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Trade Shows and Exhibitions: How to Achieve the Highest ROI

Trade shows and exhibitions can offer fantastic opportunities for you and your company. You can make business connections with others in your field, unveil a new product or technology, and also benefit from the educational sessions they offer. While these are all great reasons to attend trade shows and exhibitions, you have to be careful not to choose the wrong one. You could waste resources, potentially lose profits, or discourage management or employees to attend future events. You want to maximize the return on your investments. Therefore, the million-dollar question remains. How do you choose the best trade show(s) for your company? How can one troubleshoot such an evasive topic? There are some key things you and your company can do to prepare for trade shows and exhibitions. We will look into several key factors to help you understand:
  • why you need to attend trade shows and exhibitions
  • how to choose the right trade shows and exhibitions to bring you the highest ROI; and
  • how to calculate ROI on your trade show attendance

Goals

Before discussing these questions, we need to agree on one key factor – your attendance at any event requires a clear set goal(s). Before you initiate any planning, you need to define your primary goal – Why are you considering attending the trade show? Trade Shows and Exhibitions Your answer should be clear and concise. Here are some reasons why. You are:
  • Introducing a new product
  • Promoting new technology
  • Reinforcing sales of the existing technology
  • Entering into a new geographic market or customer segment
  • Re-establishing your presence on the particular market
  • Building or maintaining awareness of your brand
  • Looking for new employees
  • Or more
As you can see, the reasons for attending trade shows and exhibitions are endless. For that reason, here are a few more:   show and event goals

Define Your Goals

Now take a pen or pencil and define those goals with your team. You need to keep in mind that you may need to get those goals approved by top management. Also, be sure to refer to the overall business strategy for the quarter, year or decade. Find the answers to the following questions: Which product line is expected to grow? Is your digital marketing growth was set as a priority? If the goal was set to build partnerships, find out what type of partnerships were on top of the list. This will help you define goals, which will also make sense to the overall business growth. In addition, it will help you take a step forward to increase the tradeshow attendance ROI. Remember, use all the information you have at your disposal. Also, if your company has already attended similar events, look at the metrics regarding that event. Demographics of the attendees, sales records, or marketing budgets become your friend in defining an attainable goal.
  • To move to the next step, you must ask yourself the following questions:
  • How will you prepare?
  • Do you already have all the marketing material ready?
  • Will you involve the external help?
  • Who will need to man your office during the trade show?
  • Who will attend with you?
While the specific answers vary depending upon your product, region, show, etc., there are some universal suggestions that everyone needs to consider. You must cover the basics. At a minimum! We really want you to be even more prepared.

Geography

One major factor to consider is where the trade shows and exhibitions are located, which also includes the time of year it’ll take place during. If the trade shows and exhibitions are planned during a time where your customers or potential customers are busy, it may not the best time to attend. Weather conditions also need to be considered. For example, customers are not likely to travel to Alaska for a trade show during winter unless it’s for a huge lead? Also, don’t forget about the additional costs that may affect the event’s ROI. Locations further away from your home base will cost you more. So do luxurious destinations. You should utilize any knowledge you have from past trade shows and exhibitions and factor that into what you know will work for your company. Think through your choices and carefully forecast the projected revenue and other benefits from a trade show attendance. Finally, to find the list of trade shows and exhibitions, you may want to participate is discussed in our next blog article.

Benefits of Trade Shows and Exhibitions

Trade shows are still one of the best and most profitable places to market B2B. Attendance numbers alone can give your company a competitive edge on rivals that don’t go to one. But how can you evaluate the potential effectiveness of the show? How do you quantify if a trade show was a success? The answers can be easy to find. Customers still enjoy face to face interaction with their suppliers and partners. In-person meetings are difficult to replace. In the trade show setting, you can give your customers an experience they will associate with you. Also, you can uniquely differentiate yourself, teach them something they can’t just learn via an online tutorial, answer their detailed questions, give them a demo, learn more about them and their needs, and further engage them in conversation about your product or service. This is your chance to stand out from the crowd and to tell the story of why you do what you do.

So the next question is: which trade show, if any, will be the most beneficial for you?

