Marketing Strategy for Promoting a Trade Show Mobile App

In the dynamic world of trade shows, staying ahead of the curve is not just a goal; it's a necessity. As innovative technology continues to redefine the event industry, trade show organizers are embracing innovative solutions to enhance the overall event experience. One game-changer is Map Your Show's Event Mobile App, and with its recent updates, the possibilities are more exciting than ever. Follow along as we explore critical tips for marketing an event mobile app. 

Content by Madison Frye, Marketing Associate at Map Your Show 

When creating a marketing strategy for your event mobile app, there are more aspects to consider than what meets the eye. You and your team will need to have a comprehensive approach that goes beyond email notifications alone. 

Define Your Objectives

Identify Goals

Specify the goals for your exhibition app. These could include increasing attendee and exhibitor use and engagement, streamlining planning and session scheduling, enhancing networking opportunities, or boosting exhibitor ROI. No matter what your goal is, it is important to select these before developing the rest of your strategy. 

Set Metrics

Create measurable metrics or SMART Goals to track the success of your marketing efforts. These could include metrics such as the number of app downloads, active users, engagement rates, and even user satisfaction scores from a post-event survey. 

Create Brand Guidelines

You have chosen to implement an event mobile app to enrich your audience. To achieve this, it is important to supply your mobile app designer with well-developed and branded visuals to make it more engaging to the end-user. To do this, we recommend creating thorough branding guidelines for your show. 

Know Your Audience

Breakdown and Analyze

When segmenting your audience, it's crucial to divide them into distinct segments based on their role within the event ecosystem. This can include attendees, exhibitors, sponsors or partners, and speakers, each bringing a unique perspective and set of goals to the table.

Persona Development

Create detailed personas for each audience segment to understand their motivations, pain points, preferences, and communication channels. This will help you tailor the messaging within your marketing collateral and help to resonate with each group. In this section, it is also important to note what your audience may hope to gain by attending, exhibiting, or investing in your event. 

Highlight Key Features and Benefits

Feature Promotion

Develop compelling messaging and visuals highlighting the app's key functionalities, benefits, and UX Design (digital design focused on helping a product provide meaningful and exciting experiences to users). Focus your messaging on how the app can address your audience's pain points and enhance their overall event experience. 

Educational Content

Create many different formats of educational content, such as blog posts, videos, tutorials, or infographics, that explain how to download, navigate, and utilize the app effectively. Provide step-by-step guides and real-life examples to demonstrate its value proposition. Each person within your audience learns differently, so your educational content must cater to multiple learning styles. This can be through video content, written guides, or a webinar on using the event mobile app for show success. 

Choose Your Marketing Channels

Website Integration

To increase app downloads, include clear call-to-action buttons and dedicated landing pages on your event website that guide users to download the app. Make sure these elements are easy to locate and visually appealing. 

Email Campaigns

Craft targeted email campaigns to promote the app to registered attendees, exhibitors, sponsors, and speakers. Personalize your email messaging strategy by segmenting your list based on the specific needs and interests of each audience type or persona. 

Social Media Promotion

Leverage your event's social media channels to create excitement around the app. Share sneak peeks of features, user testimonials, behind-the-scenes content, and interactive polls to engage your audience and encourage sharing. Make sure your social media content includes content across various formats, such as photos, videos, or a carousel. 
The bulk of downloads will occur within a week of the event starting. 

Printed Collateral

Incorporate app promotion in printed materials such as event brochures, flyers, posters, and signage. Include a QR code or short URLs that attendees can quickly scan or type to download the app directly. 
We recommend using no more than one QR code per page on printed materials. 

Webinars and More

To showcase the app's features and benefits, utilize pre-event webinars, networking events, exhibitor meetings, and press conferences. Provide live demonstrations, Q&A sessions, and hands-on training to encourage early adoption. 

Additional Opportunities

Mobile App Sponsorships

Create unique sponsorship packages with branding opportunities within the app, such as sponsored push notifications, splash screens, banner ads, or sponsored content sections. Make sure to highlight the visibility and reach that sponsors will gain by sponsoring. 

Gather and Analyze Feedback

Gaining Feedback

Establish ways to collect feedback throughout the event lifecycle. This could include post-event evaluations or direct communication channels like a feedback form or emailed survey. 

Data Analysis

Analyze the app's usage, engagement rates, user feedback, and other relevant data to evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. You can then use this data to identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement to inform future developments to your marketing strategy and the app itself. 

Conclusion 

A great marketing strategy is an asset that can enhance the overall event experience. Incorporating these features into your marketing strategy can create excitement and captivate your audience, setting your event apart from the rest. By choosing Map Your Show's Event Mobile App, you can stay ahead of the curve and shape the future of overall event engagement while providing attendees with a memorable and successful event experience. 

Stay tuned for new and exciting updates coming to our Mobile App!