For companies operating in global markets, trade shows are a crucial means of communication. By including them as a key component of their marketing communication strategy during uncertain times, companies can build customer relationships, generate sales and sales promotions, establish and maintain good international business relations, monitor global competition, and reduce barriers to entry in new markets.
There are lot of skepticism about attending tradeshows by senior management of organization. The trade show is often a major item on the marketing budget for numerous companies, after factoring in the expenses for the sales force. Many companies rely solely on trade show expenses for their organized marketing communication activities, besides the sales force and distributors. In fact, for some companies, trade show expenditures are the primary form of marketing.
According to leading analyst, organization across the world typically allocate between 7% to 30% of their annual marketing budget towards trade show expenses.
However, these percentages do not include the substantial cost of top management time spent on trade show participation.
One of the leading problems that marketers faces is to demonstrate the tangible ROI on attending these tradeshows immediately. It is difficult for any marketer to put a number for marketing return per dollar spent. It is also very difficult to share the efficiency of tradeshows compare to other form of marketing such email or advertisement. A problem cited by senior management that it is very difficult to monitor the performance of their team members in tradeshows. One of the CEO of leading IT product company shared that it is very difficult for him to determine whether the person who has gone to the tradeshow actually spending the time at the tradeshow and not doing anything else as there are no way to measure the efficiency of the person.
To successfully align your strategy for attracting prospects, it's essential to begin with a set of hypotheses and test them one by one. This involves experimenting with various booth offers, messaging, and shows. The ultimate goal is to reach a point where only high-quality prospects actively engage with your team, indicating that you have achieved optimal alignment.