How to attract more potential clients at conferences?

How to attract more potential clients at conferences?

Marketing is fuel for any type of business – if you run one, then you know this too well. There are myriads of ways to promote a company, from social media campaigns to brochures and TV commercials. Of course, marketing strategies vary depending on your business model. While B2C companies might prioritize fast and generalized conversion, B2B enterprises have to more subtle.

Networking is one of the most efficient ways to make valuable connections for B2B enterprises, especially for the competitive IT sector. You might want to stick to emails and LinkedIn connections, but the truth is that face-to-face communication is way more effective. For instance, companies that focus on meeting potential prospects face-to-face have 40% conversion rates comparing to only 16% of those that don’t.

However, only showing up to a meeting won’t do the thing. Events and conferences are an excellent space to build partnerships, but it’s surprising how many professional business people don’t spare enough time to prepare for such occasions. Then it comes as no surprise if no one contacts you afterward. Cloudsuppliers got you covered, we made a list of 5 tips that will help IT companies stand out in a crowd and shine at any networking event.

Do your homework

Some conferences host hundreds of people from various companies and institutions. It can be difficult to bump into potential leads, so you have to do everything that’s in your power to make it happen. Check the event website, go through companies that will be attending, speakers, and sponsors. Make a list of the ones that could be potential clients, and then find them on LinkedIn.

You can prepare a brief introduction of your company and the services the business provides.

Going through the participant list is essential because it happens too often when you scroll through photos after the conference is over and see someone you wished to meet and missed

Contact potential clients beforehand

And don’t worry, you won’t show off as pushy or annoying. If potential leads are attending the event, you can introduce yourself on LinkedIn or email and explain why it’s important for you to meet.

Conferences usually host many people from different backgrounds, so planning your meetings is a time-saving solution. Depending on a connection, you can also invite leads for a business lunch or drinks after the event. An informal atmosphere will help you stand out and build more genuine relationships.

Prepare to represent your business

Prepare your teams’ business cards, don’t fall short on business cards, and order an extra batch. Nothing seems more unprofessional than searching every pocket to find remaining cards.

There might be a lot of attention from other attendees, so take some work off your shoulders by printing brochures and booklets. They will provide more in-depth information about the company and your services. Additionally, it will help leads to remember your business better after the event is over.

Come early and leave late

You have only so much time, so use it wisely. Conferences tend to get hectic after lunch and in the evening, but if you come early, you can catch potential customers and have more space to lead a conversation. The same goes for staying until the end of the event. It gives more privacy and helps clients to memorize your pitch.

Register as a speaker

If you have the authority to speak on a relevant topic, it can help to attract more potential clients. First of all, speaking at a conference or any event will represent you and your business as a credible source of information. Second of all, other participants will memorize you better.

Don’t be shy and contact event organizers, they might have an opportunity for you. You don’t necessarily need to make a full TED talk, a lot of events invite participants to attend panel discussions and share their insights on a particular matter.

Cloudsuppliers for the B2B Business Model

Conferences and events are a vital part of a tech business growth and marketing strategies. Don’t take it for granted and use those few days to represent your company and grab the attention of potential clients.

Although B2B communication has some unique points, especially if you run a tech business, Cloudsuppliers can help you out. Competition is fierce, so we understand that networking in the IT field can be complicated. But to this day, we assisted many businesses on their way to networking at conferences. For instance, one of our clients, Smart DC, reached a conversion rate of 10% on a database of 100 emails at Cloudfest in 2018.

Cloudsuppliers also assisted our client, HOSTKEY, with their participation in the SparkAI Summit in Amsterdam, which took place on October 15-17th. We assisted them with their social media marketing and customer engagement before the event. During this time, we helped them to arrange as many meetings as possible at the summit, and a few members of our team also went to the event to make sure everything went according to the plan, and HOSTKEY is satisfied with the result.

Dmitry Asafyev, Senior Marketing Communications Manager at HOSTKEY, shares his experience with Cloudsuppliers:

“In our preparations, during the Summit and the follow-up, Cloudsuppliers has been a great partner for us. For HOSTKEY, it was very important to work together with a partner who could help us not only during the event but during the entire summit-process. Cloudsuppliers was the right partner for us, and we are very positive about the continuation of our cooperation!”

And it’s only a few of our success stories, so, if you want to attract more clients, check our services and make your business shine at every event!