Choosing the Right Tradeshow

It’s around that time of year when I am working on our marketing plans for 2008 and of course trying to justify an ROI for our marketing budget. Over the last 4 years, the tradeshow category has been increasing significantly with respect to our overall % budget spend, which contrasts industry trends where more money is being put into online marketing initiatives. I really believe in the value of tradeshows and think they are a great opportunity for our sales team to interact directly with our clients face to face. That said, exhibiting at a show is a large marketing investment for our company (as we like to do a lot promotions) and it can be a difficult decision to select the right show for our company.

Choosing a Show

I like to try and attend a show before making the decision to exhibit. This allows me to get a feel of the floor, who is currently exhibiting, and the experience overall “vibe” in the exhibit hall.  You never really know until you walk the floor. I was recently at the DMA show in Chicago and spent some time talking to other call centers such as The Connection, 800USA, Centris, and Intelemedia Communications. They were all very welcoming and told me their view on the show and what success they have had so far. I originally though other vendors might not like the competition seeking intelligence, but to my surprise everyone was very open to sharing their thoughts.

Here are a couple key factors I have found in selecting the right show:

§          Fit – make sure you are picking a show that you know is a good fit with your target market. Don’t just go where your competitors are going as they might have more success due their positioning. For example, I would not recommend 24-7 INtouch going to a marketing show largely focused on direct response, like the ERA. This is not the best fit for our call center even though many other centers we compete against frequent these types of shows.

§          Booth location – this is very important for organic traffic. If you have a smaller booth it is always a good idea to find another exhibitor who might draw traffic you can feed off of. Of course, if you want to do a show right, you need to spend the money to drive your own traffic and promote your location on all other marketing channels. But keep in mind most shows have some sort of pecking order for booth selection. You might need to compromise for the first couple years until you earn some points.

§          Food – probably one less talked about, but the great shows according to attendees are the ones that give out good food (people go crazy over the big cookies!). It’s a great traffic driver into the exhibit hall. When looking through the agenda, try and see if the show organizers are doing a good job of driving traffic into the hall for breakfast, dessert, lunch, etc. Only a couple shows in my opinion are really good at doing this, one being IRCE.

Be Realistic

My last advice is to be realistic when choosing to attend a tradeshow from a budget perspective. It is probably better to spend more money at a few shows than spend just a little at many…get more bang for your buck. If you think spending $10K is scary then you might need to reconsider. 24-7 INtouch usually spends about $25K – $35K just on exhibiting at the show (for a 10x20 space). Add in some sponsorships and your costs can double (or even triple).

Also, have a long term strategy. There is a reason why I met a couple call centers who have being at the DMA show for 10+ years! They do it every year and people begin to expect them to be there. Talking to a couple peers, this was not always a good thing, as they felt they had to go back each year even if the ROI was not there. They said, if you didn’t show up one year your clients would wonder what was wrong with your business!

Alright, back to my budget planning…

- MK