Jill Odom, one of our influences, discusses the importance of weighing the pros and cons of trade show attendance in her article, The Importance of Exhibiting at Trade Shows. One of the key factors she points out is that if you have chosen your market well and determined the best product to feature, you will have constant customer interaction throughout the show. By meeting your clients face-to-face, you can perform on-site market research as to what people like about your product as well as what concerns they might have. These are critical areas of market research that can go overlooked if you don’t get that direct B2C contact. In addition, Marketing to other businesses, or learning about your competition, will add value to what you will do in the future. Finding data regarding your company’s previous years’ performance is useful for your bottom line. If possible, talk with sales reps who were part of the previous trade show’s management team. Try to find out if those contacts made during the show converted into revenue or whether the company benefited from new and fruitful partnerships. This is all excellent information to have at your disposal.

Justification

In most cases, you need to justify attendance to upper management. You must explain, clearly, that you probably won’t make immediate sales at the show. Making immediate sales is actually quite unusual. However, you can still forecast sales revenue by identifying hot leads with the implementation of this formula: “expected hot leads X close rate X average value of the sale of contract = estimated revenue.” Data on the expected leads can be acquired on the trade show website based on the attendance from previous years. Be aware, if you are currently struggling to find time for just the day-to-day aspects of the business, you might not be ready to dive into the trade show pool. Make sure your workload is under control first. Also, sometimes just participating in a trade show for a couple of days may be your most valuable option. You will be able to meet prospects, gain knowledge on the current industry trends, and meet potential partners with whom the lasting and fruitful relationships can be built. And don’t forget to SET YOUR GOALS. We cannot emphasize this enough. You will be unable to determine whether you had a successful event if you did not have an initial goal(s). By setting goals your entire team will be on the same page and ready to participate.

Personnel

Once you have chosen a proper show and venue, you must decide who is the best fit to attend. Do you want upper management, marketing personnel, operational employees, and/or sales reps to be there? The decision usually lies within your defined goal. If you are demonstrating a new product or explaining a new technology, having the engineers or tech sales reps or even operational personnel on-site to answer questions would be to your benefit. However, if the purpose of your attendance is to find new employees or make new connections, HR, middle management, and/or business development experts will be the best team. By taking time to think through your goals and your desired outcomes, of each show, you can build the best team. Make sure that your team is ready to interact. Your audience wants to be there. They have taken time out of their lives to attend this event, so use that knowledge to your advantage. Offering specials, giveaways, or having an appealing booth will draw others to you. Teach your team to be welcoming and engaging. Also, make sure they are willing to interact and answer questions. Most importantly, follow-up on any leads or connections you may have while you are still at the show. You cannot expect potential clients to check-in with you. By implementing proper due diligence during and after the show, you can bring more value to your attendance.

The Importance of a Talented Staff

Once you have attracted visitors, your salespeople need to ask questions. This has to be done before launching into a generic pitch of your business. Customers will appreciate their needs being listened to from the very beginning. Trade show studies have found that 80% of show attendees remember more about the salespeople manning the booth than the booth itself. Your success at a trade show rides mostly on the talent and knowledge of your staff. Because of this and the high level of investment in trade shows, it is advised not to send rookie sales members to man a booth. Also, do proper training before the event. The primary objective for your team is to present themselves as open, confident, and inviting. You want attendees to see your employees as someone worth knowing. William Comcowich echoes the importance of teamwork and understanding your goals in his article, How to Best Measure the Value of Trade Shows. According to Comcowich, your goals and objectives must be determined before your ability to understand whether the trade show will be a success4. By setting these goals, you will have an instrument in which to measure the metrics of the show. Later on, we will discuss how to determine your company’s success and ROI vs. future trade show attendance. If you do not have clear-cut goals, you will not know what to measure, or even whether or not the event proved to be a success.

Product Selection

Next, hone in on what will be displayed at the show you have chosen to attend. Will the audience be looking for product/solutions your company offers? Will they want to see supplemental solutions for what will be provided by most of the show exhibitors based upon the theme of the show?  Or maybe you will be a problem-solver for other exhibiting at the show.  Know your role and take it seriously. Exhibiting too many products can be just as detrimental as highlighting the wrong product. The AMA suggests incorporating special promotions that may increase interest in your product or potentially shorten the sale cycle for your audience. Remember: you are attending this event to meet people and hopefully make lasting connections. Think of the partnership opportunity with other companies that serve a similar client base. Can your products be an extension of each other? Symbiotic relationships benefit everyone. Connections within your industry should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind while attending the event.

