How VR Can Enhance Your Next Trade Show

August 17, 2017

Dave Beck

Dave Beck is a founder and managing partner at Foundry 45, an Atlanta-based company that helps brands tell their stories through virtual reality.

From a business’s perspective, trade shows offer an exceptional opportunity to demonstrate their product and connect their brand to potential consumers in a face-to-face interaction. My team and I looked over some trade show statistics and found a lot of vindicating information for businesses who choose to take advantage of these events.

Here are some compelling statistics that stood out to us during our research:

  • 99 percent of exhibitors find unique value delivered by B2B trade shows that are not provided by other marketing channels.
  • 83 percent of trade show attendees have some kind of buying power
  • The No. 1 reason for attending trade shows is to see new products, with 92 percent of trade show attendees saying they are looking for new products. It has been the No. 1 reason to attend a trade show for 25 years.
  • According to Exhibit Surveys, Inc., 67 percent of all attendees represent a new prospect and potential customer for exhibiting companies. This means trade shows are always rich in new business targets for you.

Trade shows are lined with potential leads that you wouldn’t be able to access without participating, so making the most of your appearance as an exhibitor is crucial in order to maximize the return on your investment.

Virtual reality experiences have been proven to impact attendees significantly more than conventional trade show practices. The allure of cutting-edge VR technology along with the immersive capabilities of these experiences are guaranteed to make your brand stand out.

In fact, the list of benefits seems to be never-ending. Eighty-one percent of consumers will tell their friends about their VR experience and users are exponentially more likely to remember a VR experience over traditional marketing content such as a poster or a video.

VR experiences are actually so immersive that “they are akin to memories,” so you can ensure your message is sticking with your audience. We’ve had clients cite a 33 percent increase in leads acquired after they began using a VR experience in their trade show booths.

With VR, you can garner more leads while saving money by making use of a smaller booth space. The engaging nature of the VR experience will take pressure off the staff hosting the booth by communicating the brand story for them. If you have a VR experience created for your business, you’ll find that people will be lining up to absorb your message.

And don’t just take it from me, I recommend you listen to Todd Ervin, director of marketing and communications for Georgia Tech’s Scheller Business College, who discussed how the VR experience our company created with him attracted a lot of engagement at MBA recruiting events.

He also talked about how taking advantage of different distribution channels can yield enormous benefits in terms of social media engagement and product exposure. You can hear him speaking with my colleague Mike Orndorff and me on a special segment of Atlanta Business Radio here.

Overall, I recommend taking advantage of virtual reality technology at your next trade show appearance. Not only will you make a great impression on your prospects, you’ll also make sure that they receive the messages you want to send.

 

(Research provided by David Andriate, Digital Media Specialist at Foundry 45)

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