Virtual Trade Shows: Common Challenges And How To Address Them

Interacting with current clients and prospective customers is crucial in sales and marketing. That is why companies must take advantage of opportunities that will allow them to create meaningful relationships with their target audience. But what happens when live events and in-person exhibits are no longer possible?

That is what the COVID-19 pandemic has done in the last year. With the increasing number of positive cases, face-to-face meetings and events have been canceled. To address the problem, many sales and marketing teams have seen the appeal of going virtual.

Turning digital means marketers will have to translate the meaningful interactions, conversations, and relationship-building gained from in-person trade shows. In achieving this goal, there may be challenges that will come your way.

Here are some of the most common challenges and some tips on how you can address them:

Impersonal Experience

Creating a digital connection is different from in-person interactions. The live experience cannot be replicated online.

What companies can do is ensure that the digital experience is more personal and warmer. One way of doing that is by welcoming registrants by name as they log in.

Lower Engagement

Ensuring buyer engagement at a virtual event is hard. Even if you garner more attendees than expected, you cannot ensure that they are 100% focused on what you are presenting.

You have to keep your audience entertained. You can incorporate polls or surveys throughout the event. Some companies also opt to incorporate contests wherein the attendees get a chance to win a prize by engaging during the trade show.

Limited Networking

Building relationships with other businesses and leaders in your industry can help you achieve growth. However, that may be difficult to do online.

Think of ways to communicate with them during your event. For instance, you can include a chat feature. Another way you can consider is to add topical break-out sessions. If you opt for this, make sure you have an engaging facilitator.

Tech Issues

The only way to prevent this is through proper planning and preparation. Make sure you have a backup plan. Scheduling a run-through before the official launch will also help.

There are many advantages to virtual trade shows. They will not only allow you to bring your business closer to your target clients. They will also widen the reach of your campaigns. However, there are some challenges that companies would have to overcome. Working with a full-service exhibit company can lessen the burden. Contact Lighthouse Exhibits to learn more about virtual trade shows. We also recently launched a virtual exhibit platform, which you may find interesting.