Trade Show Material and Preparation

Just as you have made a well-thought choice picking your product to display, you will also want to prepare your marketing material thoughtfully. This is not referring to just the booth design. By having materials including video, pamphlets, instructional images, or 3D printed examples, you can illustrate what you have to offer in a colorful and entertaining format. Above all, this leads to potential emotional connections that may benefit you now and in the future. Due to the high costs of attending trade shows, you want to put your money to good use. Plan your booth size and determine which props or tools you will need. Also, if you need to have an animation or other visual aids, consider the costs. Some companies plan for a show a year or more in advance to save on costs and avoid having to pay rush fees! In addition, you may need to hire someone to design your booth, though this expense may be unnecessary. It is important to know that the general look of your booth is not the only thing needed for a successful event. Wendy Stasolla, at Imbue, suggests preparing a strategy at least six months in advance. While having a fantastic looking booth can help, Stasolla believes that the real key lies in having a well-executed strategy. Imbue suggests advanced planning of your exposure in trade journals, direct mailing, and special presentations. Hosting events to precede your unveiling at a trade show can also help drum up hype for your product.

Successful Guidelines for Trade Shows and Exhibitions

Whether you are unveiling a new design/product or creating brand awareness, there are several factors to consider. Imbue suggests some specific guidelines to increase your chances of a successful trade show:
  • Know your client base. Who do you want to speak to? Who is most likely to benefit from your product? Calculate the number of people you expect in attendance. Take the number of those in attendance, reducing it by half, and assume that 20% of those in attendance may be potential connections for your company.
  • Plan out your booth. Do you need to have it built, or you are using an existing one. Also, make sure your company comes across with a fresh new approach. Creatively designing a booth is essential when welcoming new customers to your product. If possible, strategize the best location for your booth in the exhibit area. You want to be placed somewhere that guarantees maximum exposure without any obstructions.
  • Begin promoting yourself before the event. Don’t wait until the last minute! Begin a marketing campaign three weeks before the show through social media, mail, or email. Use a manner in which works best for your company.
  • Know your team! Select your team wisely. Be sure they are prepared to discuss the product or service and are well versed in anything they may be asked. They need to engage the audience and pass along pertinent information in a pleasant manner.
  • Use the results of your trade show to answer questions for your company in the future. Don’t forget to follow-up on leads after the event. A personal connection with those that showed interest in you may lead to a future beneficial relationship. It is a waste of your time and decreases your ROI when you do not connect with those following the event.

No Simple Solution

There is never going to be just ONE thing that guarantees your success at trade shows and exhibitions. By combining all of the strategies given above, you can maximize your potential to achieve the desired goal. Be prepared with materials to hand out. Business cards, pamphlets, or souvenirs will remind your potential client who you are and what you have to offer. If you are featuring several different products, have a comprehensive catalog produced in an easy to read format. Bring your staff together. Also, Make sure your personnel knows the ins and out of your product and are ready to engage and educate.

The Importance of Design at Trade Shows and Exhibitions

Existential design is important. However, you must first start with the content of your booth. Be sure to take the set goals for the trade show into consideration. Will you be debuting a new product? Will you be promoting an older product or products? Are you trying to push a product that has not proved successful in the past? All of these are questions should be asked well in advance. Choose which best fits the trade show and your overall goals. It may be smart to ask for the trade show host’s permission to record the behavior of the booth attendees for further analysis and maintenance of this valuable knowledge. The more quality data you have to analyze, the better prepared you will be for next year. The American Marketing Association suggests rolling out promotions for your trade show. Having special codes or offering additional deals can help your company stand out and attract attention. Make a promotion specific to the event. You can be as creative as you want, and you should be, to ensure the highest ROI.  In addition, you may even consider putting a wall with your logos and run the promotion for those who will post, tag, and hashtag your company on social media in return for the professional picture or a gift. When designing your booth keep in mind what you want your customers to experience. Do you have a complicated product that may need further explanation? By creating educational materials for your booth such as videos, animations, virtual experiences, and interactive tools, you can explain a process or reveal a problem that your product can solve. Education is vital to your potential customer, especially if they are unfamiliar with your product. Marketing and training can bring your customer connections to a new level.

