2018 State of Trade Show Marketing
2018 State of Trade Show Marketing
MARKETING
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Executive Summary 5
Acknowledgements 31
Introduction
INTRODUCTION Trade Show Marketing 4
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
Executive Summary
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Trade Show Marketing 6
The analysis of this study’s data provides the following key findings:
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
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.
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
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
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
Unimportant
Neutral
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
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
Revenue Growth
Differences
revenue growth differences Trade Show Marketing 18
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