Measurement Tip 22

Could Just Knowing Who Attends Your Event Be the Most Important Measure of Success?

I have attended too many events where the host could provide little, if any, detail about who participated. This is quite often the case with trade show exhibit marketing. So, why is this so important?  Attracting an adequate number of targeted participants is the single most important factor in success or failure of a marketing event (or most any event.).

Hosting participants who can directly benefit your company is a prerequisite to every other aspect of a marketing or customer event.  If the right people are not present, the remaining activity is almost meaningless. Therefore, performance measurements of your efficiency in targeting, invitation and attendance results are among the most important factors in reporting results and making improvements in future events.  

  

The importance of attracting an adequate number of targeted people stems from my research over several decades.  During that time I identified three factors, which determine the success of an event:

1) The ability to attract enough people who can personally deliver benefits to the host

2) Success in communicating with these participants in a persuasive manner

3) Success in obtaining the desired behavioral response from these participants (i.e. to take a step in the sales cycle or engage in another targeted business process)

What is clear is that without adequate attendance the subsequent steps have no effect.  Keeping a focus on identification, targeting and attracting the most valuable audience for every marketing event will do the most to increase your results and ROI.  This will also help you to develop more effective criteria for defining and obtaining qualified, sales ready leads.  A simple phrase that sums these ideas up is, “Those who attend must be those who can act in a way that benefits your company!”

To make a difference in an upcoming event requires that you begin your process a minimum of 6 months before the show date.  It also requires that you involve sales, marketing and product management, if possible, in the discussions of who is targeted at an event and how the target set matches up with priority products to be showcased at the event.

This approach can open new avenues for communication with a wider group of managers within your organization.  The new players need adequate time to understand the opportunity and to “buy in” to the plan and to make their contributions to the final result.

Step 1 - Define the target audiences you seek to reach using a descriptive hierarchy:

1. Industry or Market Segment (ex: Construction)
2. Company Type  (ex: Aggregate Paving, Demolition)
3. Company Size  (ex: 1 million and above in revenue)
4. Functional Responsibility (ex: Executive, Finance)
5. Title (ex: President, CFO, V.P.)
6. Name if practical (ex: Joe Tomlin)

Consider a show that will be attended by over 100k people (net).  You will likely target less than 20% of that number.  Limited show hours and other exhibitors competing for each visitor’s attention and time may prevent your from seeing even those you target.  If you do not target your desired audiences, you will be simply hoping that one qualified fish out of every five that swim by will jump into your boat.  This is not a good proposition!  Working with a finite number of targets reduces your overall work to a more manageable and successful approach.

Step 2 – Define the addressable audience

The chart above is from an actual report showing a pictorial analysis of the “target markets” available at the composite industry’s largest show.  Each sub-market is plotted according to the percentage of total individuals participating in the event.

We can see at a glance that Transportation is the most prevalent segment represented, followed by Marine, Custom Molding and Aerospace, etc.

Now, consider for a moment that the Electrical/ Electronic products division of an exhibiting company wants to bring their entire line to the show because they are sharing in the budget.  It is easy to conclude that doing so may not be a good use of space or expense.  This is great information for answering the perennial question, “What should we show in our exhibit?”

Step 3 – Attracting the targets 

Often the best sources to consult are the demographic profile of show attendees available from show management.  You should also use contact lists available from industry publications and your own marketing database.  Develop and run a query from your target criteria developed in Step 1 against these databases.

You may purchase mailing address lists that match your criteria for direct marketing.  (Phone numbers or email addresses may or may not be available.) 

If the show management will not rent you a list, they often will launch you campaign for you.  Review you exhibitor kit to arrange purchase of a list or distribution services.

Step 4 - And beyond

Once you have identified your targets, it is up to you to design and deliver pre-event marketing campaigns and coordinated personal invitation campaigns using your executives and sales team.  Remember, prospects are only one of many valuable audiences at an event.

Track who visits your exhibit or event by stopping people at random and documenting their demographic profile. Take demographics and simple attitude responses while people wait for a presentation.  Or, you can use a tool such as exit surveys.  You can also swipe badges for as many people as possible, using a simple "giveaway" that will not attract too many of the wrong people.  Next, run a measurement report of your attendance using the registration/ leads data from show management. 

Documenting as many visitors as possible is an excellent habit to develop.  Be sure people who respond to a pre-event marketing campaign or invitation are identified in the process.  Compare your results to your original targets.  A lead should usually be a person who fits one of the targeted profiles.

When you target and invite the right participants, event and exhibit staff will be much more effective in conveying the proper information and gaining commitments for follow-through.  The people they see will be interested in what they are saying and the information will be relevant to them.

I will write more on this in the future.  Meanwhile, be sure to call me if you want to discuss ideas.

Ed Jones

President, Constellation Communication Corporation

+1.770.391.0015

edjones@constellationcc.com