Trade Shows - Worth the Bother

Several years ago, when I surveyed business owners about their biggest marketing successes and failures, a woman wrote me a heart-rending tale of having squandered her marketing budget exhibiting at a trade show someone had sold her on. Not one solid lead, much less a sale, materialized from thousands of showgoers. At the other extreme, I've heard owners and managers sing songs of praise to the trade show -- "the most concentrated set of marketing opportunities that exists," as Boulder, Colorado, software executive Edward Gerety calls it.

Trade shows aren't the right marketing venue for everyone, but for some the right shows perform like nothing else. Chief among the advantages is the chance to present your case face to face to more qualified prospects per hour than with any other marketing medium. After all, once you arrive at the show venue, there's no additional travelling. Potential buyers are swarming up and down the aisles -- or, for smart exhibitors, stopping by the booth by prior arrangement. Here's why and how to make trade shows pay off for your company.

For Edward Gerety, the chance to talk face to face with qualified buyers and those who influence purchases makes an industry show invaluable. "Business is a social occupation, and personal contact is a vital part of the marketing mix," he says. "Politicians know this and go out to shake hands and look people in the eye. Businesspeople who pay attention also know that you get a lot more out of a face-to-face conversation than from the telephone, email or fax." Even so, schmoozing and pressing the flesh aren't an end in themselves. Gerety judges success from trade shows by contracts signed with new customers and new sales to existing ones.

On the other hand, Florida entrepreneur Van Cloud says that when he exhibited in the furniture, boat and medical supply businesses, his main goal was overcoming the "never heard of you guys" sales barrier. "Sales reps told us that the company had to be known for people to listen to their presentations. And such awareness came cheaper by the trade show than by advertising. Afterwards, we would know a certain show was worthwhile because the reps got responses like, 'Yeah, we saw you at the Atlanta show. Come on in.'"

According to Steve Miller, author of How to Get the Most Out of Trade Shows, trade shows can also serve as a cost-effective vehicle for test-marketing a new product. "Instead of putting together an expensive market research project, I used to take prototypes of products to shows to see how many actual orders I could get. If something was a winner to buyers at a trade show, it was a good bet that it would be a winner in the marketplace."

Industry shows additionally offer a prime way to keep up with the competition's new moves. However, for that purpose you don't need to invest in a booth. Simply touring the show for the price of admission, listening and looking allow you to assess your rivals.

Knowing your goals and wisely choosing which shows to exhibit at are essential elements of trade show success, says Julia O'Connor, president of Trade Show Training, Inc. "There should be a good industry fit," notes O'Connor, "and don't exhibit only because the show's in Hawaii, Paris or near Aunt Ida. However, if it's a good show and has lower travel costs, that's a consideration for a 'maybe' fit."

Since the value of the show depends greatly on the sponsor's ability to deliver the promised visitors, a first-time show from an unproven promoter poses a risk. And exhibiting at a show mainly because someone happened to tell you about it and it sounded like a good idea almost always leads to disappointment. Even with an established, well-matched show, maintain reasonable expectations of your return on investment. "Most shows are marketing events, not selling venues," says O'Connor.

Steve Miller adds that too many firms attend with wildly unrealistic sales projections by extrapolating from the expected show traffic to their expected return on investment. Ignore the total number of attendees and go by how many contacts an hour those working the booth can make on average. Then, of those they talk with, how many will eventually buy and how much will they spend with the company over time? Compare that total with the cost of exhibiting and you've got a better estimate of return on investment, Miller says.

In certain cases the return on investment is less cut and dried than indicated in Miller's guidelines. Neil Cohen, a partner in the Internet incubator CampSix, recalls hundreds of autograph seekers showing up when he hired Norm Abrams, the host of PBS's "This Old House," to appear at Cohen's hand-tool booth. "It made a great impression with our customers -- we looked like a major company -- and made them more enthusiastic about us and our products. Yes, these things cost a bit of cash," he says, "but the return on the investment was huge."

Copyright 2000 Marcia Yudkin. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Boston-based publicity and marketing consultant Marcia Yudkin is the author of ten books, including Internet Marketing for Less Than $500/Year (Maximum Press). Her clients include business owners, professionals and associations around the world in search of creative, cost-effective ways to increase visibility and encourage repeat business. Read lots more of her articles on effective marketing at http://www.yudkin.com/marketing.htm.

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