INTRODUCTION

Healthcare tradeshows provide a one-stop shop to keep up with industry trends, develop new contacts and drive new leads. According to CEIR, 81 percent of tradeshow display attendees have buying authority. With the right marketing strategy, tradeshows can provide your health tech company with increased brand awareness and direct sales opportunities.

Here are seven healthcare tradeshow tips to improve your marketing.

1. Have a plan
Planning for a tradeshow begins months prior to event. Set up a meeting with current staff, including marketing, sales and management, to ensure everyone agrees on the goals for attending the event. Make sure you address why your healthcare IT company or startup should attend, whom you need to meet, how will you gather leads and what specifically do you plan on doing at the show.

2. Be a part of the conversation
To expand your brand and message exposure, include the conference’s official hashtag (e.g. #health2con) with your social media posts. This is your chance to share your content, such as white papers and infographics, that are relevant to attendees. Also, check with the show organizers to see if there are opportunities to advertise your booth activities in an e-newsletter.

3. Execute media relations tactics
If the tradeshow doesn’t automatically send out an attendees list, research media outlets (e.g. HealthcareITNews) that will be attending and secure interviews for your subject matter experts and/or CEO. Have your PR team conduct media training so that the SMEs and CEO are prepared for interviews. Also, reporters don’t want to carry stacks of marketing collateral around the floor, so put your assets (including logo) on a USB stick or email them a link to your website’s media center.

4. Remember that the people in your booth matter
First impressions are lasting impressions. Create the right mix of staff who can answer every type of question. For instance, if you’re launching a new product at Health Informatics, include both sales and technical staff at your booth. Make sure staff members stay on message by using the pre-approved talking points with potential customers. Finally, don’t allow booth staff to sit idly–they need to appear welcoming and eager to engage with passers-by.

5. Select an ideal booth space
The better the booth location, the more traffic it will attract. Although companies don’t often have control over location, some tradeshows assign booth spaces based on exhibitor’s past participation and the booth size. If possible, distance yourself from your competitor’s exhibit and try to be near the action, such as a corner or intersection near the entrance.

6. Be unique
Not only is the location of your booth important, but what you display is, too. Simple pop-up banners don’t cut it anymore–you have to make your exhibit stand out among the sea of exhibits. For example, at HIMSS 2017, Bluetree Network’s space included a tall, blue tree, which was noticeable from all points in the tradeshow floor.

7. Follow-ups are key
Just because the tradeshow is over doesn’t mean the work stops. Do NOT add every business card you collected to an email marketing list, especially since opt-in is permission-based. Instead, send personal emails to everyone who stopped by, and set up follow-up meetings, webinars, calls, etc. to move prospects further along your sales funnel.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Revelation PR, Advertising & Social Media offers healthcare IT companies and startups services related to media relations, email marketing, investor relations, tradeshow marketing, content marketing and social media management. Please contact Brian Lee, brian [at] experiencerevelation.com or 608-622-7767.