The NADA Show is the Super Bowl of the automotive industry. Every year, top dealers, vendors, and thought leaders converge to showcase products, build relationships, and close deals. But here’s the hard truth: just showing up with a booth is no longer enough.

Vendors invest tens of thousands of dollars, often a significant portion of their annual marketing budget, to exhibit at NADA. So why leave booth traffic to chance? Maximizing ROI requires a comprehensive strategy that engages dealers before, during, and after the show. At Cactus Sky Digital, we’ve helped hundreds of vendors transform their NADA presence from passive to powerful, with proven strategies that deliver results.

Here are the best practices every vendor should follow to make the most of their NADA investment:

1. Start Early: Pre-Show Marketing is Critical

If you wait until the show starts to generate attention, you’re already behind. Dealers walk into NADA with full calendars, and the ones they’ll visit are those they already know.

Cactus Sky helps vendors get on those calendars with:

• Two custom email campaigns to our exclusive database of over 50,000 dealership owners, managers, and marketing professionals.
• A follow-up campaign to everyone who engages, with the goal of scheduling meetings in advance.
• Retargeting pixels on your landing pages, so visitors are automatically served ongoing ads reminding them to visit your booth.
• Social media expansion and targeted LinkedIn strategies to build anticipation.

2. Own the Morning: Daily Booth Promotion Campaigns

During NADA, timing is everything. Our daily “Top Recommended Booths” emails go out every morning between 7:30 and 9:00 AM to current and previous attendees, just as they’re planning their day.

We also send daily direct email campaigns to a matched list of attendees, including “hand raisers” who have already engaged with your pre-show campaigns. These touchpoints drive consistent booth traffic, day after day.

3. Use Video and Landing Pages to Capture Leads

People respond to videos, especially when they feature a compelling offer. We build:

• Custom landing pages with lead capture forms
• Professionally produced videos that promote your “Show Special.”
• Content optimized for LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and OTT

This allows you to capture interest and convert it into leads before attendees even arrive on-site.

4. Leverage Media Exposure

Want more foot traffic? Get in front of the camera. Industry outlets, such as AutoSuccess Magazine and CBT News, conduct live interviews from the show floor. Participating in these opportunities helps build credibility and increase visibility.

At Cactus Sky, we will help you:

• Coordinate interviews with major automotive media outlets.
• Promote those interviews across email and social.
• Repurpose clips for post-show follow-up.

5. Turn a Workshop Into a Booth Magnet

If someone on your team is speaking at NADA, that’s gold. Use it. A workshop isn’t just a branding opportunity; it’s a traffic driver. We’ve helped speakers like Dennis McGinn from Rapid Recon fill rooms four years in a row, and that workshop audience often becomes booth visitors.

CSC helps you:

• Create a targeted campaign to promote the workshop and your booth.
• Craft compelling session titles, takeaways, and application videos.
• Develop an email and social media strategy to increase attendance.

More attendees in your session = more traffic at your booth = more ROI.

6. Automated Follow-Up That Keeps the Conversation Going

NADA doesn’t end when the show does. With Cactus Sky, every person who interacts with your campaign receives automated follow-up emails. These aren’t just thank-you messages; they’re lead-nurturing sequences designed to convert interest into opportunity.

Final Thoughts: Your NADA booth is a serious investment. To get serious results, you need more than signage and giveaways. You need a partner who understands the industry, knows how to get results, and has the database, tools, and team to deliver.

Cactus Sky is that partner.

From high-impact email marketing to retargeting, LinkedIn growth, and workshop optimization, we do it all. And we’ve done it for some of the biggest names in the industry.

Ready to make this your most successful NADA ever?

Let’s build a campaign that puts your brand in the spotlight, before, during, and after the show.