Segmentation. What does it even mean for the modern marketing pro?
Ideally, it means zoning in, forming a compelling, highly tailored message, and – most important – creating engagement with an audience that fits a specific customer profile instead of blasting an email to a huge group of people.
And for the modern trade show exhibitor, segmentation should be embedded in the fabric of their pre-show marketing campaigns. These days, exhibitors cannot just show up to the venue and expect optimal traffic. Sure, you’ll get some good conversations and scan a lot of badges. At a good show, that’s guaranteed.
But to really elevate your trade show experience – meaning gathering hundreds of quality leads – you should tailor your messaging to each group you are focusing on in a strong pre-show campaign. When done correctly, this produces a swarm of high-quality leads flowing right into your sales pipeline.
And that’s why segmentation is so important. And proven!
Segmented campaigns gain substantially greater opens and clicks than non-segmented campaigns. Do it right and you will start creating conversations with attendees months before the show.
And because segmentation is such an integral topic in email marketing, here are three top tips that can help you get started.
1) Demographics
Segmentation always starts with demographics. It’s about looking at industry-specific attributes. Which industry vertical do they represent? What type of technology solutions are they looking for? Where are they located? And so on.
This is the first step because using demographics is key to start carving out your database.
2) Tailored Content and Format
Some use the term “content” very liberally these days, but it’s still very important in your email campaign segmentation efforts. Different audiences prefer different formats. Is it a blog post you just published? A link to an e-book? Or maybe you are promoting a webinar? The point is that different prospects within your database/pipeline prefer different content – and it’s up to the progressive marketer to realize that and react.
3) Email Engagement
If they are not engaged from the first message, they will fall off quickly. That’s just how it works. If your message is compelling enough to generate their interest and – more important – have them follow through with a call to action, well, now you have a dialogue! Different attendees will react differently to your message, and it’s up to you to segment their behavior for strong follow-up campaigns.
Although each exhibitor’s marketing plan is unique – these three tips can help you set a solid foundation to start implementing a strong marketing campaign.
Exhibitor Passport provides all the tools for IMTS exhibitors to access and segment the attendee database. Exhibitors can filter attendee names based on categories such as industry and product interests and then zone in on the contacts who may find value in their campaign.
If you already have access to Exhibitor Passport and would like more tips on segmentation – or are interested to see how it works – please reach out to PassportNotify@AMTonline.org.
