TRADE SHOW

MARKETING

Benchmark Study Report

June 2018
 TRADE SHOW MARKETING

Table of Contents
Introduction 3

Executive Summary 5

Trade Show Overview 7

Revenue Growth Differences 17

Analyst Bottom Line 28

Acknowledgements 31

Appendix: Survey Background 32

TRADE SHOW MARKETING

Introduction
INTRODUCTION Trade Show Marketing 4

Trade shows, conferences, and events provide an excellent opportunity

for B2B organizations to engage with prospects, conduct in-person meet-
ings, and generate revenue.

Demand Metric partnered with SummitSync to research how pre-show

collaboration between sales and marketing impacts return on invest-
ment (ROI).

This research effort also sought to answer the question: Are companies
that report revenue growth doing something different when it comes to
trade shows?

In this report, you will find answers to these questions, other trade show
ROI insight, and some best practices when it comes to pre-show sales and
marketing.
 Trade Show Marketing 5

TRADE SHOW MARKETING

Executive Summary
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Trade Show Marketing 6

Nearly three-quarters of study participants were from B2B organiza-

tions who experienced either slight or significant revenue growth in the
last fiscal year.

The analysis of this study’s data provides the following key findings:

While only 18% of survey partici-

Key Findings pants do not believe that in-person
meetings are helpful, the vast
Nearly two-thirds of study participants majority, 82% of survey partic-
believe that trade shows help their ipants, believe that in-person
companies engage with customers and meetings are important in helping
prospects slightly better or much better move customers and prospects
than other approaches used by sales or through the buyer’s journey faster
marketing. or more successfully.

Most study participants agree that Study participants who are expe-
having access to a trade show attendee riencing revenue growth are four
list in advance helps them achieve times more likely to report they
their business results to a great or very have a complete understanding of
great extent. who will attend trade shows and
where those attendees are in the
buyer’s journey, compared to study
participants who report their organi-
zation is revenue stagnant.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Trade Show Marketing 7

Study participants who are experi- Of the study participants who

encing revenue growth are more report tracking ROI, revenue-stag-
likely to report the use of tools nant companies are five times
to keep track of scheduled meet- more likely to report losing money
ings, including CRM, collabora- on events than revenue-growth
tion platforms, and email, when companies.
compared to study participants who
report their organization is revenue
stagnant.

Study participants who are growing

revenue are nearly twice as likely
to report the use of third-party
technology to capture customer
This report details the results and insights from the
and prospect data in a CRM or
analysis of the study data. For more detail on the
Marketing Automation System
survey participants, please refer to the Appendix.
before, after, or during a trade
show, when compared to study
participants who report their organi-
zation is revenue stagnant.
 8

TRADE SHOW MARKETING

Trade Show Overview

TRADE SHOW OVERVIEW Trade Show Marketing 9

Involvement in trade shows, conferences, and events can vary depending

on an organization’s goals and objectives. This study first set out to under-
How many trade shows and conferences do you attend,
stand the current state of trade show participation as shown in Figure 1.
sponsor, and exhibit at every year?
This study found that participation at trade shows, conferences, and
events can differ considerably.

Nearly half of study participants attend, sponsor, or exhibit at 1-5 trade FIGURE 1: TRADE SHOW PARTICIPATION
shows and conferences each year, while 10% participate in more than 21
Nearly half of study participants attend, sponsor, or exhibit at 1-5
shows annually.
trade shows and conferences each year.

9 % Respondents participate in more

than 21 shows annually.

Respondents attend, sponsor, or

exhibit in 1-5 trade shows each year. 48 %
TRADE SHOW OVERVIEW Trade Show Marketing 10

Although trade show attendance can fluctuate, the number of team

members that typically attend every event remains relatively fixed, as
On average, how many team members typically
shown in Figure 2, with 1-5 team members usually attending an event.
attend every event?
The vast majority of study participants report that their organization is
typically represented by 1-5 team members at every event, while only
8% of study participants report they are represented by eleven or more
FIGURE 2: TRADE SHOW PRESENCE
team members at every event.
Over three-quarters of organizations are represented by 1-5 team
members at every event.

