Recently, offline exhibitions have been canceled because of the epidemic. On March 3, (AWE), the China Home Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo, one of the largest in Asia and one of the top three in the world, announced that it would be postponed to next year. The epidemic has indeed suspended or delayed the originally planned offline brands and marketing activities. Many domestic brands tilted their marketing resources to online channels in the first half of the year, and important marketing activities also turned to online, including new product launches, brand marketing activities, dealer opening meetings, and so on.
The same is true of foreign trade exhibitions. New digital service platforms such as “Zhejiang-Hong Kong online Exhibition” and “online Exhibition Trade” timely provide foreign trade enterprises with personalized online exhibition services such as manual buyer matching, specific product inquiry, on-site buyer recommendation, live video conference, global audience data search, etc., in order to match buyers and sellers online.
So the question is, can “online exhibitions” really replace offline exhibitions?
1. “realism” is always the premise of trust.
People are gregarious animals, which seems to be engraved in human genes.
In addition to virtual reality technology, people still like to be with groups in the foreseeable future. This is why e-commerce is so popular and so many shopping malls are still standing.
People need to be with others and need richer interactive experiences. In communicating with customers, you should have the following experience:
Words are not as good as phonetics.
Voice is not as good as the video.
Video is not as good as meet.
It is better to hear than to see. No matter how many online meetings with customers, the intensity of interaction is not as deep as a simple meeting with customers offline.
Among them, the core is to let the products and brands floating in the “air” be able to “land” in front of customers’ eyes and hearts. Because many brands have one of the biggest shortcomings, that is, there is no physical portal in front of customers, so for business decision-makers, there is some invisible feeling.
So, where does the reality of the offline exhibition come from?
Shape: an etiquette lady with a good image and a professional exhibitor salesman.
Voice: multimedia audio and video broadcast, courteous negotiation.
Color: decoration of exhibition area, display of exhibits, furniture layout, color matching.
Touch: product experience, data collection, sample gift.
The seller can intuitively feel the buyer’s appearance, temper, purchasing habits, purchasing process, as well as what products and services they like, what are their special needs, what are the consumption habits of the local market, and what quality certification is needed. The effectiveness of the procurement plan and plan, etc. All these communication contents can be quickly obtained and implemented through communication between buyers and sellers during the exhibition, so as to establish a new customer relationship. Through the communication of each exhibition and the display of new products, we also strengthen and maintain the customer relationship with our old customers.
These feelings of reality and existence cannot be replaced overnight.
Moreover, the offline exhibition is the only way to communicate with buyers, sellers and products in real life at the same time within a certain period of time. It has unique real reliability for transactions.
2. Has the online exhibition been in vain?
Although offline activities, manufacturers, products and customers can be zero distance, customers can not only observe and touch the physical object, there are questions can also be direct consultation, there are views can be exchanged immediately, you can also try to use the physical object, the interaction is very strong. This kind of interactive experience and participation cannot be realized online.
However, online exhibitions also have advantages, which directly solve the shortcomings of offline exhibitions: communication.
(1). The speed of transmission is extremely fast.
The spread speed of the online exhibition is similar to that of the website, and with the support of industry associations, the influence and release speed of the online exhibition platform can not be underestimated.
(2). The scope of spread is very wide.
As there are no geographical restrictions, there is no need for personnel to go to the site, there is no need to transport products to the site, more exhibitors and visitors can participate, as long as there is a network, they can participate online at any time, exchange business cards online, communicate, and expand the business.
(3). Spread for a longer time.
When the offline exhibition is over, the marketing will be invalid, and customers who do not know or are unable to come to the scene will not be able to participate in the exhibition. However, the online exhibition frame is built in the cloud, 365 days / 24 hours to participate in the exhibition, the customer’s use time and duration are not limited.
(4). The cost of communication is low.
There is no need to spend a lot of costs like the traditional offline exhibition, such as booth rental, booth construction, labor cost, transportation cost, material production and so on. You only need to create a corporate home page to facilitate customers’ collection and browsing.
(5). Communication has more personality.
Communication has more personality. The booth of the online exhibition is still customizable, such as the enterprise’s Slogan, product pictures, overall color, etc., which not only retains the highlights of the offline exhibition but also more user-friendly.
To sum up, the online communication is wide, the pertinence is not strong, and the arrival rate is low; the offline transmission area is narrow, but the pertinence is strong, and the achievement rate is high. The two will have their own advantages, and the effect of cooperation with each other will be better.
However, online and offline exhibitions significantly improve the efficiency of B2B enterprises in getting customers?
Is there a better way?
3. Online and offline integration.
No matter how the exhibition moves online, the back is to allow customers to reach the target page through traffic channels.
Smart as you should have found, isn’t this very similar to website drainage?
Yes, online exhibitions are actually a kind of website, not even as good as corporate websites. Because the flow of the online exhibition can not be accumulated, relying on the temporary flow of the exhibition platform can only rely on temporary activities, once the event is over, the exhibition will be shut down. And customers can not browse for a long time, can not be long-term promotion on the site, not as good as the B2B platform website.
But why do companies choose online exhibitions instead of websites? It is not because of the excellent effect of the online exhibition, but because of not knowing the correct way to open the website.
Online and offline integration: offline exhibitions + marketing websites + traffic channels.
(1).Offline exhibition.
When participating in the exhibition offline, customers spend most of their time understanding or comparing a large number of enterprises and products, even if they have an intention for an enterprise’s products because of the limitations of viewing time and energy, but they don’t make consumption decisions right away.
(2).Marketing website.
At the end of the exhibition itinerary, they chose to visit the website again to verify the enterprise’s information in detail, and even quickly understand the enterprise’s production capacity and cultural concepts through video, once they strengthened their recognition of the enterprise’s brand. offline consumption that has not been reached can easily be achieved online.
(3)Traffic channel.
SEM, SEO, SNS, whether customers are before and after the exhibition, customers can find corporate websites through search engines or social platforms, through excellent website rankings or social media professional images. The three-pronged approach covers the main B2B customer search paths.
An online and offline integration system can give full play to the effectiveness of salespeople and help salespeople do better. In a limited time, customers that the salesman can not meet can be obtained online; for the promotion of new products and promotional information, online can not rely on the salesman’s dictation, faster, more accurate and more comprehensive access.
Obviously, from offline to online and offline integration, will be an irreversible trend.
The speed of this change can not be felt in the early days. But the epidemic is like a catalyst, and soon, it is the new foreign trade enterprises that have just completed their evolution that pose a real threat to the traditional foreign trade enterprises.
@ Foreign traders, “online exhibition”, what do you think?
In this era of great channel competition, portfolio strategy may be an important means for enterprises to get out of the siege. The online exhibition is a small gimmick that reflects that it is impossible to split online and offline. Only when it is linked together can the business really get out of its predicament and there will be more possibility of “anti-epidemic”.
However, every channel has a cost, whether online or offline, can not be blindly all-round development. If there is a budget, two or three channels will come together and fully occupy it; if there is no budget, you can choose a suitable one to start with and issue the order quickly.
May you find a suitable channel for your foreign trade, like a fish in the water.
