Last week, ICEEM ran a post regarding the link between exhibitions and purchase intent. The critical point worth noting is that the exhibitor must take an active approach toward engaging the prospects. Now that’s a concept we can get in back of. We’re reprinting the entire post here for readers of Synch-Up. Read on… and thanks to ICEEM, Exhibit Surveys and ARF.
Last year, Skip Cox of Exhibit Surveys wrote a White Paper, Exhibitions Must Deliver (even more) Value to Exhibitors in the Post-recession World. In it he highlights an important statistic from the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). It states:
There is plenty of research and evidence to support that participating in exhibitions accelerates the sales process, and some of the more sophisticated exhibitors are doing this on their own. One such research project we have reported on in past white papers is the study titled “Experiential Marketing: A Master of Engagement – Research on How Engaging Events Pay”. This research conducted for the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) by Exhibit Surveys and Gallup & Robinson proves that face-to-face engagement truly and effectively drives exhibitor results. It drives the brand metrics that in turn drive purchase intent, and purchase intent has proven in turn to be a good predictor of actual sales.
“Active” engagement is defined as the meaningful face–to–face interaction that takes place in the exhibit. The higher the level of engagement, the better the results. This graph illustrates the impact of exhibit engagement on Purchase Intent, a key metric of success because of its high correlation with actual sales, but similar increases were evident for all key brand metrics tested (e.g., awareness, consideration, brand fit, etc.).
From a consultative standpoint, the most urgent issue, and one that is easily addressed with data, is to educate and then convince your key exhibitor clients in the simple necessity of adequate booth staffing. Staff resources are often as scarce as budget to invest in shows, but the lost opportunities of not staffing adequately and effectively are very significant in terms of the negative impact on ROI.
A disturbing trend we are seeing is that although exhibitors continue to do a good job of attracting their potential audience to the exhibit, the degree of face- to-face engagement is declining often because of fewer staff resources. In 2009, for every 100 qualified attendees (those in the target audience) who visited the average exhibit, only 53 were engaged face-to-face by someone in the exhibit. There has been a steady decline in this metric.
As the ARF’s research confirms, effectiveness in exhibiting as a marketing medium is a matter of commitment – i.e., committing to the show, committing enough and the right booth staff to the event. When an exhibitor actively engages a prospect on the show floor, as the graph above illustrates, sales are likely to follow