Making The Most of Your Cannabis Trade Show Investment

Best practices for before, during, and after the cannabis trade show.

According to Statista, in 2022, the B2B trade show market in the United States was valued at 10.17 billion dollars and projected to reach 14.72 billion dollars by 2027. While in-person events experienced a hiatus due to COVID-19 and the pandemic itself caused an increase in food, beverage, and audiovisual costs, these obstacles have yet to discourage businesses from investing tens of thousands of dollars into their annual trade show budgets.

Why? Because for sales and marketing teams, trade shows provide a unique opportunity to engage face-to-face with the individuals they seek to make digital connections with daily. While you may be able to reach hundreds—or even thousands— of people in a single day through LinkedIn messages, an auto-dialer system, or an email blast, personal connections are difficult to establish. For the cannabis industry and its grassroots beginnings, small businesses still make up a large portion of the industry, and those personal connections can make the difference in winning business. 

Is It One Or The Other?

“Why do I need a data intelligence tool if I go to tradeshows?”. This is a question that comes up frequently, especially when organizations are looking for ways to reduce costs or have a small sales and marketing budget to begin with. The truth is, it’s not one or the other—you need both. Data is ever-changing, and 100% accuracy is impossible. People switch jobs, companies merge, decision makers change. The people you meet at a cannabis trade show tomorrow could be working at a different company 90 days from now, which means the data you obtained at the event no longer holds value. 

A comprehensive sales and marketing strategy is omni-channel, which means leveraging numerous outlets to engage with prospects. Social media, paid advertising, trade shows and in-person events, blogs and e-books, email, gifting—the options are endless. And in order to power those channels and get the most out of your investment, quality data is required. So before you choose between a data tool and a channel like a cannabis trade show, consider how you can maximize ROI by utilizing both.

Below are steps to take before, during, and after cannabis trade shows that will ensure success and how a tool like Emerald Intel can help.

Before The Cannabis Trade Show

1. Ask for a registration list and research it. Most trade show organizations will provide a pre-event registration list to paying sponsors and exhibitors. While the list may not include full contact details like email or phone number, you can still get a sense of the attending organizations. If you have a tool like Emerald Intel, you can make quick work of gathering valuable intelligence on those registered—and even obtain direct contact information to inform your outreach!
   
   
2. Reach out and connect with ideal prospects prior to the event. As long as the trade show organizer doesn't explicitly prohibit pre-event outreach, do some! Send personalized LinkedIn messages to try and set on-site meetings, send a marketing email sharing your booth location and give them a reason to stop by, or spin up a happy hour or dinner and invite them as your guest. There are numerous ways to warm your key prospects before the show even begins. Consider connecting with others at the organization that may not be registered as well. With a tool like Emerald Intel providing verified contact information, you can expand your reach before the show even begins!
   
   
3. Research your fellow sponsors and exhibitors. While it’s only natural to think first about the attendees, it's strategic to understand who else is there seeking business. Are your competitors sponsoring and if so, what level? Are there complimentary organizations in attendance that could lead to lucrative partnerships or referral programs? Utilize technographic information from a tool like Emerald Intel to tie the registration list back to sponsors and exhibitors. With the inside scoop on which prospects are using specific technologies, you can have more informed conversations and make the most of your down-time between attendee networking opportunities.

During The Cannabis Trade Show

1. Rent a lead retrieval device—in fact, rent more than one. Larger trade shows tend to offer lead retrieval device rentals. Rent one for each team member in attendance and use them! When your booth is busy, the last thing you—or your prospect wants to do—is to wait to be scanned. Don’t be shy about asking to scan someone’s badge either—it’s the easiest way to capture their information and attendees expect it. A good lead retrieval system will allow you to add notes, so take advantage of that. After one to two days of networking, conversations blend together, and your trade show follow up needs to be accurate.
   
   
2. If lead retrieval devices aren’t available, create your own system. Did you receive a pre-registration conference list? Print it out, or have it open on a laptop and take notes as you speak to prospects. Collect business cards, and if a prospect doesn’t have them, have a notebook ready to take down their information. Most importantly, create a classification system to quickly determine level of interest and who should be followed up with first. Using the standard MQL/SQL designations can ensure you put the right amount of energy into each prospect.
   
   
3. Step out from behind the table and work the room. One of the worst things you can do as a sponsor or exhibitor is wait for people to come to you. Yes, you paid to put up a table and brought some cool swag to attract attention, but quality foot-traffic isn’t guaranteed. Are there specific sessions that are of interest to you? Go sit in on them. Are certain meals catered in a hall with open seating? Take your meals with attendees. Is your booth in the opposite direction of the bar? Get in line and network while you wait to be served. Once you start a quality conversation, bring them back to your table for a quick demo, or to enter your raffle. You paid to be there—make the most of it!

After The Cannabis Trade Show

1. Follow up needs to be priority one. After a few long days of networking, the last thing you’ll probably want to do is jump straight into trade show follow up, but every day counts. You weren’t the only product or service prospects learned about at the trade show and while they may have seemed highly interested in the moment, the catch-up they’re now dealing with post-event can quickly make them forget. Leverage the notes you took and the MQL/SQL designations you assigned to guide your initial follow up and go after the low hanging fruit first. If you’re missing contact information for certain prospects or want to verify what was collected, use a tool like Emerald Intel to quickly obtain emails and phone numbers to support follow up. 
   
   
2. Follow up needs to be personalized. Your trade show follow up needs to be specific and purposeful. Did you commit to calling your prospect on Friday at noon? Make sure you do. Did you offer to send them a copy of your company’s newest e-book? Send it ASAP. Reference specifics from the conversation you had with them, remind them of the challenges they shared with you, and make it easy for them to take next steps and engage. The personalization you apply to your outreach can make the difference in whether your prospect turns into a viable opportunity. And don’t forget to research the company itself. With a tool like Emerald Intel, you can gather additional information and even leverage recent news about the organization to bolster your trade show follow up.
   
   
3. Track trade show ROI deliberately. The administrative work that follows a cannabis trade show is a necessary evil when evaluating whether to commit dollars to next year’s event and should be a natural part of your trade show follow up process. Load your new prospects into a CRM and tag them to the trade show, either through a campaign structure or a drop-down field with predefined options. It doesn’t matter how you choose to organize your data, but it needs to be reportable. It’s important that you can tie closed-won opportunities back to your cannabis trade show investment and show the business that the time and dollars committed paid off. 

Conclusion

Attending cannabis trade shows can generate quality pipeline, drive market awareness, and expose your representatives to people and thought leadership that can further support their sales and marketing initiatives. That said, a true investment in attending a cannabis trade show isn’t just the dollars spent on the sponsorship or table. Investment starts weeks before the event ever takes place and continues weeks after it ends. Having established processes in place, a reliable business intelligence tool, and a plan of action for before, during, and after the trade show will help ensure measurable return. 

Don’t dismiss a tool like Emerald Intel and the additional ROI it can drive from your cannabis trade show investment when used strategically. The world of data is in a constant state of change. Static lists go stale within weeks. A dedicated provider of data and information ensures you have the intel you need to continue pursuit no matter what.

To learn more about our cannabis business intelligence and the robust information we provide on licensed companies and contacts across the US and Canada, schedule time with us here.