Have you been disappointed by the lack of interest in your organization’s digital branding opportunities for exhibitors and sponsors? Sarah and I have been having many discussions with our exhibitor colleagues lately and one of the topics we’ve been focusing on is the current branding opportunities available to exhibitors at meetings.
We 100% believe in online, digital advertising. I mean, our livelihood is a website, right?! However, when reviewing various conference prospectus’ for digital opportunities, we’ve been noticing a need for improvement.
Many times, the opportunity offered is a logo placement on the organization’s website or in email communication. While logo visibility is important and can attract attention, exhibitors need more to justify the cost of these add-ons. We know from online marketing that it only works if we are able to include a “call to action.” A simple way to make this more appealing to exhibitors is to allow them to design an “ad” with a corresponding link for your digital publications, rather than just a logo. This will allow the exhibitor to place a compelling ad with a call to action and accompany it with a link specifically designed to capture the visitor’s information for follow-up. Of course, the success of the ad depends on the ad design and landing page link – all in the hands of the exhibitor.
Additionally, conference planners must be aware of how attendees will interact with their website and email communication, and design digital opportunities around this. For example, including an exhibitor ad or logo on the conference website will not provide a significant amount of return. Here’s why: once attendees register for the event, it is unlikely they will return to the website often enough or for enough time to interact with the exhibitor ad. A website listing provides a limited amount of exposure.
Another example: email communication. If your digital opportunity is that you will include an exhibitor ad or logo in a registration confirmation email, though it may sound valuable, it’s actually not. Here’s why: once an attendee is registered, it is unlikely they will open the confirmation email. They know they registered. If they do open it, it’s just for a cursory glance to ensure the process worked. Improve this opportunity by including exhibitor ads in several email communications, specifically those providing pertinent information to the attendee such as hotel reservations, on-site details, and agenda highlights or workshop signups.
We have so many more thoughts on this. We will be publishing more of our findings in future newsletters so keep an eye out. Additionally, if you would like to chat with us, please reach out to us anytime via email at BeHeard@PodiatryMeetings.com
PS – We’re busy updating our comprehensive calendar with all the podiatric conferences for 2022. If you don’t see your meeting on our calendar, please reply to this email with the pertinent details (when, where, what) and we will get it added as soon as we can!
Additionally, if your conference offers a track for medical assistants, please let us know so we can add those details to your event listing.
– ANN