Summary: Choosing the right expo requires understanding your target audience, including their specific pain points. Other considerations include marketing segmentation and audience lifestyle preferences. By researching and aligning with expos that cater to your niche, you ensure effective lead generation and a high ROI.
From coast to coast, there are approximately 13,000 trade shows in America each year. That means one individual could attend 35 unique shows every day.
However, in the fast-paced world of small businesses, time is of the essence. How can you ensure you’re exhibiting at the expo where you’re most likely to engage with your target audience?
In this chapter, we’ll take a look at how to identify your target audience. Then, we’ll explain what to look for in an expo or trade show to ensure you reach them effectively. Continue reading to learn how to choose the right event to ensure a high, consistent ROI.
Identifying Your Marketing Audience
An exhibition is, foremost, a marketing event. As we explored in our Ultimate Guide to Small Business Success, all good marketing requires preparation and strategy. Without intentional, research-backed decision-making, all outreach falls flat.
When choosing an expo to attend as an exhibitor, your goal is to generate leads quickly and efficiently. Thus, you must first ensure the attendees fall into your target audience. If you don’t know who they are, you may waste valuable time and money by exhibiting at the wrong events.
Here is what you need to understand about your prospective leads before beginning your selection process.
Understand Their Pain Points
Understanding your target audience goes beyond identifying basic demographics such as age and income level. Every prospective lead arrives at an expo with a problem. It’s crucial to understand their specific pain points so you can offer your product as a solution.
Ideally, you should exhibit at expos where the attendees are already looking for what you have to offer. Then, you can capitalize on the emotional power of face-to-face marketing. From there, it’s simple to ensure they choose your solution above others.
In essence, identifying your target audience means understanding who benefits most from your product and why. That will help you craft specific customer personas that include their motivations and challenges. Match them to expo attendee personas to ensure there is enough overlap to justify your attendance.
Research and Segmentation
Another key to identifying a specific target audience is segmentation. That means identifying smaller subsets of your broader target audience. Segments typically have nuanced and specific needs.
For example, consider a boutique offering both resort wear and bridal wear. Those planning vacations will have different interests and problems than those planning weddings. To reach both segments, you must use different messaging and attend different events.
Often, identifying untapped segments begins by analyzing your competitors. Who are they targeting with their outreach? More importantly, who are they leaving behind?
This information provides an opportunity to capitalize on marketing to populations other companies are missing. From there, you can ensure your marketing efforts speak to their unique industry or customization needs. To use our example, you might choose to attend a bridal expo. That’s especially valuable if your competitors are focused elsewhere.
Your research might even reveal multiple untapped segments and audiences. Consider catering your branding, messaging, and outreach methods to reach these targeted segments more effectively. Then, you can look for expos that reach the niche markets where your leads are waiting.
Understand Lifestyle Preferences
Your brand likely has more than one unique value proposition. Aim to understand your audience’s priorities and lifestyle preferences to better cater your message for specificity. That includes prioritizing attendance at expos and events that match what your prospective leads value most.
For example, does your target audience value sustainability? If that’s an element of your unique value proposition, that information can help you send the right message. Just showing up at a “green business expo” makes a statement that you are in alignment with attendees.
Understanding your potential customers’ values also requires research. You can learn about them through research into web analytics and surveys and by keeping an eye on industry trends.
Meeting Your Target Audience Where They Are
Once you know who your target audiences are, it’s much easier to find out where they are going to be. An expo is, fundamentally, a gathering of people with similar priorities all in one place. For example, The Small Business Expo welcomes as many as 5,000 unique attendees in larger cities. If all of those attendees are looking for your solution, a high ROI is almost inevitable.
Here are the steps to take when choosing expos that align with your target audience:
- Look for expos dedicated to your industry or niche
- Determine if the expo’s theme and focus align with your audience’s interests. Be sure to consider the lifestyle preferences and audience segments identified during your research.
- Request demographic information from expo organizers to ensure it aligns with your customer personas.
- Research the number of attendees to ensure the gathering is large enough to justify your attendance.
- Evaluate the reputation of the expo you’re considering attending to ensure it’s organized and professional. The more established the expo, the higher the attendance.
- Find out which expos and events your closest competitors tend to attend. If your audiences overlap, there is a good chance you will find leads there.
- Leverage industry networks, testimonials, and recommendations, especially from those who have attended in the past.
You can also consider attending an event as a general attendee before committing to exhibiting. That will give you an idea of the demographic, organization, and opportunities for outreach.
Are you ready to Exhibit at one of the largest small business expos in the United States? Discover our powerful lead generation and B2B marketing and register as an exhibitor today.