Value is a lot More than Leads! - How to Support Your Exhibitors on Broad Array of Profit Improvement Goals

Even though many companies (and some show managers) view trade shows primarily as a sales and marketing activity, there are a lot more opportunities for exhibitors to gain value than simply collecting leads from prospects. Trade shows present many types of face to face interactive opportunities beyond seeing potential customers. Suppliers, partners, channels, integrators, designers, regulators and many others are present at your shows and can potentially impact the revenue stream or cost of doing business for your exhibitors. Any interaction that results in revenue generation, improved retention or lower cost of doing business improves the profitability of an exhibiting company and therefore the value associated with their investment in your show.

Functionally, trade shows are an opportunity to accomplish much more than prospecting for leads. Most companies use trade shows to interact with existing customers to protect their revenue base, to reduce the cost of doing business through lower-cost meetings with key contacts, and conducting purchasing and recruitment activities. Many companies implement significant press and PR initiatives using your show as an anchor point.

Thirty years of identifying and estimating the value of trade events for my clients led me to create the following model portraying the broader scope of profit improvement opportunities at a trade show.

The model is built around two major goals, 1) Business Improvement and 2) Marketing Communications. The following chart shows tactical objectives and targeted audiences for each of the overarching goals:

Supporting your exhibitors’ ability to accomplish these types of goals will provide many more ways for you exhibitors to derive value from your event. Think of the other exhibitors and even speakers and panelists as additional valuable contacts for your exhibitors and sponsors. Any matching mechanism that will help an exhibitor identify all of the potentially valuable contacts available at your event will result in increased value for all parities.

The notion that a show in Chicago is primarily about reaching individuals who happen to attend in Chicago is outdated thinking. Your event can be a conduit to the entire worldwide market for your exhibitors and sponsors. Through direct media, world media, digital media such as live streaming and archived events and social media connections and interactions between events, the exposure opportunity for your exhibitors and sponsors at an event is greatly multiplied.

To be more specific about the breadth of opportunities an exhibitor is looking for at an event, consider the planning guide we suggest for our clients and ways that your event might facilitate their accomplishment:

These tactics provide the basis for optimizing value from any customer or trade event.

A. Executive Participation
1. How can an exhibitor utilize their executives at an event in support of multiple business objectives?

2. Examples of tactical objectives
a. Number of high value contact meetings with visitors, suppliers, partners, and people who are influential in the business environment
b. Use of executives in customer interaction events, thought leadership activities, press interaction and high profile speaking opportunities or appearances

B. Thought Leadership
1. How can an exhibitor take advantage of an event and associated opportunities to position the company as a leader in shaping the capabilities and future of the market served by the event?

2. Examples of tactical objectives
a. Match between though leadership opportunities and marketing priorities
b. Array of speaking or publishing opportunities
c. Number of speakers, appearances
d. Reach – number of people influenced, impressions

C. PR/Press Impact
1. How can an exhibitor take advantage of an event and associated opportunities to influence brand, positioning, awareness and perceptions through the press and analysts associated with your event and motivate them to cover the company’s news, products and services in a positive manner?
2. Examples of tactical objectives
a. Number of press, PR, and/or analyst meetings and briefings
b. Projected number of press hits, actual tracking of event related press by priority messages, tone, focus, geography, etc.
c. Utilization of the event press facilities and contacts

D. Promotion
1. How will an exhibitor use the opportunities afforded by an event to promote the company brand, products and services and communicate marcom and community relations messages to targeted individuals and the broader market in general?
2. Examples of tactical objectives
a. Number of impressions
b. Types of impressions
c. Advertising equivalent value of event promotion
d. Awareness, interest, purchase intent, brand fit, net promoter scores with comparisons of pre and post-event levels

E. Business Development
1. How will an exhibitor use the event showcase, demonstrate and promote priority offerings to the targeted individuals and organizations addressable through an event?
2. Examples of tactical objectives
a. Number of customer/prospect meetings with customers, prospects and others
b. Number of “cost of doing business” related contacts and meetings
c. Number of an exhibit or pavilion visitors and engagements
d. Number of demonstrations for priority products and services
e. Number of follow-up opportunities recorded as a result of event engagement
f. Documented progress in customer relationship maturity through meetings and content for existing customers

F. General Return on Objectives
1. What are the stated objectives the company has that are not explicitly covered elsewhere in this structure
2. Examples of tactical objectives
a. Influence a standards, technical or alliance body to adopt or change a standard
b. Launch a product or program
c. Get a company executive elected to the board or chief position in the host organization

G. Technology and Product Showcase
1. How will an exhibitor utilize the event to showcase products and services that are applicable and valuable to the target audience at the event?
2. Examples of tactical objectives
a. High priority products and services, by division included in the exhibit mix
b. Product showcasing tracks directly with sales goals for divisions and geographies
c. Number and types of products and services showcased
1. Priority focus for messages and product demonstrations
2. Number of documented demonstrations of each

H. Expense Avoidance/ Cost Reduction
1. How can an exhibitor use the event to reduce the cost of doing business for the company?
2. Examples of tactical objectives
a. Cross- over savings associated with travel and other expense offsets such as press briefings, launches, announcements, etc.
b. Logistical expense avoidance associated with high- expense demonstrations, aircraft, etc. to locate near customers and prospects
c. Re-use of creative, web and collateral development for future events or for field sales, etc.
d. Cost of the event vs. the cost to reach high value contacts and show case products and services through other channels.
e. How well does spending at this event on a cost index basis, such as cost per square foot and cost per visitor, engaged visitor or lead compare with average company spending as well as industry spending in general on comparable events

I. Return on Investment
1. How much value can be identified and documents in association with the objectives above and how does that compare to the cost of doing the event? (expressed as a simple payback ratio, i.e. $43/1))
a. Cost avoidance
b. Value of promotion and press impact
c. Sales Opportunity (revenue impact if practical to assess)
d. Value of Customer Relationship Management, value of retention efforts

Most companies are looking for real value from their investments in trade events. They are especially looking for those events that are focused and organized to deliver value on many levels and in many ways. As an event organizer, your challenge is to find as many ways as possible to support your exhibitors and sponsors in accomplishing revenue, cost and promotion related goals. Teaching your exhibitors and sponsors to see more opportunities in your event and how to plan for the accomplishment of a broader array of goals may be a good place to start.

Encourage your exhibitors and sponsors to identify measure and report value internally to justify continued participation and growth. Many event and show managers measure everything they do in the way of face-to-face activity against the types of goals presented here. The best event managers not only use measurement to justify their events and budgets, but also because they know they have room to improve and measurement is their tool to identify and implement improvement. In fact, the more successful a program is, the more likely it is that measurement is an important part of their process. The events that are measured are the most likely to be cost justified in the eyes of executive management.