Trade shows are worth it!

Investment in trade show marketing has been proven to be a worthwhile investment. With the following points, you can communicate to management that face-to-face time at trade shows is worth it.

Here are some measures you can use to justify the value of trade show investments:

Customer meetings savings. If your sales staff traveled independently to meet with the clients they talked to at the show, how much would that cost? These cost savings can be an important justification for your trade show investment.
Value of leads. Depending on sales cycles, leads can take months, sometimes years, to convert to sales. There are proven programs that you can subscribe to help you with this process and hold your sales team accountable.
Social media engagement. Track all your shares, likes, new followers, hashtags, retweets and so on that your company gets via social media. These can be very truthful indicators of whether your show has made the intended impression on potential customers.
Press coverage. Track all your company press mentions relating to every trade show you exhibit at. Their objective perspective lends credibility to the product benefits you promoted at the show.
Trade show booth attendance. Ascertaining how many customers your booth attracted can be measured against the number of overall show attendees. You may find that your most memorable trade shows aren’t always the events with the most attendees, but rather those with the most prospects who fit your target demographic.
Direct marketing. Although direct marketing is a tried and tested way of getting customers interested in your product via trade shows, you can find even more good-quality leads to add to your direct marketing lists. Send out emails and measure your prospects’ click-through and response rate.