You Collected 80+ Cards at dmexco 2026. Now What?
You came back from Cologne with a stack of business cards from sponsors, agency reps, and platform reps you barely had time to talk to. The 7-day playbook below sorts the gold from the noise and gets the right people to reply.
The 7-day follow-up plan
Day 0 is the flight home. Day 7 is when the trail goes cold. What you do in between is the difference between "I went to dmexco 2026" and "I closed three deals from dmexco 2026."
Flight back from Cologne: sort. LinkedIn-connect. Sleep.
Open NexaLink, tag everyone you scanned by tier (Hot / Warm / Cold) and by category (publisher / agency / brand / vendor). Send LinkedIn requests to Hot with personalized notes.
Personal email to every Hot contact.
Reference where you met. Reference what you talked about. Propose one specific next step. Use this template:
Hi [name] — Great catching up at dmexco [Hall 7 / Day 1]. Loved your take on [specific topic from their booth pitch]. Following up — would [meeting / case study / intro] be useful next week? — [your name]
LinkedIn note + soft email to Warm contacts.
Lower energy than Hot, but still personalized. Reference one detail from your conversation. Don't propose a meeting — just offer help. Acceptance rate is lower; the goal is staying on their radar for next quarter.
LinkedIn-only for Cold. Bump non-replies in Hot/Warm.
Cold tier: LinkedIn connection request, no email. Anyone in Hot/Warm who didn't reply by Day 5 gets one bump email — short, low-pressure, easy to ignore. After this, drop them.
Re-surface every contact tagged dmexco 2026.
NexaLink filter: tag = dmexco 2026. Send 5-10 no-pressure check-ins to people who didn't convert in week 1 but are still relevant. This is where year-over-year compounding starts.
How NexaLink runs the 7-day follow-up for you
- → Every card you scanned at dmexco 2026 is auto-tagged. Filter by tag and you have your follow-up list ready.
- → AI drafts the personalized first email per contact, referencing the session you tagged at scan-time.
- → Reminders auto-set for Day 5 bump and Day 30 check-in. You don't have to remember.
- → When dmexco 2027 happens, the same tag tells you which people you already met. That is your warm list for next year — without lifting a finger.
Frequently asked questions
How soon should I send follow-ups after dmexco?
Within 48 hours. Marketing decision-makers are getting follow-ups from 30+ vendors after dmexco — yours needs to land before the inbox triage starts on Tuesday. Tuesday morning is usually too late.
What should the first dmexco follow-up email say?
Reference the booth or session, mention one specific thing they said, and propose one next step — a case study, a 20-min call, or a peer intro. Keep it under 80 words. Marketers see hundreds of post-event emails; brevity gets read, length gets archived.
How do I segment 100+ contacts after dmexco?
Three buckets: Hot (active opportunity, 5-10 people), Warm (relevant peer or partner, 30-40 people), Cold (just exchanged cards, 50+ people). Hot: personalized email Day 1-2. Warm: LinkedIn note + soft email by Day 3. Cold: LinkedIn connect-only.
Should I send a case study or just an email after dmexco?
If you talked specifics, send a case study or one-pager that maps to their use case. Generic content (gated whitepaper, etc.) underperforms hand-picked content. NexaLink lets you note the specific use case at scan-time so you can attach the right asset later without rebuilding context.
When should I send the second follow-up?
Seven days after the first. One-line bump: 'Hey [name], following up — does [X] still feel relevant for Q4 planning?' Tying it to their planning cycle outperforms a generic 'circling back.' If still no reply, drop it.
Don't lose the connection.
Free on iOS and Android. Scan cards, tag by event, and follow up without dropping a single name.