Trade show success

“We have a review structure and present back to the MD in terms of results achieved and while everyone is euphoric at the event they are not so in reporting back the results which may not be as much as thought.

“You must set a budget at the outset and set out what you want to achieve in terms of customers and making sure that everything delivers result.

“It is all important for bigger companies and small. Everyone has to get ROI and wants a slice of the marketing dollar.”

Many say, however, still the dominant reason for continued success at trade shows has been in
generating leads.

“The ROI dollar value of converted leads is what really makes or breaks a show,” Freeman said. “You have to make sure a database of leads is generated from it and make sure you can get back to contacts made and keep abreast of who buys from that list.

“The number of people talked to doesn’t necessarily get you sales and while some companies spend on development of brand I always believe a call to action must have results.”

Famularo said that the result is not necessarily immediate, but is all in the follow up.

“In a month or so after the event, I would say it is not worth it,” he said. “But it takes a long time to come through and what we have done is grabbed a delegate’s details and put them into CRM and see how many sales we made this year.

“You can generate leads in the follow up, which is harder than without the show. If you do the follow up right you can be successful.

“Most people don’t get that the result is from getting the leads and following them up. They can take up to two years to go ahead.”

Nadia Rosato, marketing manager, Siemens Enterprise Communications said big, generalist shows such as CeBIT are certainly useful from a branding and awareness perspective, but the event also offers considerable ROI.

“It should ideally be a mix of branding/awareness and leads,” Rosato said. “One of the most important aspects, however, is following through.

“You can generate lots of leads and not do anything with them. Preparation before, during and after the event is critical to a successful event and ROI,” she said.

“Organisations looking for pure lead generation might be disappointed, but those who take a more strategic approach, and build an integrated marketing campaign around the event, are better positioned to get more ‘bang for their buck,” Rosato said.

Rosato said that the key to success is preparation.

“It easy to underestimate how much time, effort and co-ordination is involved in preparing for an event such as CeBIT. It may sound obvious, but assign a project leader who is organised to take ownership,” she said.

Rosato offers three top tips to a successful show. Number one, she said, is planning for an event such as CeBIT should start six months out.

She said that equally important is to build relationships.

“By investing in building relationships with the event organisers and key suppliers you will maximise the opportunity,” she said. “You must also brief staff effectively.

“Schedule an event pre-briefing with the team so everyone is clear on roles and responsibilities. Then promote the event.

“Let your customers, prospects and partners know you’re going to be at the event and invite them down.”

She also said that the design of a stand is imperative.

“Make sure you have lots of storage, particularly if you’re going to have a lot of equipment on the stand and staff or channel partners flying in from interstate, ensure there is a secure and out-of-sight place for laptops, suitcases etc.”

Freeman said that in his experience sex still sells. He said bright colours and having plenty of things happening at a stand are still eclipsed by the power of sexy women.

“It is still the classic marketing number one: to get noticed!” If you don’t get noticed at a trade show it will be wasted. You don’t have to have the biggest stand but gimmicks will encourage and get people interested.”

The ROI dollar value of converted leads comes from making sure you have a database of leads coming from the show and make sure you can get back to contacts made and who buys from that list.

Thorne from Hanover Fairs said the main course for CeBIT is all about lead generation and the conference repeat booking rate grows every year.

“As an exhibitor must have good presence at the show they need to understand their own products and how to generate leads and face to face such as Salesforce’s CRM package,” Thorne said.

“They should have a quick briefing to generate the lead and take down details for a possible one-on-one meeting outside CeBIT.

“And that is how exhibitors qualify their investment in terms of leads and managing a sales pipeline and converting into a sale. For instance, if you have 200 hot leads with an average sale price of $50,000, you are looking at pretty large pipeline.”