MEASURING RESULTS AT EXHIBITIONS
Extensive research over the years has proven that participation in exhibitions is a successful way to market your products, meet potential customers face-to-face and accelerate the sales process. However, exhibitions are under increased pressure to measure results. Ultimately, management wants to know what their return on investment was on exhibiting at a specific exhibition.
Today’s management is focused on return on investment for all functions of business, and exhibitions are no exception. Management wants to measure whether its objectives of exhibiting at an exhibition have been achieved.
So how do you measure this? If management believes that the objective, as defined by Y, will accelerate the sales process, and is willing to spend X to achieve it, then Y is what is measured. If Y is fully achieved for the outlay of X, then the objective has been achieved, and the return on investment should be considered positive. The objectives can be any of the following, depending on what management would like to achieve: -
• Marketing communications related - building awareness or conveying messages
• Brand building - changing or enhancing perceptions about the company’s products or services;
• Sales driven - generating leads and/or making sales.
To be able to measure the return on investment, the objectives must be realistic, specific and measurable. Setting objectives that meet these criteria will insure that the investment made is in line with the intended result. Objectives that are not specific are usually not measurable, for example, “We want to increase awareness of our company and enhance our image at XYZ Expo” is neither specific nor measurable. On the other hand, an objective such as “To make 40 percent of the target audience aware of our new line of products” is an objective that is both specific and measurable.
Once management has decided what the objective are for exhibiting at a specific exhibition, it then becomes the focus for directing the planning and preparation of the exhibit, as well as defining the criteria for measuring success. This focus will drive the purpose of the exhibit. And, the higher the degree of objective-setting, the higher the degree of success the exhibit will enjoy – in terms that are quantified, clearly understood and thus usable for future planning.
Research and information– Centre for Exhibition Industry Research. |
