Trade shows offer valuable opportunities for exhibiting companies, from increasing brand awareness to connecting with potential customers face-to-face and so on. However, every trade show is unique with distinct features that may or mayn’t suit your brand. You can’t participate in every trade event in your industry and expect a great ultimate ROI.
When you are planning to participate in multiple trade shows across the world, you need a quantifiable framework to ensure every campaign aids in achieving your business goals. Here is a step-by-step guide by experts from a prominent exhibition booth design company in USA on how to determine if your target event is worth participating in or not:
Step 1: Define Clear Event Objectives
Before evaluating any trade show, you must have some benchmarks to assess it. Therefore, set measurable goals you want to achieve through your exhibition campaign. For example, $X in direct sales, Y qualified leads, or Z% increase in pipeline from the corresponding show.
Step 2: Determine Event-Specific Potential
You should research the historical data of each event you are thinking about participating in. You must study the visitor numbers, exhibitor stats, and industry relevance. Use these insights to assess your potential reach. You can use the following formula for it.
Estimate potential audience reach: (Total visitors × your ideal customer %).
Step 3: Assign Lead Value
Calculate your average deal size and conversion rate. This will help you understand whether the ROI from the respective event will be worth it or if it will prove to be a costly mistake. For example, if you close 10% of leads, and the average deal size is $20,000, then each lead has $2,000 potential value.
Step 4: Estimate Required Lead Volume
Now that you have estimated the lead value, you should use it to determine the lead volume. Simply, divide your sales target by lead value to estimate the required lead volume. For example: $200,000 target ÷ $2,000/lead = 100 qualified leads needed.
Step 5: Prioritize Events by ROI Potential
Compare the projected lead volume with the exhibiting cost to forecast the ROI potential of the corresponding event. You must consider the expenses like the exhibition stall, travel, and staff. You must prefer events with the highest revenue-to-cost ratio.
Step 6: Set KPIs Beyond Sales
You should set KPIs beyond sales. Track cost per lead, meeting set rate, demo-to-deal ratio, booth traffic conversion. These KPIs help you quickly understand if your trade show journey is on track.
Step 7: Benchmark Across Shows
Create a dashboard comparing trade shows in different venues. Getting a trade show booth in Miami may be cheaper than in Las Vegas, but the latter one may give you a higher number of leads. You must measure actual results with respect to the forecast to refine strategies.
To choose the right trade show to participate in, quantify your goals by leads, conversion rate, and deal size. Then, determine financial values and compare them against costs per event. This approach will help you know which shows you should proceed with. Subsequently, you must hire the finest booth contactors to generate a huge ROI from there.
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