Successful business networking with B2B events: How to make them work for you

B2B events marketing has become one of the most effective strategies for successful business networking and helping your brand connect with its customers.

By attending or exhibiting at B2B events, you can build relationships with other industry professionals, add a personal touch, introduce the faces behind your brand, and deliver an outstanding ROI supporting long-term business growth.

In this article, we’ll explore how networking B2B events can accelerate your business networking strategy, encourage brand loyalty, add value, and position you as a thought leader.

How can you get more from a B2B event, making it worth the investment of time and money?

Why should businesses exhibit at B2B events?

B2B events offer an opportunity to highlight your brand, products and services, provide a face for your brand, network for business growth and build brand trust and loyalty for future growth and success.

Here are the four key ways that networking B2B events can deliver for your brand:

1. You’ll humanise your brand and build trust

Exhibiting at B2B events shows your customers the faces behind your brand, making you appear more approachable and trustworthy.

This is more important than ever in the post-covid, digital age where most of our interactions happen online. Physically separated from the person we are interacting with and deprived of non-verbal cues like body language, tone of voice and gestures.

With your presence at a B2B event, you’ll build those real human connections that your customers crave, show your confidence in your product or service and encourage potential B2B customers to buy.

2. You’ll attract high-quality leads

When you exhibit at a B2B event, you’ll have the opportunity to display your product or service to potential customers who are already interested in what you offer and are more likely to buy. They’re ‘warm’ leads who arrive receptive to your message and are primed to make a purchasing decision.

Attendees at networking events have already invested considerable time and money to get there. Including paying for transport and accommodation and sacrificing time with their families, so they are committed to being present.

This higher level of interest qualifies them as high-quality leads who are more likely to engage with your brand and become paying B2B customers.

3. You’ll boost brand perception and awareness

By exhibiting at a B2B event, you’ll show your customers that your company cares about them, enhancing brand perception as a result.

By meticulously planning the event, creating a top-notch pre-event marketing strategy and positioning yourself at user group, exclusive or invitation-only trade events, you’ll draw more attention to your brand and elevate your brand image.

In short, exhibiting takes your brand out of the digital world and makes it a tangible feature for your target market to engage in.

4. You’ll build community

B2B events naturally attract other business professionals and individuals with similar interests and goals.

By engaging with these people and working on your networking strategy, you’ll build a sense of community and belonging, helping to foster mutually beneficial relationships within your industry.

The networking opportunities are even greater if thought leaders, influencers and key players have been invited to speak or participate. We always advise our clients to prepare and ask questions when there are speakers at an event. This allows you to announce who you are, what your business is about and let the room know you are present. Of course, it’s even better if you are one of the keynote speakers as this will elevate your profile significantly.

We also advise our clients and their teams to visit the stands of their competitors and suppliers so that they can gauge the competition, strike up new business relationships and generally get a feel for the industry they are in. This can be particularly helpful if you have newer team members attending the event and you want to improve their business knowledge.

In summary, by interacting with others and using effective business relationship management strategies, you could obtain important business intelligence, foster new collaborations, partnerships and initiatives that target different niches or market segments and lead to long-term brand loyalty and growth.

B2B events as a business networking strategy; Getting started

Now that you have a clearer idea of the benefits of hosting or attending B2B events as part of your overall networking strategy, let’s look at how you can optimise your efforts for better ROI and long-term results.

1. Start with a clear strategy

First, consider what you want to achieve by exhibiting at a B2B event.

Do you want to…

• Generate more leads?
• Promote a new product or service?
• Gain better brand exposure?
• Establish strong partnerships?

Deciding beforehand will guide your decisions and actions and help you measure your success for optimal ROI.

It will also determine the design of your stand, the messages you want to promote, as well as the appearance and content of your digital and print marketing materials.

2. Create an elevator pitch

Next, arm yourself with a succinct elevator pitch that explains your product or service, company mission and unique value so that any potential customer can understand it quickly. This is your strategy articulated in a way that everyone quickly understands what it can do for them.

This should be firmly customer-focused, and aimed at explaining how you can help solve their business problems, adding real value to the products or services.

This doesn’t need to be serious or formal. Customers engage better when you can add a touch of personality to your pitch.

A helpful formula is:

1. What industry are you in and what is the need you fulfill? E.g. “For companies in the aviation industry who use advanced technologies.”
2. What do you do? E.g. “We offer leading-edge products and services.”
3. What benefit do your customers gain? E.g. “This enables engineers to design products which fly faster and more safely than older models.”
4. Why should they buy from you, and not your competitors? E.g.” This ensures they have the most effective products in the market.”

This bite-sized way to introduce your brand to other businesses is quick and compelling. Allowing you to maximise your time and resources at an event. It can also be helpful to display the elevator pitch on your stand so passers-by can read it.

3. Leverage social media

Create a buzz surrounding the event by sharing it with the world on social media, your website and any other marketing channels.

This will highlight your presence and stand design encouraging potential customers to join you at the event. Enhancing your business networking opportunities and positioning you as an active industry player.

If you can also share live updates from the event, engage with attendees online and keep the momentum going afterwards, you’ll gain even greater benefits from your B2B networking strategy.

4. Go hybrid for your B2B events

Exhibitions have changed since Covid. So the way you plan for an event needs to change too. This is why we recommend making your stand hybrid friendly. This allows you to showcase your products and service through in-person and virtual events. Where people can reach you at your stand either face-to-face or virtually by using the right technology.

Going hybrid can help you increase audience reach, give you more flexibility, improve your data collection and will often get you better engagement.

5. Consider getting professional help

Outsourcing your B2B event management is a smart move if you are unsure how to get started, maximise your ROI and boost networking opportunities.

Look for a professional with a deep understanding of your industry and experience organising B2B stands and events who can provide you with strategic insights that align with your business goals.

They should be able to plan the stand-layout, choose the right personality, organise networking sessions and create powerful digital B2B event marketing strategies that help you get the most from your B2B event.

When it comes to getting professional help it can be helpful to consider six key attributes:

• Communication: Do they have clear, understandable communication with you and other stakeholders? This reduces the possibility of misunderstanding and is crucial for delivering an event.
• Cost: Is the price of their services realistic, competitive, and achievable within your budget?
• Compatibility: Do they understand your industry and do you think you’ll be able to work with their key personnel?
• Creativity: Do they have a clear, proven track record of delivering creative, interesting assets for every event? From the design of the stand, to how they use social media?
• Contacts: Do they have the contacts to be able to deliver your plans? They should know who to call to help you realise your ambitions for the event.
• Chemistry: While good personal chemistry is not always essential to delivering a successful outcome, it can be helpful. Finding a company whose key personnel you get on with can make the process more enjoyable as well as successful. Trust creates a platform for frank and creative communication.

All of these factors combined can help ensure a beneficial goal-focused working relationship that enhances the chances of your event achieving your goals.

Summary: B2B events for networking

If you’re looking for a successful business networking strategy in 2024, consider exhibiting at, hosting or attending a B2B event.

By doing so, you’ll effectively showcase your brand and products or services, humanise your brand, build meaningful relationships with industry professionals and attract high-quality leads for future success and business growth,

Start with a clear set of objectives and strategy, craft a compelling elevator pitch, leverage digital marketing channels to create a buzz, go hybrid and consider getting professional help to deliver outstanding ROI from your B2B event.

Elevate your business networking strategy with our help

Contact us today to discover how we can help you generate maximum ROI on B2B events marketing.