Trade shows - worth it?

[hazmog]

I run a small but growing design studio and we are looking at trade shows as a way to get more work. Does anyone have any experience with them, and what kind of return are you likely to expect if you do the show well?

 

[The Byre]

Which trade fairs do you attend now and what sort of designs do you do?

 

[hazmog]

Until now we haven't attended any except a local business one which covered lots of different stuff really.

We focus on web design, but also do print and branding too.

We were thinking about setting up some stands in order to get some work in, perhaps by attending niche trade shows where we have good examples on our portfolio and client list. The problem is cost - there was one at the NEC we were interested in but its 3 grand just for the stand, then the print costs and staff costs would be another grand. We would need to get at least 2 jobs in for it to be worth it. Has anyone done these shows before and do they bring work in?

 

[webgeek]

For what it costs to do a trade show (booth, brochures, cards, stall fee, meals, ad-specs) you could buy a great list, create some great content, pay for a year's worth of email service provider, spend £1,000 on pay per click, run a social media campaign across 2 or 3 channels and still have £1,000+ remaining for other marketing.

In some industries, trade shows can have decent ROI. For yours, I wouldn't even consider it - there's too much choice in the market, so a better approach is a PPC campaign for buy-ready low hanging fruit, repeated messaging (drip fed email nurturing for those not quite buy-ready) and multi-channel so that people see you everywhere at once.

A good portfolio, some case studies of how great design is driving results and you're cooking with gas.

 

[hazmog]

Great, thank for you for the feedback on the idea and thoughts.

Hmm...a list...any Ideas where I can get such lists from? Do you have any experience with direct to mailshot with the likes of Royal Mail?

 

[webgeek]

Put a tender request here on UKBF, in that subforum and you'll get several replies. Have a look at a few test records to see which provider you prefer (and can afford).

I, personally, don't do direct mail. The cost per contact is 100x or 1000x that of email. It CAN work well, but I'm not a direct mail marketer. Perhaps others can chime in...

 

[hazmog]

Ok, I'll give that a go, thanks.

 

[Akzham]

What you can also do is to go on some trade show's website, checking if they have the attendees list (if they don't usually you can ask them), and then contact individually every company that has a stand in the show. From the list and the company's name you will know what sector the company is making business in, and you can have a speech ready for them without having to invest in a stand.

 

[Mr D]

It can be worthwhile attending a trade show to make contacts too.
I've done a lot of purchasing and signing up at trade shows, the only time I come into contact with most of the companies we have done business with. Every supplier of goods we have come across at a trade fair, most of the service providers that way too.
Special offers at the show for people who sign up there or purchase there.... its one way to get sales. Just not the only way as webgeek says.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I was against Networking groups after initial approach by BNI but after my son joined a couple of separate networks the sales really too off and different locations around the core location means plenty of new contacts.

The joining fees are about £200 ish with breakfast costs on top but in our case that means selling to 20-30 people plus guests at about 10 locations per month

Some networks are just interested in getting your money with very strict attendance of meetings other offer far more freedom

 

[Clinton]

I, personally, don't do direct mail.

May I ask why? Is it just the cost?

FWIW, one of my recent clients was/is the UK's top mail order supplier of a certain FMCG product. Her company ships out catalogues by the hundreds of thousands and sits back waiting for the orders to flow in. 30% of the business is repeat business but it relies on (bought) lists to generate the other 70%. From the figures I had access to it's clear that this data is becoming less and less effective. Sure, top data providers are great at segmentation etc. but data costs have been going up, the same data is shared with so many other retailers, and the conversion rates keep going down. I understand it's the same across the industry she's in (and probably other industries, too).

And them lot really know what they is doing with data! They've been doing it for 20 years or so. Someone starting to buy data today is going to spend a lot of money to learn some crucial lessons about where and how to buy data without getting stung.

 

[webgeek]

Yeah, it's hard to justify risking a substantial share of marketing budget (small companies) for an approach that I don't directly know the ROI benchmarks.

If it was something I had confidence in producing net cash positive ROI, then I'd be open to it - whether it's snail mail or dancing strawberries.

 

[quikshop]

Only one trade show has ever directly resulted in a 'significant' uptick in revenue. Others have had an accumulative brand awareness impact over time, although always difficult to quantify, but mostly they are at best a loss leader.

They can be highly competitive so get your biggest and best USP out front for all to see, use TVs for presentation as part of your display, get out in front of your stand and give away stuff to capture attendee details... and be enthusiastic and polite, nothing more off-putting than a rep who is incapable of taking a hint

 

[Mr D]

And don't forget business cards.
The number of times I've come across services and goods where the person at the stand doesn't have any business cards.....
Useful things, I'm still using some I picked up 5 years back.

 

[hazmog]

Yeah, it's hard to justify risking a substantial share of marketing budget (small companies) for an approach that I don't directly know the ROI benchmarks.

If it was something I had confidence in producing net cash positive ROI, then I'd be open to it - whether it's snail mail or dancing strawberries.

I would love to hear ideas that are less of a financial risk.

 

[webgeek]

For what it costs to do a trade show (booth, brochures, cards, stall fee, meals, ad-specs) you could buy a great list, create some great content, pay for a year's worth of email service provider, spend £1,000 on pay per click, run a social media campaign across 2 or 3 channels and still have £1,000+ remaining for other marketing.

In some industries, trade shows can have decent ROI. For yours, I wouldn't even consider it - there's too much choice in the market, so a better approach is a PPC campaign for buy-ready low hanging fruit, repeated messaging (drip fed email nurturing for those not quite buy-ready) and multi-channel so that people see you everywhere at once.

A good portfolio, some case studies of how great design is driving results and you're cooking with gas.