Participants report that their organi-

76% zation is typically represented by 1-5

team members at every event

8 %
Participants report that their organiza-
tion is typically represented by 11 team
members or more at every event.
TRADE SHOW OVERVIEW Trade Show Marketing 11

Use as Marketing Channels

From a marketing perspective, how are trade shows,
Trade shows, conferences, and events have been important marketing
conferences, and events changing in importance?
channels for many organizations for a very long time.

However, has the emergence of online and virtual event technology

changed the importance of in-person events?
FIGURE 3: IMPORTANCE OF TRADE SHOWS
The results of this analysis are found Figure 3.
Over one-quarter of survey participants believe that trade shows
Over one-quarter of survey participants believe that trade shows are are becoming more important or much more important from a
becoming more important or much more important from a marketing marketing perspective.
perspective.

Further analysis revealed that 28% of study participants who report that
trade shows are becoming more important or much more important
from a marketing perspective track ROI to measure the success of
their trade shows, compared to only 17% of study participants who
report trade shows are becoming less important, much less important, or
are not changing in importance.
TRADE SHOW OVERVIEW Trade Show Marketing 12

Trade shows, conferences, and events can be a costly endeavor. We

asked study participants how much of their overall marketing budget is Please estimate the percent of your overall marketing
spent on trade shows, conferences, and events. The results of this analysis budget that is allocated to trade shows, conferences,
are found in Figure 4. and events.

The amount of money spent on trade shows, conferences, and events

varies considerably. On average, study participants report that 20% of
FIGURE 4: TRADE SHOW BUDGETS
their overall marketing budget is allocated to trade shows, conferences,
and events. Marketing budgets vary.
At the high end of the spectrum, 14% of study participants are spending
over half of their marketing budget on trade shows, conferences and
events. At the low end of the spectrum, one-fifth of study participants are
spending less than 10% of the marketing budget on trade shows, confer-
ences, and events.

20 % Average overall marketing

budget allocated to trade shows

Study participants are spending over half

of their marketing budget on trade shows. 14 %
TRADE SHOW OVERVIEW Trade Show Marketing 13

No one doubts that trade shows, conferences, and events help drive
Compared to other approaches used by sales or
engagement with customers and prospects.
marketing, how well do the trade shows, conferences,
While the amount that organizations are spending on trade shows can and events that you participate in help you engage
with customers and prospects?
vary, they are still very effective at driving engagement with customers
and prospects when compared to other approaches used by sales or
marketing, as Figure 5 shows.
FIGURE 5: TRADE SHOW ENGAGEMENT
Nearly two-thirds of study participants believe that trade shows help their Nearly two-thirds of study participants believe that trade shows
companies engage with customers and prospects slightly better or much help their companies engage with customers and prospects
better than other approaches in use. slightly better or much better than other approaches used by sales
While engagement at trade shows can take many different forms, one or marketing.
of the most common tactics for driving engagement involves booking
in-person meetings with prospects and current customers.
TRADE SHOW OVERVIEW Trade Show Marketing 14

Are in-person meetings an important factor in helping move prospects

through the buyer’s journey faster or more successfully? The results of this How important are in-person meetings at trade shows,
analysis are presented in Figure 6. conferences, and events in helping move prospects
through the buyer’s journey faster or more successfully?
Despite advances in online and virtual technology, the value of face-
to-face meetings at trade shows, conferences, and events cannot be
overlooked. FIGURE 6: IMPORTANCE OF IN-PERSON MEETINGS
The vast majority, 82% of survey participants, believe that in-person meet- AT TRADE SHOWS
ings are important in helping move customers and prospects through the
The vast majority, 82% of survey participants, believe that
buyer’s journey faster or more successfully.
in-person meetings are important in helping move customers and
prospects through the buyer’s journey faster or more successfully.

