Allowing customers to really engage with your brand during an event can be achieved through interaction that stretches beyond face-to-face sales communications. Being a relatively new trend in online marketing tools, interactive features take the benefits of word of mouth but operate in the online environment. Often ‘forwarded’ to friends and colleagues, this marketing method is designed to encourage consumers to tell one another about a product, service or website via the engaging feature. Usually boosted with an incentive, these somewhat viral efforts are often designed to encourage visitors to engage with the interactive communication whilst parting with contact information in return for a voucher, discount or even free product.
Interactive promotional ‘flash’ games are one of the most popular ways to engage audiences before, during and after your event. They not only create elements of fun and light-hearted competition, but also powerful tools for generating traffic to your stand and website. | Choosing the interactive concept gives a good indication on how it will impact at your event, link with promotions and match your brand personality. Typical flash game designs such as jigsaw puzzle and catching formats are easy to integrate your brand and products into and link heavily with a competition or offer to encourage the user to remember your brand. On the opposite scale, spending a little more investment on creating a brand new gaming concept may have a much heavier impact using the game itself to attract attention and publicity for the brand.Creating a suitable format to display the interactive content on your exhibition stand will naturally be different to a version applied to a web interface. If a competition or challenging game-play, people are more apprehensive about playing when others are watching, however using a small screen that only allows one person to be immersed isn’t very interesting for everyone else and nor are you able to effectively use the interactive element to create a hubbub at your stand. Games on location therefore need to provide a great spectator mode, with a relatively limited play sequence to prevent visitors waiting. Large touch screens built into custom display units offer a truly interactive and visual experience, but intimate control panels can be projected or synced with larger displays for a similar effect.
Gaining increased popularity, digital games that allow the user to play to win a prize or free product are responsible for a large proportion of data capture at events. This also applies to the application being available online pre and post show with users passing to friends and colleagues. This provides a constant stream of visitors to your website before and after your event boosting SEO (Search Engine Optimising) but more importantly increasing the exposure of your event.
Integrating this traditionally online marketing tool into your event environment brings digital interaction to your face-to-face communication. Creating a higher level of intrigue for your brand and products, interactive games allow your visitors to experience the personality of your brand, which can be reflected in the game play or presentation. Competitions and game-play make great talking points for your stand staff making it easier to attract attention and a smoother lead into conversation. However, in a conversation-saturated environment an interactive medium in which to receive information may offer a refreshing change to the visitor. You may find your interactive content to be your differentiator with visitors remembering you and thus being more receptive to your post-show and follow up communications.
There is then the opportunity after you event to direct your contacts back the your website via e-shot to announce winners of the game competition, leader board or even to play the game again online. Once at your website, visitors have the chance forward the game to friends and colleagues whilst being directed to other areas of your website, product information, promotions, and details about your brand following the information they received at the event. This activity increases the interaction with your brand outside of the event, converting the contact into a qualified lead or next step towards a purchase decision.
