Where to Exhibit: Choosing the Right Event

So you have decided that exhibiting would fit well with your marketing strategy but how do you decide which exhibition to book space at? In this guide we will be looking at some of the factors to consider when choosing an exhibition for your business.

The first thing to do is find which exhibitions are coming up for your industry and you can do this either via a search engine e.g ‘Video Game Exhibition Event’ or by asking your suppliers what the popular exhibitions of the moment are.

Once you have found a few choices make sure you visit their websites and get a general feel to see if it’s the right type of show for you. Ask the following questions when scouting:

● What are the visitor demographics? Do they match yours?
● How is the show going to be promoted?
● What have past attendance been?
● Do you see the names of any of you competitors?

Obviously the exhibition organisers web site is a sales pitch so you need to look at their websites through cynical eyes. Look for exhibition and event review sites or speak to companies who have attended in the past for an independent view. Usually event websites list last years exhibitors list and if you’re lucky you may also see this years exhibitors. If you do find both lists then the following comparisons and tasks can help determine if this is a successful event:

● Are the same companies coming back from last year?
● Is the number of exhibitors up or down from last year?
● Call up companies who don’t compete directly with you and ask them how they found the show.

Once you’re happy that the show is popular and attracts the right people for your business, i.e. ones you could convert into customers, you need to look at costs. Is it worth attending? Have a look at our article ‘the cost of exhibiting’, which gives a rundown of costs you will incur when exhibiting, and then compare this with how many potential customers you will reach and how much this is worth to your company. Remember that as well as customers who will sign up or buy products at the exhibition itself you are also building brand awareness, which may result in sales in the future.
One big tip to keep costs down is to book late as you will often get a better price, although beware as this might be the result of an under-attended event.

One final point is that for first time exhibitors bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to exhibitions. There may be lots of traffic at a big show but you might meet stiffer competition. Also big shows often last several days so the costs of keeping your stand manned will be higher.
Maybe consider a smaller local exhibition to test the water as there is less risk involved with outlay of money and time.

Crucially you must make sure you have a monitoring system in place that enables you to determine if the show was a success and if it will be worth attending next year. Keep goals such as; break even, get X amount of people to sign up to my mailing list, make X amount of leads. The more data points you use the better your post-show analysis will be.

Hopefully you will now be in the position to choose an exhibition to attend and have rough costings worked out. Make sure you check out our other articles and tips for successful exhibiting.