Social Media

Comcowich suggests creating a landing page specific to your event. This allows you to have a quantifiable tool to measure your ROI. You will be able to gauge traffic to the landing page and tie it in specifically with your attendance at the trade shows and exhibitions. Make sure to announce your plans to attend the trade show. Let people know what you are doing! Put out press coverage and market through your social media tools. Jillian Tempestini provides some tips on how to monitor your social media before, during, and after an event. Make sure you are aware of any hashtags associated with the trade show you are attending. You can even create hashtags of your own and encourage people to use them. Clever hashtags can be fun and serve a fundamental purpose of drawing people to your booth. Also, it can help when you launch your social media campaign before the actual event. Figure out what your customers like the most. What they want to see and what may attract them to your booth. Do your clients interact on LinkedIn or Facebook? Maybe Twitter is a better outlet for your audience. Find out so that you may present your information on the most viable platform. Put someone in charge of your media marketing. It can become quite confusing if your entire staff is posting pictures, hashtags, etc., plus it can become overwhelming for your audience. You want thoughtfully planned and executed posts that will showcase your product/company without becoming confusing or burdensome.

Keep in Touch

Prepare the post-event emails or mailing templates. It will save you time and will be less stressful during the first week of returning to work. The rule of thumb is to send follow-up correspondence within the first 2 weeks. Another excellent opportunity for your company is to become a speaker during the trade show. Ask for the opportunities to sponsor the happy hour, coffee breaks or other mingling events. Also, if you want to offer refreshments, check the policies of the trade show hosts. Make sure that you are in compliance with their requirements. Knowing your responsibilities ensures smooth operations and a fluid show experience. Make sure that every participant knows his/her role. In addition, know who is responsible for social media, refreshments, leads data generations, etc. Comcowich identifies several trade show metrics that are important for your company to note. Do not just check posts on social media. Be sure to check post engagements, shares, and note who is interacting with your company online. If there is a “shop now” button, check to see the number of clicks. Also, be sure to check your website traffic. Compare what it was before the trade show versus afterward. Be sure to count any new leads. This is important for your company if you are attempting to contact a new client base. With all this knowledge in hand, you can plan, perfect and execute a successful trade show event. For more creative ideas, please refer to our blog article.

During the Show

Make sure to begin your event with an inspiring morning meeting for all booth team participants. A positive mood will increase your success rate. In addition, make sure that all the booth attendees are checked in and taken care of. Ask questions. Also, learn as much as possible. They came to the trade show for this purpose, and you will need to be able to provide the best solutions possible. Don’t spend time with suppliers and friends. Your time at the trade show needs to be used efficiently. You can reap more benefits by engaging your existing, or future, clients, and partners. Comcowich suggests the use of a click or tracking badge scans as a way to determine the number of people who show interest in your booth. You should count your attendance throughout the day and average it so that you will be aware of who visited your booth and when. Social media is a useful and easy tool to determine attendance. In addition, check social media sites frequently before, during and after the event. Here, you can see if there is any new traffic generated from your booth or excitement over your product or technology. If someone has mentioned your company, note who they were: were they an attendee, a speaker, or competition? Finally, if you offered refreshments during the show (especially if you marketed it), be sure to have enough for everyone. You don’t want to run out before the end of the day! This sends a poor message to the preparedness of your company.

After the Show

Now the event is over. The money has been spent, and the connections have been made (we hope). How do you tell if this was a successful event? How does one calculate the effectiveness of a trade show? You must weigh the costs of the trade show versus the actual revenue generated. Quantifying this can be easy or difficult, depending on what measures you put in place. Remember, with a well-executed trade show plan from beginning to end. Also, you can easily follow-up on your results post-show, which will help you determine your ROI. Danny Lambert delves into this topic in his article, Trade Show ROI – Measuring Your Return on Investment. First, you must take the tools you have already developed, including, goals, social media marketing, and landing page or sales data, etc. Lambert suggests that collection of this data is crucial to understanding your ROI. He recommends using Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, to aid in this process. KPI’s are defined as sets of data that measure booth traffic, leads, business cards that were handed out, purchases, and similar quantifiable factors.

Measuring with KPI

KPIs can lead to future marketing strategies, according to Lambert. He suggests using emailing sign-ups for future emailing campaigns, as well as any data obtained from kiosks and other methods, used during the trade show. Lambert states that your ROI calculation is a percentage representing the return of the amount of money you’ve invested. A simple method for future calculation can be something like asking clients how they found you. If you begin to see an uptick in new traffic following the trade show, be sure you understand whether this was a direct result of the show itself or from another source. Being aware of how your customers find you is crucial to understanding what works best for your company. Determine how to set values for your sales. Did you generate revenue from new/existing customers who saw you at the event? It is easy to quantify how much was spent, but that is not enough to understand your ROI. By setting sales revenue, you will have a number that will help you determine your ROI.

