To Go, or Not to Go: eCommerce Events
Because online marketing requires so much attention, preparation, and hard work, it can be one of the most time consuming parts of running a business. While managing all your social media posts, newsletters, PPC ads, and blog posts can eat up precious man hours, the result is a marketing message that is cohesive and targeted. So why not go out on a limb and transition into offline marketing in order to promote your business?
Part and parcel of an online business is, obviously, maintaining an online presence. But if you want to stay ahead of the competition, you also have to be physically present at different events. This opens up the opportunity for exclusive chances to meet your clients, talk to them, discuss your products, showcase them, get valuable feedback and insights, and make new connections. In the age of customer centricity, the point of view of your customers should be a determinant when thinking about further development of your business. And even though this can be achieved over phone or through online correspondence, it doesn’t really compare to what you can learn from them face to face.
Active presence can be very beneficial for you as it helps you:
- promote your brand
- network, make new contacts
- improve your knowledge of the market
- acquire new customers
- gain invaluable feedback
- make communication with your customers easier
You don’t necessarily need to prepare anything in advance; you can simply attend these types of events as a guest and enjoy their company. But if you really want to make the magic happen, a little preparation can go a long way. Create promotional materials that will do half the work for you. Make a roll-up, posters, leaflets, badges, stickers, pens, pretty much whatever comes to your mind that can help advertise your brand. Bring some samples of your products which can act as small gifts to help remind potential customers about what you can offer them. Make sure your brand’s logo is everywhere — if you have a t-shirt with your logo on it, dress up! But most of all, whatever you do, don’t forget to have your business cards on you!
MonkeyData Team Offline
We know that offline presence cannot be underestimated, which is why we do our best to attend as many eCommerce exhibitions, conferences, and shows as we possibly can. Last year was filled with many amazing experiences because we had the chance to attend a number of inspiring events (WWV, eCommerce Berlin Expo, Dx3, Shopify Unite, IRCE, Lightspeed Connect). We also co-hosted a Retail conference with Shopgate in Austin, Texas, and hosted the very first Shopify Partner meet-up in Prague!
Simply being present and talking to people gave us so many new ideas, and allowed us to view our business with fresh eyes. We improved our product, developed two brand new ones, changed some bits and pieces for better UX, etc. After all this, we decided to open an office in Amsterdam to be closer to our European customers. :-)
Latest event: Webwinkel Vakdagen
Webwinkel Vakdagen is a leading digital commerce event in the Netherlands. The conference took place in Utrecht, on January 24th & 25th, and was attended by 12,500+ people. All the top global eCommerce players attended this event and we were very proud that our MonkeyData team was among them. WWV was a very positive experience as it helped us to actively promote our new product strategy and raise overall brand awareness. So, where would you like to see us next? :-)
What do you think about this topic? Do you have any tips for 2018 eCommerce events you’re planning to attend? Share it with us in the comment section below.
