Marine Trade Shows – What’s The Alternative Now?

If you are a regular exhibitor at marine trade shows what are you planning to do now? Before you get too upset about your trade show cancellation consider these positives.

• You're not spending a huge amount of money on shows this year. Trade Shows are expensive. It's not the cost of the exhibit space. It's the insurance, the marketing materials, staffing, and the planning time. And don't forget travel, the accommodation, and the meals (and alcohol).
• You will now have more time to enter the digital world of lead generation. Consider the time and energy you spent on planning for the show. I know most of my clients start planning at least 4 months before.
• You and your family are safer. You are not travelling as much and you are not putting your family and yourself at risk from viruses.

It's true that trade shows such as Metstrade offer the ability to make connections that can't be reproduced digitally. But, they are not going to be around in the physical sense in the near future. Now you have the opportunity to speed up your transformation into the digital world. Take a strategic look at your marketing budget and find new opportunities to reach customers and increase sales.

What's the alternative?

1. Take a look at your social media presence. Review your channels and which ones you should be concentrating on. Review your content and posting schedule. Take a look at the engagement. If you would like a FREE review of your social media presence contact SPC Marine Marketing. This article should help you determine which channels to focus on. The top 5 social media channels for your marine business.
2. Consider an ad budget to increase your reach on social media. Increasing your brand awareness.
3. Make sure your website is being found, is attractive, navigable, and resulting in enquiries. If not, maybe it is time for a new website that can be optimised for search results. Many exhibitors at Trade Shows I have visited have not even paid £100 for a SSL certificate for their website. Do you know if your website if secure?
4. Spend time on Linkedin utilising this powerful lead generation platform. Make sure you have connected with all the leads you made at previous trade shows. Train your sales team to use Linkedin effectively. Read... Are you networking effectively on Linkedin?
5. Have your sales team create short videos of their sales pitch - why your products or services are the best. Humanise your brand on social.
6. Engage with your customers, find out what they like about your products and what you can improve. Use this content with their approval on your social channels.
7. Organise or take part in a virtual trade show.
8. Consider alternative giveaways to the ones you would have issued at trade shows. Make a series of how-to videos, run a competition, and look at sponsorship opportunities.
9. Join groups on Facebook and Linkedin relevant to your business. Spend time being active and engaging, fostering new leads.
10. Cross-market. Give some air time on social to your customers, suppliers and freelancers. Tag, mention, and share.

At SPC Marine Marketing we are here to help you reach more clients. We are happy to take a look at your website and social channels and give you our thoughts. This is FREE with no-strings-attached. Just get in touch via email heidi@spcmarinemarketing.com or call Heidi on 07804906261