Talk to any business-to-business marketing professional and he or she would agree that you never place all your eggs or promotional dollars into one basket. Based on the product or service and the markets it serves, a company’s promotional mix should include a carefully selected blend of print advertising, digital media, sales promotion, web marketing and product publicity.
Tradeshow exhibiting has long been an important tool to introduce new products, meet new customers and enhance brand awareness. But, with the advent of digital marketing, many marketers have chosen to use on-line alternatives, pointing to the recession-induced reduction in tradeshow attendance. The lower audience numbers were a result of headcount reductions, resulting in fewer professionals carrying more of the workload. Other factors included higher cost of travel, and, of course, the time spent away from the office or plant. Thankfully, with improving business conditions, this negative attendance trend has recently reversed.
There remains no better, cheaper or more effective way to get sales personnel face-to-face with potential buyers than exhibition marketing.
According to Manufacturing-Works, a nonprofit organization that provides business services, the average industrial sales cold call costs $412. Considering the number of interested contacts you can make and the hundreds of sales leads you can generate at your leading industry tradeshow, exhibitions can certainly create a better return on investment than cold calling. In fact, according to the Advertising Spend Survey produced by Outsell Inc., a research and advisory firm, exhibitions generate more sales leads than any other sales tool apart from a companies’ website.
Business-to-business buyers still prefer to attend tradeshows to physically see and feel the latest products and technologies and to discuss specific applications with knowledgeable product specialists.
A recent example of a well-planned exhibition marketing program is presented by Insurcard, a credit card payment service company. Insurcard recently partnered with VISA to provide cost-effective insurance payments to credit card recipients.
According to Thomas Hopkins, manager of business development at Insurcard, the company had the following goals for its exhibition-marketing program:
• Present a new company and service to the marketplace.
• Build brand awareness.
• Obtain new distribution.
• Generate end-user leads.
Hopkins discussed these goals with his exhibition services provider, The Robert Kach Group, and asked how Insurcard could meet those goals through both static and interactive elements in its exhibit.
The resulting 20-foot island exhibit was compact enough to fit into five crates, thereby lowering the overall cost of shipping, drayage and installation and dismantling labor. The company presented its storyline on large video monitors mounted on each of the four exhibit column supports. Circular sales stations were also placed strategically at each location to allow representatives to “speak to” the graphic content.
“We provided Insurcard with an effective exhibit that would attract potential clients and distributors, yet meet their cost requirements,” said Bob Kach, president of the Robert Kach Group.
The exhibit also featured header graphics that were supported on aluminum trusses 11 feet above the floor. A branded, halo-shaped hanging sign capped the exhibit at the highest allowable position 16 feet off the ground. This provided maximum exposure from both inside and outside the booth.
“Our new company had instant credibility as a real player in the market,” said Hoskins. “We were able to introduce our products and services and acquire many new client contacts. The most impressive result came after our second exhibition where we landed our largest client to-date.”
In addition to in-booth marketing, optimizing your audience through the use of new digital promotional tools can also enhance tradeshow results.
Utilizing pre-show registration and customer lists, e-mail teasers and at-show promotions can improve your show draw and visitor count. Automated fulfillment insures that potential customers receive the information they need immediately upon returning to the office.
Post-show follow-up is critical to maintaining customer contacts.
Tradeshow marketing has been making a comeback recently, demonstrating its continued value in the marketing communication mix. Industry activity increased in 2011 according to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research’s CEIR Index. Net square feet grew 2.7 percent, the number of exhibitors increased 2.3 percent and the number of attendees increased 3.4 percent. That positive trend continues in 2012 with first quarter results showing net square feet up 3.4 percent and attendance up over 4 percent.
The use of effective event-marketing tactics and inclusion of tradeshows in your marketing communications plan can help achieve sales goals while giving your team an opportunity to meet and maintain customer relationships well beyond the show floor.
John Beca is the vice president of marketing and sales at The Robert Kach Group. He can be reached at john.beca@robertkachgroup.com.