Measuring Leads Converted into Sales from Trade Shows and Exhibitions

Determine how to set values for your sales. Did you generate revenue from new/existing customers who saw you at the event? It is easy to quantify how much was spent, but that is not enough to understand your ROI. By setting sales revenue, you will have a number that will help you determine your ROI. Creative Training suggests that you measure your leads converted into sales to better understand your ROI. This is where planning and necessary follow-through must be implemented. Get your team involved to quantify those results. Creating a lead form will help you compile this information during the trade show itself. With a proper form provided to salespeople, or through a kiosk at your booth, you can understand specific things about those who visited your booth. This allows for follow-up connections and the understanding of who is likely to purchase your product and for what purposes. Lead forms should include general information, facts about who is interested in your product, including business information, the role of the company, etc. Ask your connection how they would like to be contacted. You want to reach out to people on their desired level to achieve the best results.

Quantifying Benefits from Trade Shows and Exhibitions

Quantifying a desirable ROI is different for each trade show and each company. You can understand your trade show attendance better and also make future assessments of what will work best for your company. Remember your results will vary from show to show. You should be aware of all of the key factors that will aid in your determination of ROI. There is not a simple solution. High leads do not always mean a high ROI. So, depending on your product, it may take weeks/months to close a sale. Also press coverage, brand recognition, and market research can all be conducted at trade shows and exhibitions. While it is true that coming up with your real ROI can be difficult, put some work into it and make the best out of every penny spent. Know your status before and after trade shows and exhibitions. Who was a new client? Who was an existing client? Keep all these things in mind to come up with a cohesive picture of how the trade show affected your ROI. Run your numbers several times following the event. Sometimes it can take months for sales to be made or specific benefits of the trade show come to light. For that reason, keep data compiled for several months following the event. Finally, repeat this as needed.

Checklist for

Trade Shows and Exhibitions

Understand how much you’ve spent versus what benefits you have received as trade shows and exhibitions. Ask the following questions and record appropriate answers. 
  • What was the most valuable part of the show? Why?
  • What was the least valuable part of the show? Why?
  • Were pre-show promotions effective? Why?
  • Was the location good? Why?
  • Were there enough (or too many) people in the booth? Why?
  • Was the size of the both appropriate? Why?
  • Were giveaways valuable? Why?
  • Were the right products on display? Why?
  • Did the signage convey the right message?
  • What should we do a trade show again? Why?
  • What didn’t work? Why?
  • How could we make it better?
 

What if your ROI is Unfavorable?

  Let’s say you have prepared thoroughly and done your due diligence, but you find your ROI to be unfavorable. So, is this a total loss? You can take even the most negative of outcomes and also use it for your future strategy. Also, you can learn from what did not work out. Maybe you need to change which shows you attend or your product unveiling approach. By taking all of your data into consideration, you can now move forward with a more advanced approach to choosing your next show or deciding how and when to attend one. Remember, no specific approach is foolproof. Be thorough, plan ahead, and above all, do not give up. Also, learn from your achievements and failures to ultimately bring long-term success to your company.
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Thank you for choosing LA New Product Development Team for your Prior Art Search.

Please fill out the form to submit your order.

Upon successful payment, you will receive an email with a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and a questionnaire regarding your product idea.

Your privacy and security are paramount to us, so rest assured that your information will be handled with the utmost confidentiality.

Step 1: Fill in your contact and billing details.
Step 2: Review your order summary.
Step 3: Submit payment.

After your payment is processed, please check your email for the NDA and questionnaire. Completing these documents promptly will allow us to start your Prior Art Search without delay.


If you have any questions or need assistance with your order, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

318-200-0526 | hello@lanpdt.com

Thank you for choosing LA New Product Development Team for your Prior Art Search.

Please fill out the form to submit your order.

Upon successful payment, you will receive an email with a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and a questionnaire regarding your product idea.

Your privacy and security are paramount to us, so rest assured that your information will be handled with the utmost confidentiality.

Step 1: Fill in your contact and billing details.
Step 2: Review your order summary.
Step 3: Submit payment.

After your payment is processed, please check your email for the NDA and questionnaire. Completing these documents promptly will allow us to start your Prior Art Search without delay.


If you have any questions or need assistance with your order, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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