Industry events are demanding and expensive, but they are often the fastest way to gather qualified leads. The question is, how can you increase the ROI for your next event?
In theory, increasing the ROI on your cleantech event presence is a simple formula. You increase the value of the event outcomes. That means maximising leads, as well as looking for opportunities to build your brand.
In practice, it’s less simple. Everything takes time, planning, and investment. You may also lack the in-house expertise needed to do everything and selecting the right cleantech event to attend only complicates the task further.
Below are five practical and effective ways to boost your cleantech event ROI:
- Mine your prospect list
- Nail your messaging
- Use PR to build your brand
- Collect data and qualify leads
- Implement a personalised nurture campaign
1. Mine your prospect list for everything it’s worth
Having an event presence gives you the chance to make new leads or nurture and convert the leads and prospects that you already have. Increasing the number of prospects you interact with effectively increases the chances that you’ll convert some of them, which pushes your ROI up by generating more returns.
In the build-up to attending an event, mine your prospect list for everything it’s worth. Let them know you’re going to be there. Set up face-to-face meetings. Coffee even. Just do whatever you can to make the most of your existing prospects.
“We spend a lot of time on Teams calls and working from home. Naturally, people want something more personal and are looking for like-minded people to talk through their challenges with,” commented Resonates’ Head of Corporate Affairs, Justin Heath. Adding, “People are thirsty for face-to-face meetings, which is the ideal opportunity to create, qualify, and close leads.”
2. Focus on your messaging and presence
Attracting new prospects requires you to stand out. In a sea of other stands, many of whom are direct or indirect competitors, this can be difficult.
Do it right, though, and you’ll boost your event ROI quite directly. You’ll attract more prospects, increasing the number to convert, and you’ll improve the likelihood that they will convert.
In other words, good messaging improves the quantity and quality of your leads.
Here are several things to bear in mind to ensure your messaging is optimised:
- Clarity: your messaging must be clear and articulate concisely what you do. Limit jargon and anything that a customer may not understand.
- Benefit-led: how you help your customers should be front and centre of your messaging. Do you save them time or money? Do you give them long-term security? Whatever it is, clear messaging will let your prospects see exactly how you’ll help them and improve their lives and business.
- Pains and goals: identifying the pains and goals of your customers will ensure your messages speak directly to them.
- Focus: don’t put everything and the kitchen sink in there. Focus – on the high-level benefits, on your ideal customers, on the services that they need.
On top of this, you should test your messaging to see what works best. Brief your event sales team on the new messaging so that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet, too.
“You’d be surprised at the number of graphics panels that event attendees just don’t understand,” said Sarah Netherclift, Resonates’ Head of Content. Adding, “Crafting copy to deliver a message that makes people stop, look and listen is a real skill, which is where many organisations stumble because they don’t have the expertise in-house.”
3. Use PR to build your brand
As well as nailing your messaging and reaching out to your prospects, you can use PR to reach a wider audience and build your company’s brand and reputation.
Your PR activity should be before, during and after the event:
Pre-event
In the build-up, publishing thought leadership and other feature articles helps to generate awareness of your company, increasing the potential for attendees to approach you and turn into leads. Target publications your customers read and focus on the messages you’ve already honed and which you know appeal to them.
Using your digital channels, you can generate buzz by promising something to attendees too. A product launch, demos, partnership opportunities, early product access, discounts, or free services and trials all help to attract potential leads.
During
With the right support, you can arrange interviews with key trade media during a trade show. Typically, event organisers will offer a press room and media list. You can make the most of this opportunity by providing news or other content for the press.
But remember, you must have something valuable to say that appeals to journalists. Don’t mistake them for your customers. They want different things – stories, not solutions. Read our brief guide to pitching a story to learn more.
Speaking at the event can help too. It cements your reputation, builds the profile of your thought leaders, and demonstrates the expertise your company wants to be known for.
Post-event
Once the dust has settled, it’s time to amplify and nurture. Follow up with journalists that you spoke with. Share any additional materials, such as high-resolution images and product videos, that will help them create a better story for their readers. Maintain this relationship and it will pay dividends in the future.
Monitoring your media coverage after the event enables you to amplify your message. Share any articles or posts published about your company via your social channels, website, or your newsletter. As well as widening the audience, these materials will act as social proof for your company and solutions that will help encourage any prospects along your sales funnel.
Use the event as a basis for new content. Work with your content team to see what you can do. Every conversation, photo, interview or speaking slot is a rich vein that can be mined to help your content marketing efforts. And the more get out of the event, the greater the ROI.
4. Collect data and qualify your leads
One of the best things to do is to capture data from attendees that you can then use once the event is over. These could be soft metrics like sentiment or satisfaction so you can see how you are changing your potential customers’ attitudes. Or it could be email addresses and hard metrics, like buying times, budgets, and purchasing authority, so that you can qualify your leads earlier on.
Collecting several forms of data will help you after the event, too. It will help you to measure the success of your activities and tweak your strategy for the future. This will have a multiplier effect, contributing to a potential increased ROI for every event your company goes on to have a presence at.
What was your cost per lead? Which leads converted? How can you change your strategy to increase those conversion? Having the right data will let you answer questions like these.
“Data is great, but don’t let it distract or derail you from what you’re at the event for: to generate leads and win new business,” said Hannah Thame, Account Director and Head of Operations at Resonates. Adding, “Find a way to collect the data quickly, accurately, and without stifling the human conversations that you’re having.”
5. Implement a personalised follow-up campaign
Journalists aren’t the only relationships that need nurturing after the event. Have a detailed plan for a follow-up campaign to nurture the new leads that you made on the day and give your salespeople the data you’ve collected to help them convert any leads.
Start your nurture campaign using content focused on your leads’ pains and needs. Make your communications as personalised as your capacity allows – the more specific, the better. The beauty of this method is that because you’ve spent time talking with these people and qualifying the lead, personalising your comms won’t take up lots of capacity. Nurturing these prospects should be much easier and more successful than any cold email campaign.
About Resonates
If you’ve got a cleantech event you’re attending, get in touch to see how we can help you maximise your investment and boost your ROI.
With over 20 years of experience in the cleantech sector, we help businesses grow using our PR and marketing expertise, combined with our in-depth knowledge of the green transition industries.
