Looking at the return on your exhibit investment often has to do with monetary gains. But what if you are among the many exhibitors whose objective has nothing to do with sales?
Are these exhibitors doomed to a life of never knowing whether their exhibit program is yielding value? The answer is “no”. Corporate and not-for-profit exhibitors can enjoy a non-monetary value of their exhibition program if they know where to look.
The 2009 Center for Exhibition Industry Research study called “The Cost Effectiveness of Exhibition Participation reported that over two thirds of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with the following three statements:
The conclusion was that there is additional value to a show beyond the ability to generate leads. Exhibitors who focus on lead generation alone look for a return on investment (ROI). Exhibitors who focus on non-monetary objectives look for a return on objectives (ROO)
Calculating ROO is a matter of taking the following steps
Benchmarks are an important consideration with non-monetary objectives. Benchmarks provide you with an objective method of measuring improvement. Let’s say that your non-monetary objective is to reinforce brand awareness and you choose to measure it with a survey of booth visitors. Before visitors leave you should ask them a few pointed questions which will reveal their perception of your brand before they entered the booth and the change in their perception after the visit.Let’s say that at a show you found an increase of 20% in visitor’s awareness of your brand message. The next time you go to this show you now have a benchmark which you can use when making changes to your display and your booth personnel’s approach. You might target to increase the percentage or leave the percentage the same but at a lower cost.
You may always have thought that there was real value in your exhibit program. Now you have a way to prove it.
© 2010 by Barry Siskind. Barry Siskind is author of Powerful Exhibit marketing. He is also President of International Training and Management Company who offers a number of services to exhibitors including the creation and implementation of a mystery-shopping program. Contact Barry at barry@siskindtraining.com for more information.
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