Is there anyone in marketing today who isn’t being asked to prove the value of tradeshows, conferences and events?
There’s certainly no shortage of methodologies. ROI, ROO, ROK and ROM all come immediately to mind. There’s dozens more, of course. Many of the processes, if not most, are resource intensive. What’s a time-strapped marketer to do? For starters, begin each project by asking these four questions:
#1: What are we trying to achieve? You’ve heard it said before in other ways: define your objectives. Establish goals. It doesn’t matter what lingo you use. The point is to determine your desired outcomes upfront, before you start to plan or execute.
#2: What is the business impact? There should be a value associated with at least one of the outcomes you’re producing. Are you saving the company money? Are you increasing revenue? Stay away from intangible benefits, like loyalty or preference, which can be significant but difficult to prove. Instead, focus on a benefit that has a clear monetary value.
#3: How will we know if we’re successful? How much of the monetary benefit from Question #2 will it take to the time and resource investment in this event worthwhile? Identify a minimum acceptable outcome so that you and management both know whether you fell short, hit the mark, or exceeded expectations.
#4: How does this link to corporate objectives? Trade shows, conferences and events shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. Does your project in some way relate to the corporate mission, goals or objectives? If so, how is it contributing? If it isn’t contributing, you may want to re-think your reason for pursuing it.