You’ve set up your expo booth, armed your booth staff with badge scanners and you’ve placed swag strategically to catch attendees’ attention. Then the conference ends just as quickly as it starts, and now you’re shuffling through all the data to see if you can prove the return on investment (ROI) from the months of work to well-represent your company at the learning and development (L&D) conference and the budget you spent for the event sponsorship in the first place.

With dozens of L&D conferences and hundreds of sponsors exhibiting at them every year, it is crucial to the success of your events marketing campaign that your team walks away with actionable leads. The value of your leads directly correlates to the quality of conversations you have before, during and after the event.

To maximize the ROI of your event sponsorship, you need to be a great exhibitor. So now the question is: How do I go from a good exhibitor to a great exhibitor?

Defining Your Event Sponsorship ROI

Good ROI from an L&D conference is not just the number of attendees you scanned at your booth and/or the number of meetings you set up when you return to the office! Instead, the value from a conference stem from the quality of the conversations you have before, during and after the event.

These conversations can generate incredibly valuable marketing qualified leads for your sales team. The best ROI is not quantity of leads, but quality of leads. To achieve this, you will need to advance your skills from good to great.

To advance your skills as a sponsor, you should consider these three best practices:

• Improve the quality of your conversations.
• Bring the expo dream team.
• Deliver value after the event ends.

This article will explore these three key strategies to enhance the ROI of your next event, helping you elevate your sponsorship from good to great.

1.   Elevate the quality of your conversations.

While conferences offer a unique opportunity for face-to-face engagement, they cannot be your sole marketing activity. Relying solely on sponsoring L&D events often means spending valuable time introducing your company and product, leaving less room for deeper, more meaningful conversations.

To ensure your time at the conference is spent discussing how you can solve attendees’ challenges, it’s essential to integrate conferences into a broader, multi-channel marketing strategy. One solution is to build brand awareness before the event through targeted campaigns.

For example, content marketing, email pushes and webinars can prime your audience, making them familiar with your brand long before they step onto the expo floor. This approach can allow you to focus on meaningful, value-driven discussions at the event. And with the L&D marketing funnel, you can break down activities for each stage of the customer journey.

2.   Choose the right people for your dream team.

Your conference team should be carefully selected to showcase your company’s strengths and capabilities. Think of it like assembling a winning basketball team; you need a balance of skills to compete effectively. At an L&D conference, your team should include:

• Product subject matter expert (SME): Bring someone with deep product knowledge to your booth who can discuss not only how your solutions work but also share real-world examples. Their expertise can instill confidence in prospects.
• Marketing: Your marketing expert is the brand’s no.1 fan and should capture event highlights while steering the narrative. They ensure your presence translates into strong ROI by aligning your brand’s story with the audience’s needs.
• Sales: A sales team member is crucial for post-event follow-ups. They’ve already targeted your audience and can leverage face-to-face interactions to book demos and keep the conversation going.
• C-Suite: Including a C-level executive can demonstrate your company’s commitment and can lead to deeper, more strategic discussions with other executives, enhancing the overall impact of your presence.

3.   Deliver value beyond the conference by perfecting the art of follow-ups.

The real value you bring to conference attendees often unfolds after the event. Instead of relying on standard post-event emails, which can easily get lost, focus on more engaging follow-up strategies. For example, hosting a webinar or product demo post-conference can extend the conversation and deepen your relationship with prospects. Consider placing a QR code at your booth that directs attendees to register for these events. This not only differentiates you from others who are simply collecting leads but also can allow you to continue delivering value to prospects, ensuring your brand remains top of mind.

How to Go from Good to Great

To stand out at an L&D conference, you can’t just be a good sponsor — you must be great! Elevate your presence by integrating the event into a broader marketing strategy, bringing a well-rounded dream team to maximize impact and continuing to deliver value after the event. These approaches can transform your event sponsorship ROI from good to great!

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