Trade shows, conferences, conventions and industry events bring thousands of highly relevant prospects together in one location. But what happens if your company can’t attend the event—or if the event has already ended?
You may still have an opportunity to reach that audience.
Thumbvista helps companies use event geofencing, programmatic advertising, retargeting and geoframing to reach eligible event audiences during and after an event.
This means your company doesn’t necessarily need the biggest booth—or even a booth at all—to build digital awareness with people attending an important industry event.
And in some cases, even if you discover the opportunity after the event has ended, historical location data may provide another option.
What Is Event Geofencing?
Event geofencing uses location-based advertising technology to create a virtual boundary around a physical event location.
Locations can include:
- Convention centers
- Conference hotels
- Trade show venues
- Arenas
- Exhibition halls
- Industry meetings
- Festivals
- Sporting events
- Nearby hotels
- Other locations associated with an event
Thumbvista can build a programmatic advertising campaign around these locations to reach eligible audiences associated with the event.
The strategy becomes particularly powerful when event geofencing and retargeting work together.
Instead of thinking about an event as a two- or three-day advertising opportunity, marketers can use the event as the starting point for a longer campaign.
How Event Geofencing and Retargeting Work
Consider a company attending a three-day industry trade show.
Thumbvista can establish geofences around relevant locations such as the convention center and selected hotels. During the event, programmatic advertising can promote messages such as:
“Visit Us at Booth #425.”
“See Our New Product at Booth #118.”
“Attending the Conference? Schedule a Demo Today.”
But the strategy doesn’t necessarily end when everyone goes home.
Eligible audiences associated with the campaign can potentially be used for continued retargeting, depending on the campaign setup, technology, data availability and applicable privacy requirements.
Now the messaging can change.
Instead of “Visit Our Booth,” the post-event message could become:
“Thanks for Attending. See What You Missed.”
or:
“Continue the Conversation—Schedule a Demo.”
This can turn a short event into a much longer marketing opportunity.
You Don’t Have to Attend the Event to Advertise to the Audience
This is one of the most interesting applications of event geofencing.
Your company may decide that exhibiting isn’t worth the cost. Booth space, travel, hotels, shipping, displays, sponsorships and employee time can make major trade shows expensive.
But the audience attending that event may still be extremely valuable.
Suppose thousands of professionals from your industry are attending a major conference, but your company isn’t exhibiting.
You can potentially build a geofencing strategy around the event and advertise to eligible attendees without having a physical booth.
Your advertising could say:
“In Town for the Conference? Meet With Our Team.”
“Attending Industry Week? Discover Another Option.”
“Before You Choose a Vendor, See What We Offer.”
Instead of competing only for attention on a crowded trade-show floor, you’re creating another opportunity to reach the event audience digitally.
The Real Opportunity May Begin After the Event
A common event-marketing mistake is concentrating almost the entire advertising budget on the days the event is happening.
Consider what attendees are doing during a conference. They’re attending presentations, walking the exhibit hall, meeting vendors, talking with colleagues, going to dinners and receiving marketing messages from dozens or even hundreds of companies.
That’s a lot of competition for attention.
The days and weeks after an event can therefore be extremely valuable.
Attendees are back at work. They’re researching. They’re comparing vendors. They’re discussing what they learned with colleagues. They’re evaluating products and following up on conversations.
That’s where event retargeting can become particularly useful.
Retarget Event Attendees After They Leave
Thumbvista can structure event campaigns so eligible audiences can continue receiving programmatic advertising after the event, where supported.
During the Event
“Come See Us at Booth #310.”
Week 1 After the Event
“Thanks for Attending. Here’s What You May Have Missed.”
Weeks 2–4
“See How Our Solution Can Help Your Company.”
Later in the Buying Cycle
“Ready to Talk? Schedule a Demo.”
Instead of repeatedly showing the same advertisement, the campaign can evolve with the customer’s journey.
This can be especially valuable in B2B marketing because the sales cycle may last weeks or months.
The conference might last three days. The buying decision could take three months.
Retarget Website Traffic Generated by the Event
There’s another important audience marketers shouldn’t overlook: people who visit your website because of the event campaign.
