Seasoned conference professionals and newbies know that exhibitors want one thing – return on investment. Return on investment, means they need to see traffic and they want people in their ideal target demographic.

Here are some tips to help keep your exhibitors happy.

1. Return on Investment Trumps Booth Cost

If you’re struggling with exhibitor retention, it’s likely not the cost of your booth that’s making them rethink their investment with you. If they are receiving a worthwhile amount of new sales, prospects, and reconnect with former customers, as long as the revenue they generate from your conference is significantly higher than the cost to attend, the actual booth rental matters little.

2. Provide Materials Online and Off

If your exhibitors have been happy with your conference in the past, they may be looking for ways to increase their investment. Make sure you provide them with professional sponsorship packets, materials, and online information.

3. Personalize Opportunities to Help Them Reach Their Target Market

Contact them personally to talk about their marketing needs. It may be that their ideal sponsorship is one you haven’t thought of yet. But don’t put the onus on them solely to come up with the idea. This is your event. You know what has been successful and what hasn’t.

4. Use Content Marketing

When working with exhibitors, providing them with tools that help them establish more meaningful connections with your attendees is important to their success. Use a drip marketing campaign with helpful information on working a booth, using social media at the meeting, blog topics, host city information, and more.

5. Drive a Higher Percentage of Attendees Their Way

Conferences and meeting professionals are using a number of apps, and contests to drive traffic to their exhibitors. From a vendor’s perspective, it doesn’t matter how many attendees you have at the event if they aren’t making it to the exhibit hall.

6. Get Them Out of the Hall

Driving traffic to booths is important, but so is giving exhibitors an opportunity to connect with potential customers in a less formal setting.

7. Provide Easy-to-Use Tools

You want to allow for frictionless connecting between your exhibitors and your attendees. Help them connect with powerful, online tools for scheduling private meetings and other ways they can do business more effectively.

8. Provide Comprehensive Lists for Follow-up

Help your exhibitors follow up with the attendees they met at your conference through providing up-to-date lists in a preferred format.

Ensuring your exhibitors are happy and satisfied with the networking and sales opportunities is critical to retaining them. If you want them to continue investing in your association and your event, give them personalized attention and the tools they need to succeed!