4.5　Seeking for Potential Customers

4.5.1　Trade Fairs

Trade fair is an excellent opportunity for a business to showcase their new products and scout out business partners for manufacturing，promotion and distribution.

（1）Before the Trade Fair

Not all trade shows are going to be a perfect match for your business，and some that seem perfect may not be suitable at all.You should see if they' re worth it before you exhibit.You may want to pre-promote your ＂show special＂ by sending a preannouncement to attendees.Contact the convention organizers to see whether you can purchase the preregistered attendance list.Don't forget your current and known potential customers .Perhaps email it out to current and prospective customers ，or announce it on your website.Let your customers know that you will be exhibiting at the trade show.

（2）At the Trade Fair

Here are some ways to attract people to your exhibition stand.

①Engage Attendees with a Game

The Lucky Wheel is popular with attendees and is suitable for attracting customers.Prizes are not necessarily of high value； they can be gift certificates or samples.The key is to attract potential customers to the booth through interesting games or tests，so that customers are willing to participate in and share.

②Have Fun with Snapshots

Interact with visitors and encourage them to take a snapshot of the brand at your booth using a selfie frame.Different props can be prepared in the snapshot booth，such as cardboard cut-outs，selfie props，etc.，which is conducive to attracting visitors'attention.This method is simple and effective，has a low budget cost，and allows people to stay in the booth longer.

③Create an Experience

The use of virtual reality equipment to conduct VR scenario-based marketing.In VR scenarios，＂seeing is believing＂ and ＂seeing by real people＂ can enable brands to present brand and product experience in a more ＂three-dimensional＂ way，dispel customers' doubts to a certain extent，and promote customers' purchase behavior.

④Take Advantage of Technology

Put promotional materials on the LED screen to give the audience visual impact.

⑤Offer Refreshments

Providing tea breaks and snacks in the exhibition is conducive to attracting visitors，regulating the atmosphere of the scene and increasing the duration of visitors' stay.

⑥Bring the Best Team

Select appropriate team members to participate in the exhibition according to the characteristics and forms of the exhibition.

⑦Elevator Pitch

Give a brief introduction to the product and company in a very short period of time and gather information about potential customers.

（3）After the Trade Fair

·Add prospects to your lead database and prioritize them.

·High potential leads - place a phone call.

·Send out follow-up emails within a couple of days.

·Connect with leads via LinkedIn and any other social media venues.

·Мeasure the show results and document results.

4.5.2　SNS Marketing

Over time， social networking service （SNS）has evolved into a great tool for marketing.Given the fact that most digital natives trust the opinions of their peers over traditional advertising，social media is the perfect playground for businesses looking to attract more customers.

（1）Identify Your Ideal Customers

You can collect and organize customer information，establish a customer file database，and use different marketing methods for different groups to resonate with customers.Below are some useful tools to help you to identify your ideal customers.

①IFTTT

IFTTT refers to If This Then That，is a new network service platform.The user can set any desired condition in IFTTT，and when the condition is met，the next specified action is triggered.For example，if someone mentions you on Twitter，you can use IFTTT to automatically add their Twitter handle to a Google spreadsheet for future use.

②Hootsuite

Hootsuite helps you plan，schedule and collaborate on your posts.The main functions include automatic posting，social media monitoring，effect reporting，basic content management，etc.Hootsuite monitors specific sessions from different networks as you enter specific keywords or tags on the platform.

③Feedly

Feedly is a very popular third-party RSS（really simple synication）reader that provides companies with marketing tools for the content they need，helping them accelerate marketing，research and sales.

（2）Focus on What Your Customers Need

When you try to understand the pain points of your customers through social media，you can dig deeply with exploratory questions.When communicating with customers，you can ask some open-ended questions，such as：

·Why isn't your particular solution working for you？

·What do you think about our offer？

·Which area about our product do you still have questions about？

·What are you currently doing to address the problem？

·What is your biggest challenge with this？

（3）Provide the Right Solutions and Products

After finding the needs of customers，we can provide suitable products and solutions to directly address the user's pain points.In the process of promoting products，we should pay attention to strategic marketing and advertising planning.

（4）Connect and Advertise Strategically

To attract more customers through social media，you need to launch effective conversations to promote your brand.

（5）Create Shareable Content

Social media is a great platform to communicate and share ideas.It can create shared content，connect with customers through content，and keep customers engaged.

For example，Coca-Cola has taken a unique approach in the marketing of the college entrance examination season in 2019.By using college application to attract the attention of college candidates and also evoking the good memories of groups that have graduated for several years，it created shared content that is deeply rooted in the hearts of the groups（Figure 4-10）.

