B2B CMOs have struggled to measure events with the same precision they measure digital.
Mobile apps could change that.
Not only do they let exhibit marketers engage attendees and personalize events for them, many mobile apps can be used to track face-to-face engagement, and further nurture customers and prospects.
One example: Showcase XD.
This simple iPad app lets tradeshow attendees explore an exhibiting company's products—through videos, demos, photos, drawings, and other content—while visiting the company's booth.
Meantime, the app is gathering and sending the company "digital brain scans" of the attendee that reveal his or her actual interest in the products.
The company can use the analytics after the show to decide, among other things, what marketing automation score to assign the attendee.
One company isn't waiting for the show to end.
IBM uses mobile apps to track attendees' interests and harnesses Watson to make product and activity recommendations—such as downloading a trial code—on the spot, by comparing attendees' pre-show interests with the products they engage with at the exhibit.
While no one can guarantee a CMO ROI before an event, keeping tabs on attendees' interactions though a mobile app—and using the analytics to feed the company's marketing automation or CRM system—can produce real results.
