Importance of trade exhibitions – Ensuring communication with the players in their market is a major challenge for companies. Whatever their communication objectives, companies have many tools to consider, including trade exhibitions.
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What are Trade Exhibitions
Trade Exhibitions (trade fair, trade show, or trade exposition) are events organised to allow companies (exhibitors) in a specific industry to present and demonstrate their products or services, develop their brand image and generate growth opportunities. They are a means of meeting in the same place, their customers, prospects, or their competitors.
Exhibitors have an allocated space usually equipped with a stand allowing them to engage with exhibition visitors and leverage their presence. Although the principle sounds simple, the reality is not always.
Objectives of Trade Exhibitions
The objectives of a fair are different for each company. For this reason, it is necessary to establish precisely the desired objectives before taking a position on a trade show.
Here is the list of the most common goals:
- Prospecting – meet people with the potential to become a client
- Make sales – the goal of all commercial organisations after all!
- Customer loyalty – take advantage of the event to physically meet your customers and build relationships
- Presentation of products and services
- Identification of strategic partnerships
- Brand image development
- Acquisition of market information
- Promote the company’s know-how
How to select the right Exhibition for your company
To achieve their goals, companies must identify trade shows that have the potential to bring them a relevant audience.
The main selection criteria are as follows:
Theme
The shows are generally organised on a particular theme or industry. It is necessary to select an appropriate theme.
Audience
Engineers, business leaders or buyers. Trade shows usually have historical data on the type of visitors. If your business sells consulting or recruiting services, you should focus on a CEO or executive audience. If you are selling technical services, an engineering audience would probably be more suitable.
Number of visitors
As in any marketing approach, positioning at a trade show must take into account quality and quantity.
Budget
The cost of hiring a space in a well-known centre is high, add to that the price of the stand, the equipment, the transport, the design of the flyers as well as the mobilisation of the team for the preparation and animation of the event.
The cost of a stand + Space can vary depending on its size and location. £ 4000 – 15000 is a reasonable budget for a small business.
Geographic positioning
Does the tradeshow have national, local or even international appeal?
Average ROI of the industry
Here too, the shows generally have historical data on the average ROI generated during the events. Of course, only your own statistics are reliable data, but in the absence of data, you can consider the numbers provided by the organizers.
Conclusion
Importance of Trade Exhibitions – Trade shows are a proven form of marketing that generates highly targeted leads that can actually turn into sales. They make it possible to physically meet the prospects and break the ice in the first place and thus facilitate future conversations. In conclusion, this form of marketing is not suitable for all businesses but if you operate in B2B it is an option to explore.
