As a marketing manager, I had the opportunity to attend and exhibit at many trade shows, both in the energy and automation sector and in rail, on behalf of 3 different companies (always in B2B).
After 10 years spent walking the aisles of exhibitions all over the world, I find myself questioning the marketing return on investment of such events, especially for SMEs.
I have seen three trends emerge in recent years:
1. There are fewer and fewer buyers at trade shows. On the contrary, most of the contacts I get come from potential suppliers who want to offer me their products or services. Quite ironic.
2. For large companies, I clearly get the impression that most of the people at the booths are employees of the exhibiting companies. It is certainly an opportunity to strengthen internal ties, but still…
3. The costs associated with such events are skyrocketing, whether in terms of space rental, advertising materials or per-participant expenses.
The question therefore arises: should you still invest in trade shows to increase sales? This question is even more relevant for SMEs, which are primarily looking for leads rather than focused on developing a brand image (although the two are correlated, I agree).
For me, clearly, when faced with solutions such as Eureos industry platforms, the answer is clearly no.
I see two major reasons for this:
1. The majority of buyers simply no longer have the time to go to trade shows. As a result, they use every possible means to find their suppliers more quickly, and when it comes to that, the Internet is unbeatable.
2. Trade shows take place once or twice a year. In a world that changes quickly, you need to be visible all the time and on every occasion.
Should we conclude from this that trade shows are useless? Of course not: nothing will replace human contact, and it is always good for industry professionals to get together. On the other hand, overblown communication, besides being generally unproductive, is expensive. Being on a Eureos industry platform makes it possible to build connections based solely on expertise and industry knowledge: you gain in efficiency.
As for trade shows, attend… as a visitor !!!