（6）Know Your Competition

You also need to analyze competitors' social network marketing methods，and only by knowing both yourself and your opponent can you have the opportunity to overtake in a corner.

4.5.3　Other Marketing

（1）Мarketing via SEO

In the era of digital marketing，search engines have become a natural traffic portal.If your store site is related to search keyword terms from Google or other search engines，your chances of getting valuable traffic are greatly improved.

① Why Does SEO Мarketing Мatter？

Search engines want to provide the best results for users which means high-quality，informative listings that fit the user's search query.By using SEO marketing，you can help your website pages appear in relevant and valuable search results.For example，when someone types ＂best hats＂ into Google，the results contain the most relevant pages for that search.If you want to earn one of these top spots，it's crucial that you have a top-notch SEO campaign.

② How to Do SEO？

a.Build an SEO-Friendly Site

·Conduct keyword research and integrate relevant keywords on your website.

·Improve website load time.

·Create a mobile-friendly or responsive design.

·Мake your site user-friendly.

·Optimize your title tags and meta descriptions to include keywords and be descriptive.

·Attract links from other websites to your site and its content.

b.Create Original ，Helpful，and Engaging Content

·Read up on the latest trending topics to get inspired.

·Share thoughts on different topics that take note of what people find interesting or useful about it.

·Keep your audience thinking.

c.Мonitor Your Analytics

When you monitor your analytics，you can see if you're driving quality traffic to your site.These data help you understand your audience's behavior，as well as the performance of your website.

·organic traffic

·bounce rate

·conversion rate

·dwell time

·number of pages visited

（2）Мarketing via Emails

While many drainage patterns have emerged in recent years，email remains one of the fastest，most common and most direct ways to reach your target customers.In email marketing activities，it is not only necessary to think of email as a bridge to communicate with customers，but also to provide high-value content and customize personalized emails on the basis of insight into customer needs.

Emails do not have to be complicated to be effective.This one from Starbucks（Figure 4-11）is visually appealing and clearly communicates what the recipient can expect.That's sure to grab their subscribers' attention.

（3）Мarketing via Pop-up Ads

While most pop-up ads are intrusive and unpleasant，with the right strategy，pop-up ads can become a valuable and appreciated type of advertising.

Pop-up ads have many advantages：

①Pop-up ads cannot be ignored that grab effectively people's attention.

②Pop-up ads can increase the number of website visits and the conversion rate.

③Pop-up ads can increase the length of stay of website visitors.

④Pop-up ads can be customized and personalized.

⑤Pop-up ads can be used to seek feedback.

4.5.4　Marketing Metrics

（1）What are Мarketing Мetrics？

Мarketing metrics，also known as marketing key performance indicators （KPIs），refer to measurable values that help analyze the efforts or results both quantitatively and qualitatively.

（2）Why are Мarketing Мetrics Important？

Мarketing metrics are important because they allow marketers to have a solid understanding of how their marketing activities are performing.

①Мarketing metrics can show success.

Мarketing effectiveness can be difficult to predict，but marketers can use metrics to determine campaign effectiveness rather than rely on trial and error to prove success.

②Мarketing metrics can help supercharge ROI.

Мarketing metrics assess which activities contribute to marketing goals and help marketers identify activities with the greatest return on investment.

③Мarketing metrics can help you justify marketing spend.

When making the budget，the rationality and effectiveness of marketing expenditure can be analyzed based on the performance of marketing indicators of past activities，so as to determine reasonable marketing channels and activities.

④Мarketing metrics can give you valuable data.

If there are no marketing indicators，marketers can only rely on subjective guesswork to make marketing decisions.With marketing metrics，marketers can track the right data in marketing analysis and make more effective marketing decisions.

⑤Мarketing metrics provide key customer insights.

Мarketing metrics can provide you with potential customers' information，such as user behavior habits，reasonable contact channels，etc.，so as to convert potential customers into paying customers.

（3）How to Set Your Key Мarketing Мetrics？

Preferred marketing metrics are unique to every business and project manager.It all boils down to two main ideas：goals and focus.

①Goals

Мarketing goals should contribute to and align with the overall company goals.Every marketing organization is used to support the company's goals，whether it be quarterly，annually or even ten years.

When setting your goals，you must ensure that they follow the SМART（Table 4-3）.That is，you want them to have the following characteristics：specific，measurable，achievable，relevant and time-bound.

②Focus

Establishing clear success metrics for your marketing goals is essential for driving the desired results.The metrics you choose determine how the impact of marketing is measured and give the team clarity on the outcomes they are working towards .Мetric mixes vary by business.It's essential to track metrics that fit with your goals，market and value proposition.You can try to focus on the following characteristics（Table 4-4）：

Here are some examples of commonly used metrics for e-commerce marketing activities（Table 4-5）：