established

•Optical–Cost effective for large sizes, light sensitivity

•Capacitive–High cost for large sizes, multi-touch capable

Digital Kiosks

Integrating the Exhibit with Digital Media

•Registration Systems•Paper and Manual Lead Capture•Customer Relationship Management•RFID• Integration of interactive displays and attendee data.•Personalization of exhibit experience to each attendee.

Integrated Stand Alone Lead Capture

Setting Event Success Metrics

• Specific and quantifiable: – Total number of visitors to your booth– Booth visitors by target audience (by accounts, by industry, by title, etc.)– One-on-one meetings with key accounts– Number of qualified leads z Lead quality mix (percent of A, B, C leads, etc.)– Lead mix by technographic /Lead mix by the day and hour of the show– Amount of media coverage received• Every event is a reason to launch….something.

– Percentage increase in your company and/or product awareness– Numbers of attendees exposed to your demo or live presentation– Number of questionnaires completed by target audience– Number and quality of strategic alliances confirmed with other exhibiting companies

Summary and Questions