Chris Van Veen Marketing Communications

Event Marketing: A Good Idea if Done Right

Trade shows and industry conferences are seen as 'necessary evils' to many marketeers. You'd be hard-pressed to find folks who universally love them, yet trade shows exist in the marketing mix because they literally bring sellers and buyers together. To talk. To show. To compare. To sell. To promote. But for all those wonderful advantages, why aren't trade shows 'universally loved?'

For one, it's tough to truly gauge the effectiveness of a trade show. A lot of time and money gets invested, and the 'return' on that investment is often difficult to quantify. Do you simply count the number of 'leads' and use that as a metric? Many companies do, and then they leave it at that. These are the folks who lament the lack of effectiveness of event marketing. The key is to begin the effort by defining how you'll define success. Complaints aside, these companies often begrudgingly return to the same show a year later because 'their competition is there.' You'll find that this rationale is common. Many companies feel that they'd be 'conspicuous by their absence' if they chose not to attend a show on a recurring basis. But they'd only be conspicuous if they failed to choose some other way of connecting with their customer base. Too often, a decision to attend a show is made simply because 'the other guy is going.' And that would be a mistake. If you're clear about what your success metrics are, then it ought to be easy enough to determine whether trade shows work or don't.

There are two keys to making trade shows work from an ROI standpoint. First, select the show carefully. Second, maximize the effectiveness of the effort by participating in the conference sessions. Trade shows need to be selected carefully. Years ago, I saw that the focus in our market space was trending toward smaller, focused shows and away from the larger national ones. I did some analysis of the demographics, talked to some people, and decided to be a charter exhibitor in a first-time show called DesignCon. It was then and is today a very successful show. It's not a large show by most measures, but it is an effective one. What made it most effective is that it was a conference first and a trade show second. This distinction attracted the industry movers and shakers...the folks you really want to rub elbows with. Because it's expensive to send personnel to any show regardless of where it's held, you'd like to make sure the right people plan to be there.

Once I felt that DesignCon was going to be a winner (judging by its conference session agenda) I made sure that we presented a paper there. This is an important distinction. Trade shows are equal parts sizzle and steak. The sizzle is out on the show floor, where everyone has their promotional hat on. But by focusing on the conference session rather than simply 'building a booth,'  we were able to promote the show differently. It was an easier sell to senior management, but also to our prospects and customer base.

If you go with this one-two punch every time you attend a trade show, you'll see remarkable results. You'll see that the conference session draws more qualified people to your booth, and you'll see that your booth presence sends more interested people to your conference session. In the end, the effort becomes a winning one because you've maximized the value of the event.