“Before You Hit The Venue” – Chapter 2 – Exhibition Statistics – The Real Facts
Stephan Murtagh, the Exhibition Guy in his book titled ‘Before You Hit The Venue‘ gives insights on all aspects of Exhibiting in an Exhibition.
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The book will be published in TFT in a series for the benefit of its reader. Enjoy and do write back to us with your feedback.
Chapter 2
Exhibition Statistics – The Real Facts
As a potential exhibitor at a show you will always hear from companies the reasons why you shouldn’t exhibit and how much time, hassle, cost, and stress Exhibitions are. It’s ironic that all these reasons are offered with no real facts as to whether they work or not and the reasons not to exhibit are taken as fact without any real proof. I am obviously biased as I am in the industry, but I am also very straight up, and I offer you the real statistics on exhibitions below. I don’t have a personal stake in you doing any show, but these statistics below are real. They are taken from many reputable sites that offer credible and real business advice to companies on how to market themselves.
83% of exhibition attendees have purchasing authority |
85% of decision makers believe going to shows saves them time & money sourcing suppliers |
Over 90% of attendee’s plan to purchase in the next 12-15 months |
86% of exhibition attendees have not been seen by your sales force in last 12 months |
63% of marketing managers agree that exhibitions are crucial to retaining market share |
Almost 20% of exhibiting companies do not track exhibition ROI |
80% of exhibition leads are not followed up |
The Exhibition industry continues to grow and 2018 is reckoned to be biggest year |
260m people visit exhibitions every year |
Face Shows are the #1 source for decision makers |
39.2% of b2b marketing budget is allocated to trade shows more than print and social media combined |
It costs 22% less to contact a potential buyer at a show than through traditional channels |
Trade show promotions boost your lead count by 33% |
76% of companies will maintain/increase their trade show budget (32% Increase & 44% maintain) |
For every € invested in a trade show, exhibitors on average see a €6 return |
80% of businesses agree they spend more money with companies they meet face to face |
Exhibitions rank 2nd in terms of marketing channel effectiveness (website #1) |
67% of all attendees represent a new prospect |
46% of attendees are executive or upper management level |
76% of executive decision makers asked for a quote at the last show they attended |
The actual cost of a face to face meeting with a prospect at a show is €142 and €259 in prospects office |
51% of tradeshow attendees requested a sales Rep to visit them after the show |
Over 50% of visitors are there for the first time |
Statistics are not the only reason you do a show and whilst they are relevant there also needs to be a real and tangible reason to exhibit and I have made this section very short on purpose to simply leave these facts with you as they need little explanation but show you what a powerful medium Exhibitions are to achieve your business goals and objectives.
Pick 3 facts from this list and ask yourself do these really offer an opportunity for your business…Which 3 surprise you most?