Buyer personas are becoming more and more of a necessity when it comes to marketing. According to Hubspot, the definition of a buyer persona, “is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers. When creating your buyer persona(s), consider including customer demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals. The more detailed you are, the better.” In short, personas represent your target audience, and once you know your target attendee persona, you can use it to drive your marketing strategy.
Creating a trade show attendee persona will help you attract the right buyers. Once you’ve done the research and pulled data to create a specific buyer persona, you’ll need to implement this into all of your marketing strategies.
In order to appeal to your ideal attendees, you need to understand a few things about implementing a buyer persona.
Does your booth experience inspire them to take action?
Understanding the key motivators and pain points of your personas is key to influencing them to take action. Connect with your potential buyers’ priorities, and your audience will view your business offerings as a fit for them.
Understanding your specific trade show audience may require surveys to get into the nitty-gritty. While demographics are important, it’s also important to learn and understand other items such as: what are their motivators in their career success, what motivates them to attend events, what challenges do they/their business face? Applying these answers into your trade show exhibit will give your attendees the feeling that you truly understand them and their needs. Rather than trying to make a connection with you and your services or products, it will come more naturally to them.
Is the content in your exhibit meaningful to them?
Finding out what types of things matter most to your persona will guide you in your marketing. If content is relatable, it becomes more meaningful. If content is personalized, it becomes even more meaningful.
Find ways to connect to real-life scenarios in your exhibit. When you’re aiming to appeal to a very specific audience, you’ll be able to hone in on the ones that make the most sense to your business, rather than trying to appeal to the masses. Developing content that your ideal attendee can relate to on a deeper level will go much further than only partially relating to a larger audience. Doing this will make it hard for your buyers to say ‘no’ to you when they feel like it’s such a perfect match.
Do the research, implement questionnaires and surveys, pull the data, continue learning about your audience, and once you truly understand your ideal buyer persona, dig into new marketing strategies that help you show them that you understand them. Feeling understood and like someone has listened to them about their needs will make your exhibiting efforts all the more effective.