Rethink and refine your marketing strategy to captivate and engage your trade customers in the run-up to Essence of Africa this December. In this guide, you’ll learn all about account-based marketing helping you to create more meaningful connections that will deliver a higher return on your show efforts. Here are some practical steps to ensure your presence stands out:

 1. Plan your approach

First question always has to be: Why am I participating, and what do I hope to achieve?

• Set clear objectives: Define what you want to accomplish, not just in terms of output, i.e. number of meetings. Also focus on outcome, i.e. number of leads generated, number of buyers in a specific market reached, etc.
• Pre-show preparation: Familiarise yourself with the event’s opportunities – in terms of marketing, sales and events, to avoid last-minute issues.
• Do your research: Based on your clear objectives, review your pre-schedule meetings and do your research understanding the background of the buyer you’re meeting and the company they represent.

2. Craft personalised messages

In the context of buyer engagement, making a strong first impression is crucial, but ensuring that impression lasts is equally important. To achieve this, start by crafting a compelling and unique value proposition that immediately captures buyers’ attention during initial interactions, then follow up with consistent, personalised communication and valuable insights that demonstrate your commitment to their success long after the event has concluded.

• Speak their language: Align your messaging and marketing with the specific needs and interests of the buyers you’re due to meet. Do some pre-event research to understand what their clients are interested in and focus on relevant topics.
• Customise your marketing: Pre-prepare your post-event outreach so that it can be adapted to be more personalised and focussed, and so that it shows that you have valued the interaction enough to take a more personalised approach.
• Thought leadership: Position yourself as an industry influencer by sharing knowledge you encounter following the event which specifically addresses your buyer’s interests.

3. Use advanced tools and technologies

Integrate account-based technologies into your event strategy to significantly enhance the effectiveness of your networking and face-to-face meetings at Essence of Africa. This approach ensures that every interaction is data-driven, personalised, and aligned with your broader marketing objectives.

Remember, the goal is to use technology to augment, not replace, the human element of face-to-face interactions. These tools should empower you to have more meaningful, targeted conversations that lead to stronger business relationships and ultimately, better outcomes for your travel and tourism offerings.

• Personalised content curation and distribution: Create a curated content hub tailored to each key account’s specific interests and needs. This can be done using affordable tools like Flipboard or even a simple password-protected page on your website. Populate this hub with:
  • Guides relevant to their target market
  • News and updates
  • Insider tips and local recommendations

• LinkedIn account targeting: Leverage LinkedIn’s free and low-cost features to engage with decision-makers at target accounts:
  • Connect with and follow key personnel from your target accounts
  • Share relevant content and insights regularly, tagging these contacts when appropriate
  • Engage with their posts through thoughtful comments
  • Create a small group of ambassadors who receive special treatment, e.g. first option on fams, quicker turnaround on quotes, etc.

4. Leverage analytics for personalised outreach

Move beyond traditional segmentation by employing predictive analytics to anticipate buyer behaviour and preferences. This advanced approach allows you to tailor your marketing efforts with unprecedented precision, ensuring that your interactions with potential buyers are both timely and highly relevant. By leveraging data-driven insights, you can create more targeted and effective engagement strategies, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and stronger business relationships.

• Implement a lead-scoring model: Develop a system that automatically ranks potential buyers based on their likelihood to convert by identifying key indicators of buyer interest (e.g., bookings generated, email engagement). Assign point values to each indicator and use a tool like HubSpot or Marketo to automatically calculate scores. You will then be able to prioritise your outreach to high-scoring leads. Remember not all leads are created equal!
• Create automated communications campaigns: Set up automated marketing actions triggered for each buyer segment and use a marketing automation platform like Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign to create tailored email sequences or content offers on a drumbeat for each segment.
• Develop predictive content recommendations: Use AI-powered tools to suggest the most relevant content to each buyer segment based on past interactions and the interests of their business and customer. You can then use Generative AI tools to help you create content and tag these with relevant attributes, integrating these with your CRM.

The practical tips will help you maximise your attendance at Essence of Africa, ensuring that every interaction is meaningful and drives your business goals forward. This event is your gateway to forging stronger connections and achieving sustainable growth in the African tourism market.

If you’ve yet to register for Essence of Africa, now’s your chance: https://essenceofafrica.travel/