Imagine someone sees your geofenced advertisement while attending a conference and visits your website.
That person has demonstrated another level of interest.
With the appropriate website retargeting setup, eligible website visitors can become part of a separate retargeting strategy.
The strategy can look like this:
Event Location → Geofencing Ad → Website Visit → Website Retargeting → Continued Advertising
Rather than evaluating success solely on whether someone clicked an ad during the conference, you’re creating multiple opportunities to continue the conversation.
What If the Event Already Happened?
This is where geoframing becomes especially interesting.
Traditional geofencing generally focuses on reaching audiences associated with a location during a current campaign.
Geoframing can use available historical location data to identify eligible devices that were observed at a defined location during a previous period.
In simple terms:
Geofencing can help target an event happening now.
Geoframing can potentially help build an audience from an event that already happened.
That creates an entirely different type of event-marketing opportunity.
How Historical Event Geoframing Works
Suppose there was an important industry conference two months ago.
Your company didn’t attend. You didn’t run advertising during the event. Then someone on your sales team realizes:
“Those attendees are exactly the type of prospects we want to reach.”
It may not necessarily be too late.
Depending on data availability, platform capabilities, geography, privacy requirements and how long ago the event occurred, Thumbvista may be able to evaluate historical location data associated with the venue and event dates.
1. Identify the Event
Determine the conference, convention, trade show or other event relevant to your target customer.
2. Identify the Venue and Dates
Determine exactly where the event took place and when attendees were present.
3. Define the Location
Establish geographic boundaries around the relevant venue or locations.
4. Apply the Historical Timeframe
Rather than focusing on people currently at the location, geoframing examines available location observations associated with the dates when the event occurred.
5. Build an Eligible Audience
Available devices meeting the campaign requirements may potentially become part of an advertising audience.
6. Launch the Retargeting Campaign
The eligible audience can then potentially be reached through available programmatic advertising channels.
This gives marketers an interesting opportunity: the ability to potentially reach an event audience even after realizing the event was valuable.
Example: You Missed an Important Trade Show
Imagine you’re a software company selling technology to manufacturing businesses.
A major manufacturing conference took place six weeks ago. Thousands of executives, operations managers, plant managers and technology decision-makers attended.
Your company didn’t exhibit. You didn’t sponsor it. You didn’t run an event campaign.
Afterward, your sales team realizes:
“We should have been there.”
Historical geoframing may provide another opportunity.
Thumbvista could evaluate whether an eligible historical audience can be built around the conference location and event dates.
Then your advertising could use messaging such as:
“Looking for a Better Manufacturing Technology Solution?”
or:
“What You Didn’t See at This Year’s Conference.”
The event is over. But the marketing opportunity may not be.
Geofencing vs. Geoframing for Events
Event Geofencing
Use geofencing when an event is happening now or when you’re planning ahead. You can reach eligible audiences around the venue, advertise during the event and potentially continue retargeting afterward.
Event Geoframing
Use geoframing when the event has already happened. Historical location data may allow an eligible audience to be created based on the venue and dates of the past event.
Both strategies address an important marketing question:
How can we turn an event’s concentrated audience into a longer-term marketing opportunity?
Don’t Just Geofence the Convention Center
The convention center is the obvious location to target, but attendees may spend significant time elsewhere.
Depending on the event, Thumbvista may evaluate locations such as:
- Host hotels
- Nearby hotels
- Conference centers
- Networking venues
- After-hours events
- Sponsored gatherings
- Other locations closely associated with the event
For multi-day events, hotels can be particularly interesting because attendees may spend considerable downtime there.
The right geographic strategy depends on the event, venue and target audience.
Extend Event Campaigns With Programmatic Display, Video and CTV
Event marketing doesn’t have to mean serving a mobile banner while someone is standing inside a convention center.
The larger opportunity is building a relevant audience and then reaching eligible members through programmatic media.
Programmatic Display
Continue building awareness across eligible websites and apps.
Programmatic Video
Use video to explain a more complicated product, service or value proposition.
Connected TV and Streaming
Where campaign technology and identity solutions allow, CTV and streaming advertising can provide another opportunity to extend audience reach onto larger screens.
