What Survives the Journey Home After a Conference?

This & That is where we get into the parts of marketing that actually change how your business grows. This issue focuses on trade shows and conferences, because autumn is approaching (we know, we’re sorry) and a significant portion of your budget might soon be swallowed up by these events.

The exhibition stand tends to take up both budget and attention. It demands design time, sparks internal debates and triggers last-minute input from the board. Then the show ends, the stand goes into storage, and the value of the entire exercise ultimately boils down to two things: whatever you managed to get agreed with visitors at the event; and what’s still in peoples’ bags by the time they get home.

The first is worth far more than the second. If someone’s stopped, is interested and has their phone in their hand anyway, your giveaways don’t necessarily need to survive the journey home. That’s because something has already happened, like a connection request sent while you’re both standing there, or twenty minutes put in the diary for next week.

But for visitors who weren’t ready to talk yet, or were pushed for time, the aftermath can amount to a lanyard, two pens and a handful of brochures destined for the recycling bin. A few days later, your potential buyer might be able to name two of the companies present, without there being any particular reason for yours to be one of them. So, when it comes to an exhibition stand, the real question isn’t just whether the stand looks good. It’s also: of everything you hand out, what will continue to play a useful role for you in the following week?

Here’s our thoughts.

The brochure is really for the person who wasn’t there.

No one reads a twelve-page document during a conference. Nor do they read it on the train home, not if they’ve got colleagues to chat with. And they certainly don’t read it back at their desk with 300 emails waiting. But here’s what often goes unnoticed: printed materials don’t have just one reader. The person who picked up the brochure has perhaps already met you, so they have at least some context. The person who really matters is the colleague back at the office who they hand it to – someone who lacks all that background information. That colleague might be the CTO, the budget decision-maker, or the person who’s asked, “is this thing actually worth it?” A simple page explaining how you help your clients is more effective than a document that’s designed to chime with your stand, but not with your leads.

Design for the intended action.

The concrete action to be taken on the stand is just as much a part of the design process as anything else. Choose a single action that you want visitors to take, make sure that the process takes less than a minute, and then make sure that the entire team is fully aware of it. A stand designed to drive a concrete action, such as a sign-up mechanism, gives vastly better results than one designed to hand out brochures.

A QR code is a promise.

If someone scans a code, it’s because they were told that there was something specific behind it. Sending them to a generic web page can be the moment when interest – hard-won as it was – evaporates. Instead, create a dedicated event page. Include the conference name, place the specific item you promised at the top of the page, and keep it live for the following month. It also gives you a precise figure on how many people were interested enough to scan the code; that’s a far more compelling answer than “we had some good conversations” when the board asks about the event’s ROI.

Your team is collateral too.

Ask the five people staffing your stand what the company does, and you’ll often get five different answers, even if they’re all technically accurate. The sales manager has their version, the product person has a more detailed one, and the engineer who was volunteered starts by explaining the technical architecture. Agree on a single statement beforehand and ensure that everyone can say it without wincing. It’s the part of your brand that will be repeated a hundred times over the course of the event.

The follow-up should feel like it comes from the same company.

Designing the stand involved a graphic designer, a precise schedule and multiple rounds of revisions. In contrast, the follow-up email is often quickly drafted and sent ten days later, mentioning how nice it was to meet at [Event Name]. Draft and format your follow-up before you even leave for the conference. Then tweak it for each recipient, using a subject line that references a specific point from the conversation, not just the name of the conference.

As for the stand itself, we’ll spare you the long spiel, other than to say that its aim is to get the right person to slow down, not to explain your product to them. That’s the role of the conversation.

Short on time? Here’s a quick exercise.

Gather everything together on a table: a small version of the stand visual, the brochure, the promotional giveaways, a screenshot of the landing page and a printout of the follow-up email. Step back and look at the whole picture. Does it all look like it came from one company? Is there a single message across all the items? Finally, if a stranger picked up just one of these items in isolation, would they know who it’s for?

If it all holds together, that’s great. If not, the solution comes down to the planning stage: defining the core message before even opening any design software. That’s precisely the step we like to start with.