Professional conferences seem to be more popular than ever. They provide a great sense of community, especially in the post-COVID age, where many of our daily interactions are still remote. Some professionals attend to further their own education. Others will share their knowledge and experience by serving as a featured speaker. Some are drawn to the networking aspect of having hundreds of potential clients or referral sources in the same vicinity—and some attend just for the great parties!
Whether you travel to one event each year or are a regular on the conference circuit—which can vary greatly depending on your field and personal preferences—each gathering is a golden opportunity that your marketing department wants you to maximize. If you don’t often work with your firm’s marketing team, a conference is a great opportunity to explore how they can help you strategically promote yourself and your services. Alternatively, if your firm doesn’t have a dedicated marketing team, taking action on your own can help you gain the competitive edge. While the event itself will last for just a few days, smart planning can ensure marketing opportunities continue for months.
Below are some of the key ways to leverage a professional conference for marketing purposes. Proactively working through these steps will help you better utilize each event in support of your overall goals.
Update your LinkedIn profile. People are going to be meeting you at the conference and checking you out on LinkedIn (more on that below). Your LinkedIn profile is your digital property, so don’t let it fall into disrepair! Before the conference, make sure your profile photo is current and recognizable. Update your headline and bio, if needed, to clearly and succinctly showcase your role and your skills. Consider who will be at the conference and read your profile from their perspective—are you someone they want to connect with?
Promote your attendance in advance. Often, marketing is the last to know that you’re attending an industry event. Whenever possible, planning should start at least a month in advance, especially if you are speaking or your firm is sponsoring the conference. Develop social media posts from both the firm and your personal page to let others know you’ll be there. The weeks leading up to a conference are an ideal time to book meetings and review the attendee list (if available to you) to determine who you’re hoping to meet.
Pay attention to the programming. Even if you’re at a conference solely to network, it’s important to take note of the most well-attended sessions, the questions from attendees, and any other developments that professionals seem most keen to learn about. All of these can serve as inspiration for thought leadership pieces—articles, webinars, podcasts, social media posts, etc.—that will help boost your visibility in the weeks and months that follow.
Make new connections. Meeting people is one of the biggest benefits of a conference. In the “old days,” this meant trading business cards, which were often relegated to a desk drawer rather than utilized after the event. Today, new technology is making it easier to connect instantly and stay connected in a meaningful way. Digital business cards can import contact info with one tap to a phone. LinkedIn also has an incredibly handy QR code feature that lets others scan and access your profile using their phone camera. If you followed Step 1 above, your LinkedIn will already be fully optimized!
And nurture them. Again, this is where technology is your friend. If you’re adding contacts on LinkedIn, you should be posting to LinkedIn regularly to stay top of mind. If you’ve gathered email addresses through an opt-in giveaway or similar signup, marketing can help add them to your contact database to ensure they receive important updates. Nurture connections from a conference, as they were already interested in you, and should be considered “warm” leads.
Study what your competitors are doing. Competitive intelligence is highly appreciated by marketing teams who can’t attend every conference. If your firm’s biggest competitors are sponsoring the event or showcasing a booth with unique features, swag, or some other draw that attendees love, share that information upon your return. Conversely, if you find a conference is a great fit for your company and isn’t oversaturated with competitors, that information can help guide decision-making and budgets in the future.
Take pictures! This is an important and often overlooked step. Take some photos at the conference and share them with marketing. Gather with your colleagues or peers, or even take a selfie near branded signage for a great shot. These photos can be showcased internally, or externally on social media for additional engagement.
Attending a conference is just one element of a broader business development strategy. By applying the tips outlined above before, during, and after each event, you can more effectively convert your time and investment into measurable opportunities. With consistent practice, these steps become second nature—strengthening your visibility, credibility, and ultimately, your profitability.
Stephanie Grober is the Marketing & Public Relations Director at Horowitz Agency, an integrated marketing and public relations agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, and Vancouver (B.C.). Her team works with law firms ranging from BigLaw to boutiques, as well as other professional services firms, designing and executing content and communications strategies that generate bottom-line growth in measurable ways. Leveraging deep relationships with the press, she delivers high-quality earned media placements for clients and utilizes her extensive marketing background to amplify these results through a multi-channel approach. Stephanie joined Horowitz Agency in 2021 after serving as Marketing and Communications Manager for a Top 50 accounting firm in New York City.