Live events – however ‘traditional’ they may be perceived to be – are the place where businesses are unmasked and the direct contact they bring between brand and consumer ensures they remain an integral part of the marketing mix.
Today’s UK events industry is worth £42.3 billion and £19.2 billion of that is attributed to exhibitions and trade fairs. (Source: The 2018 Pulse Report – Eventbrite).
With increasing demands on marketers to deliver on specific business objectives, events are more important now than they ever have been, with human interactions posing a distinct advantage over digital channels in the quest for brand-led experiences.
We wanted to find out how live events are continuing to deliver for the cream of industry talent by using our presence at Marketing Week Live to host our own experiment and prove our winning exhibiting formula of hire and engagement equating to ROI.
We also successfully demonstrated the pivotal role engagement tools play in achieving event objectives and specifically which goals marketers are aiming for when they exhibit.
Our survey proved that exhibitions are used to deliver a broad spectrum of objectives but gaining new sales is still the number one motivator that drives our marketers to exhibit, with a massive 79% of our respondents citing this as their number one priority.
However, for marketers to capitalise on these unique opportunities and to realise their show objectives, their campaign, stand aesthetics and engagement tactics need to be working hard to ensure the necessary stand footfall facilitates the right number and quality of visitor connections.
Engagement methods need to grab the attention of your audience and bring them to your stand. These tools then have the job of qualifying which visitors are possible buyers for your business’s products or services. Finally, they need to be relevant to your business proposition and leave a lasting positive impression to facilitate ease of follow up after the event.
Creating enough of these interactions at a show will determine if you reach your objectives and ultimately if return on your investment will be made.
Read the results of our experiment and survey and learn how exhibitions can help you achieve a range of marketing objectives.