Measuring exhibition performance
If you want your investment to pay off you must follow up and analyse your results. After-show follow up not only allows you to illustrate bottom-line results but also enables you to set benchmarks for the future.
Lead management is key to your exhibition success
You need to know from the outset what you want to achieve:
- how you will record the achievements
- how your follow up process will operate
- in what timeframe
Your chosen process needs to be simple, user-friendly, and track-able so that you can see bottom-line profitability at the end of the process.
So many exhibiting companies fail at the first hurdle – that is to record their leads on a ‘fit-for-purpose’ lead card or data capture system. Your lead system needs to be easy to complete and provide areas to record the specific information you need to progress the enquiry:
- Use tick boxes where possible
- Allow space for attaching a business card
- Include space for notes
Record show leads in a contact management database (CRM) to allow the basic contact information AND the additional detailed information to be recorded. Encourage your stand staff to take proper notes at the show so that the information visitors are interested in is properly communicated to the representative following up the lead.
Recording your data allows you to analyse your overall performance and the impact on the bottom-line.
Let us show you how - get in touchIf you don't set objectives and measure your exhibition results, how do you know if the event was a success?
Evaluate every exhibition and event
Immediately after the show, evaluate your performance, identify areas of improvement and fine-tune your show for next time. Your post-show evaluation should include your stand staff and possibly a selection of visitors to your stand.
Key areas to include are:
- How did you perform against your exhibiting objectives?
- What could you do differently to improve next time?
- What were the major challenges at the show?
- What happened that you did not expect or for which you were unprepared?
- Were there areas that you could have planned for better?
- Are there changes that could be made to improve your exhibition stand?
- How effective was the exhibition stand staff?
- How did the quality of visitors rate in relation to your needs?
- What response did you get to your pre-show and at-show promotions?
- Would you exhibit at this show again?
Exhibition marketing is a specialist area for Marketingesp
We can help you with all aspects of successful exhibiting – planning, promotion, stand staff training and measurement. Want to discuss how?