5 Reasons to Stop Exhibiting at Trade Shows
I hate trade shows as a marketing tactic. Add up the cost of booth space, shipping, and travel, and the number of good leads you need to get to show any kind of ROI is too large to justify doing most shows. And don’t even get me started on how hard it is to be heard above the noise of dozens of other companies battling for the scarce hung-over attention of attendees that are only walking the show floor because they heard there might be free food or booze around somewhere. Here are 5 reasons to stop exhibiting at trade shows:
1/ There’s no ROI – Did you ever stop to wonder about those free food and booze parties/receptions they hold on the show floor to get attendees to go into the exhibit hall? There is a clear message – people won’t go in there unless they are bribed to go! How many high quality leads do you think you are going to get from a crowd of people that want to avoid you? Not many.
2/ It’s hard to stand out – You can’t afford an Oracle-sized booth (and you’ll also miss out on the keynote talk and premium advertising that goes along with that). You’ll be in a tiny booth along the edges of the show where it’s easy to ignore you. You could do something really creative to stand out like the company at SxSW that had their entire booth covered in brown paper. I’d link to them but I can’t remember what they were called.
3/ No one will notice if you aren’t there – Some companies tell me that they know they can’t show ROI for a show but if they pull out, it will somehow send a signal that they are pulling out of a market completely. Baloney. Take it from a gal that’s been responsible for pulling out of somewhere around 100 trade shows – nobody ever notices. The number of times I’ve gotten any negative feedback from a prospect, customer, press person, or anyone else because I pulled out of doing a show equals exactly zero.
4/ You could be doing other things. Like selling stuff - Don’t forget to factor in the opportunity costs of doing the show which will include travel time and time it took to prepare for the show. If you have limited folks on the team, remember that every minute they spend on the show is a minute they aren’t spending doing other things. Things like driving revenue (see point #1).
5/ You could stand in front of the convention center handing out $100 bills and get more qualified leads – OK, OK, that’s the same as point number 1 but you get the idea…
That doesn’t mean there isn’t an opportunity to do something interesting at a show. I’ve done customer and prospect events during shows that were much less expensive and more effective than exhibiting. Speaking or simply attending a show can often get you access to the same number of interested customers at a much lower cost. Just say no to the booth.
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RT @aprildunford: 5 Reasons to Stop Exhibiting at Trade Shows http://bit.ly/92RKFF
[...] people you care and to show appreciation for your Twitter friends using T… 2 Tweets 5 Reasons to Stop Exhibiting at Trade Shows | Rocket Watcher by April Dunford As a marketing tactic trade shows are expensive, it's hard to show ROI and it's hard to stand [...]
As usual, the Cranky Product Manager agrees with you 100%… once again proving the thesis that you really are the Cranky Product Manager.
Anyway, at the risk of being gauche, here’s the Cranky Product Manager’s thoughts on this very topic, which are pretty much exactly the same as yours.
http://crankypm.com/2007/08/getting-demonstrative-at-trade-shows/
Ha! I only pull out that ol’ “I’m the cranky PM” thing when there are prizes
Thanks for the comment.
April
I agree with you 100%. I have been at a trade show once where I was afraid I will be run over by the folks who were coming into the booth just to collect the goodies and did not even want to talk to you. It was bizarre.
April – great post and I agree that trade shows have been and continue to be a waste of time.
Some may argue that it’s a great way to conduct some market intelligence, but I find it a shopping trip for the best tshatshke’s (the trinkets you’re kids don’t want.)
Let’s all use our money more wisely and may trade shows RIP.
RT @aprildunford 5 Reasons to Stop Exhibiting at Trade Shows : http://tinyurl.com/yc2rwzb – I wholeheartedly agree #prodmgmt
I agree in part. We’ve been to shows where we actually closed deals because we could meet face to face with prospects. Other shows helped us forge partnership that wouldn’t exist if we weren’t there.
So yes, going to a show just to show off your new booth and hope people will buy is not a good strategy, but if you plan carefully (and have your goals set right) you can get something good out of it.
5 Reasons to Stop Exhibiting at Trade Shows http://bit.ly/9ty2M0
Do you agree? RT @aprildunford: 5 Reasons to Stop Exhibiting at Trade Shows http://bit.ly/92RKFF
Hi April.
I agree and disagree with you on this one. In my experience I disagree because in industry specific trade shows these can be the driving motion for business development – where there are clear buyers and sellers. This is especially true in particularly production industries with production lines.
The trade shows I really agree with you on are those which are basically poorly targeted. Most of the trade shows I’ve been to have been a waste of time because the organisers spent so much time selling to exhibitors they neglected marketing to attendees.
thought provoking post though, I liked it.
My formula is:
if Speak = Yes then
booth = Yes
else
booth = No
Hi Leon,
Thanks for the comment. I agree that a speaking slot changes everything. The best is if you can speak without getting a booth but those trade show folks have gotten wise to that and now dole out a lot of the speaking slots to booth buyers only. For startups, they often can’t afford the booth size that comes with the slot so they are stuck. If you’re lucky you’ve got a charismatic speaker for a CEO and she/he can get these slots on their own.
April
Great post, April! I’d only add that if you’re in a position where you just can’t sell the idea of pulling out of all of your tradeshows all at once, at least change up your strategy to focus on extracting some sort of value.
I’ve worked with some clients on moving to a paperless booth concept, with follow-up request kiosks that are web forms feeding directly into their marketing automation tool. This simultaneously a) slashes your wasteful spending on printing and shipping collateral, b) super-qualifies any new leads since they have to be interested enough to fill in your electronic form, and c) ensures your follow-up is consumed since you are sending them an email that goes to both their mobile device and their inbox for back at the office, even making it easy for them to forward your stuff to other colleagues you didn’t meet.
Nolin @ BrainRider
PERFECT! Couldn’t agree more. I teach B2B Mktg at the University of Pittsburgh and during the class I state some of the exact opinions regarding trade shows you state here. #3 is the #1 reason I hear why companies go—’what will it look like if we are not there?’—oh, thats a reason to spend money—Trades shows are a waste.
RT @aprildunford: 5 Reasons to Stop Exhibiting at Trade Shows http://bit.ly/92RKFF; change no 5 to 'you won't follow up properly anyway'
#FF @aprildunford for wisdom, insight, experience & this blog post -> http://bit.ly/cSLqe4 #common #sense #uncommon #world
RT @EventCloudPro: #FF @aprildunford for wisdom, insight, experience & this blog post -> http://bit.ly/cSLqe4 #common #sense #uncommo …
RT @aprildunford: 5 Reasons to Stop Exhibiting at Trade Shows http://bit.ly/92RKFF