Tradeshows are a pricey, yet necessary way for exhibiting companies to facilitate sales and keep business in the pipeline for the organization. In addition, tradeshows also provide a convenient place for buyers to meet face to face with a range of VIP suppliers that help them keep their business running smoothly.
Over the last 2 to 3 years, the number of tradeshows available to fresh produce marketers has and continues to grow in number. With so many options to consider and various buyers to reach, tradeshow goals are becoming increasingly important for marketers seeking to validate the inevitable costs while generating sales. It can be difficult to determine which show is the RIGHT show for you, and equally as difficult to prove the value of attending one tradeshow over another.
Following are three goals that you can use to validate your participation in any given tradeshow:
1. Tradeshow Promotion Redemption and Participation
Establishing promotions with offers that are redeemable before, during and after a tradeshow help you measure engagement success and provide you with useful lead intelligence after the show. According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), 92% of trade show attendees say they are looking for new products. This provides the marketer with a great platform in which to create an offer that draws in traffic to the booth to learn more about “what’s new.”
2. On-site Meetings Scheduled
Buyers walking just about any show floor are in high demand. As a result, buyers plan their schedules so that they are spending time wisely, meeting only with the people that they need and want to see the most while they attend the show. According to the CEIR, 45% of attendees only visit one tradeshow event a year. Establishing a goal to schedule and host on-site tradeshow meetings with prospect buyers is a way to measure success of your overall tradeshow effectiveness and helps you identify the shows where buyers are most open to an in-booth visit.
3. Sales Closed
Once on-site meetings are complete, the next step is to produce a solid “plan to close” the sales opportunities that the show produced. Staying close to the team that attended the tradeshow will help you identify opportunities and align a final sales number with the leads generated before and during the tradeshow.
The CEIR reports that most exhibiting companies top line goals for attending tradeshows is 1) to build brand awareness, 2) launch a new product or 3) meet existing and prospect customers face to face. What reasons are at the top of your list? How do you currently measure success? We want to hear more.