Website Retargeting
Continue advertising to eligible people who visit your website after interacting with the event campaign.
The result is a much broader strategy than simply showing an advertisement to someone while they’re physically inside a convention center.
Thumbvista’s Event Geofencing Experience
Thumbvista has used event geofencing for B2B campaigns for years.
In one campaign for a home materials provider, Thumbvista geofenced an industry conference to help drive traffic to the company’s booth. Because the conference lasted several days, the strategy also considered nearby hotels where attendees were staying.
The campaign generated more than 80,000 impressions over three days and more than 200 clicks.
In another B2B event campaign for an international electronics company, Thumbvista targeted the event location and area hotels. The campaign generated more than 1,200 visitors to a custom landing page and a 0.31% click-through rate.
These are historical campaign examples. Results vary based on the event, audience, creative, budget, inventory, targeting strategy and other campaign factors. Past results do not guarantee future performance.
Who Should Consider Event Geofencing and Retargeting?
Event geofencing and geoframing can be particularly useful when an event brings together a concentrated audience that would otherwise be difficult or expensive to identify.
- B2B companies targeting industry decision-makers
- Software companies targeting technology conference attendees
- Manufacturers targeting buyers at industry trade shows
- Recruiters reaching professionals at career and industry events
- Professional service companies targeting relevant business audiences
- Advertising agencies extending event campaigns for their clients
- Companies that can’t attend an event but still want visibility with the audience
Turn a Three-Day Event Into a Longer Marketing Campaign
An event shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as a three-day marketing opportunity.
Think of it as an audience-building opportunity.
During the event, geofencing can help build awareness and promote your booth, product, meeting or brand.
After the event, retargeting can help continue the conversation.
If you missed the event completely, historical geoframing may provide another opportunity to reach an eligible audience associated with that event.
And if event advertising drives visitors to your website, eligible visitors can become part of an additional website-retargeting strategy.
Event → Geofencing → Audience → Website Traffic → Retargeting → Continued Engagement
Instead of buying a few days of exposure, you’re building a strategy designed to extend the marketing value of the event.
Frequently Asked Questions About Event Geofencing
Can you retarget people who attended a trade show?
Potentially, yes. Eligible audiences associated with a properly configured event geofencing campaign can potentially be used for continued programmatic advertising after the event, subject to technology, data availability, privacy requirements and platform policies.
Can I advertise to trade show attendees if my company isn’t exhibiting?
Yes. A company doesn’t necessarily need a booth to run a location-based advertising campaign around an event. Thumbvista can develop event geofencing strategies for companies that want to reach relevant event audiences even when they aren’t exhibiting.
Can you target attendees after an event has already ended?
Potentially. Geoframing uses available historical location data to identify eligible devices associated with a specific location during a previous timeframe. Availability depends on the event, dates, geography, data availability, platform capabilities and privacy requirements.
What is the difference between event geofencing and event geoframing?
Event geofencing generally targets eligible audiences associated with an event while it is taking place and can support subsequent retargeting. Geoframing uses available historical location data to potentially create audiences associated with events that occurred in the past.
Can Thumbvista retarget website visitors from an event campaign?
Website visitors can potentially be included in a website-retargeting audience when the appropriate technology, campaign configuration and consent requirements are in place.
What types of events can be targeted?
Potential opportunities include trade shows, conferences, conventions, expos, industry meetings, sporting events, festivals and other events where a physical location corresponds with a relevant audience.
Don’t Let Your Event Marketing End When the Doors Close
Companies spend significant amounts of money identifying the right trade shows, conferences and industry events for one simple reason: the audience is valuable.
Geofencing gives marketers another way to reach that audience while the event is happening.
Retargeting provides an opportunity to continue the conversation afterward.
Geoframing can potentially provide another opportunity when the event has already passed.
Whether you’re exhibiting, attending or never made it to the event at all, Thumbvista can help determine whether location-based advertising can turn that event into a targeted programmatic audience.
Want to Target Attendees at an Upcoming or Past Event?
Send Thumbvista the event name, venue, city and dates. We can evaluate the opportunity and recommend an event geofencing, retargeting or historical geoframing strategy.