Unimportant

82 % Respondents believe that in-person meetings

are important to the buyer’s journey.
Very important

Neutral

Respondents do not consider in-person

meetings relevant to the buyer’s journey. 5 % Important
TRADE SHOW OVERVIEW Trade Show Marketing 15

Unfortunately, booking in-person meetings at events is a difficult task if you

do not have a complete picture of who will be in attendance. We wanted Going into a trade show, conference, or event,
to know how marketing and sales teams discover attendees in advance of how does your marketing and sales staff learn
trade shows, conferences, and events. about attendees in advance?

Figure 7 shows the results of this analysis.

The top three ways that sales and marketing teams learn about trade FIGURE 7: HOW SALES AND MARKETING STAFF LEARN ABOUT
show attendees are: TRADE SHOW ATTENDEES

Most sales and marketing staff rely on sponsor/exhibitor lists to

Obtaining a sponsor/exhibitor list (65%) understand who will be attending a trade show.
Personal knowledge/network (56%)
Obtain list as sponsor /
65%
exhibitor
Reviewing data in CRM or marketing automation (36%)
Personal knowledge/network 56%

While most sales and marketing staff rely on sponsor or exhibitor lists to Reviewing data in CRM or
36%
understand who will be attending a trade show, a startling percentage marketing automation systems
of sales and marketing staff report they rarely or never conduct any
advance preparation to learn about attendees. Social media searches 27%

It is also worth noting that a surprising amount of study participants rely Run ads to landing pages for
19%
on their own personal network to learn about trade show attendees. meetings or booth registration

Although this technique can prove effective, knowledge of attendees is There is rarely or never any advance
12%
limited to the size and comprehensiveness of the network being used. preparation to learn about attendees

The concern, of course, is that relying on a personal network can be Other 4%

limiting, allowing the competition to swallow up new business opportuni-
ties that fall outside the periphery. 4%
I don’t know
TRADE SHOW OVERVIEW Trade Show Marketing 16

Finally, we wanted to understand if having access to attendee information

before a trade show, conference, or event impacts business results. The To what extent would having access to attendee
results of this analysis are shown in Table 1. information before a trade show, conference, or event
help you achieve the following results?
Study participants report that having access to trade show attendee
information in advance would help them achieve business results to a
great extent or very great extent. TABLE 1: THE BUSINESS IMPACT OF PRE-SHOW INFORMATION
Since access to attendee information helps organizations achieve so ABOUT TRADE SHOW ATTENDEES
many important business objectives, the value of gathering intelligence Most study participants agree that having access to trade show
on trade show, conference, and event attendees cannot be overlooked. information in advance will help them achieve their business
In the next section of this report, we look at the differences between results to a great or very great extent.
revenue-growth and revenue-stagnant companies.
 TRADE SHOW MARKETING

Revenue Growth
Differences
revenue growth differences Trade Show Marketing 18

Since so many organizations attend trade shows, conferences, and

events to help move customers and prospects through the buyer’s What statement best describes the revenue growth
journey, one of the specific objectives of this study was to understand at your company during the most recently completed
what revenue-growth companies are doing differently than their peers. fiscal year?

To analyze this relationship, participants were first asked to categorize

revenue, and the following category options were provided for this rating:
FIGURE 8: REVENUE GROWTH IN THE LAST FISCAL YEAR (FY17)
Significant decline in revenue Nearly three-quarters of study participants report a slight or
significant increase in revenue growth in the most recently
Modest decline in revenue completed fiscal year (FY17).
Flat or no growth

Modest increase in revenue

Significant increase in revenue

The results of this revenue rating are presented in Figure 8.

Over three-quarters of study participants report they experienced modest

to significant revenue growth in the last fiscal year (FY17).
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