Event Marketing, Trade Show, and Seminar Support Services by MarketingSage

Event marketing was second only to email and mailings in its ability to generate a return on investment according a survey* of chief marketing officers. Unlike advertisements, email, mail and other promotional methods, events allow you to demonstrate your products, make presentations to interested people and have extended discussions with prospects.

A CEIR** study estimated that 78% of attendees are interested in products and up to 60% are part of a buying team visiting the show. Additionally, CEIR estimated that the average number of calls required to close a trade show lead was 1.6. This compared favorably with an average 3.7 calls to close a field sales lead. If you have an outbound sales team, fewer sales calls may result in significant savings on travel and expenses.

An event allows your sales team to meet a lot of prospects in a short period of time. A salesperson can typically meet 7 people per hour at a show — a pace not easily replicated on the road. Events also give executives an opportunity to meet peers, analysts, journalists, customers, resale partners and prospects whom they might not otherwise meet face-to-face. Additionally, many businesses use events as a launching point for new products and initiatives.

Event marketing pays off from a sales perspective when:

• Your product sells better when it is demonstrated, handled or formally presented. New types of product, complex products and expensive products typically benefit from demonstrations and show-and-tell presentations.
  
  
• Your prospects can be segmented into groups and there are events that cater specifically to those groups. Research has shown that vertical shows, those that address a specific market segment, can generate 25% more qualified leads than broad trade shows.
  
  
• The cost of participating is reasonable. What's reasonable depends on your situation. Here are some guidelines:
  
  
  • The expected cost per qualified lead is acceptable after you account for the true costs of participation. The true cost of an event should include the cost of organizing the 1001 details necessary for participation, booth shipping costs, staff travel costs, and a portion of the booth design and maintenance cost. The cost per lead will almost always be higher for events than for other promotional methods. However, the cost per qualified lead or cost per sale may be very reasonable.
    
    
  • Participation in the event does not cause undue disruption to other important activities. For example, executives, marketers, product managers and engineers may have to sideline other projects to prepare for, and participate in, events.

MarketingSage can help you implement a successful event marketing strategy by:

• Helping you decide if trade shows should be part of your promotional plan, and if so, which shows to attend. We maintain a database of over 5,000 events.
  
  
• Designing a booth and accessories that help you stand out from the crowd while minimizing the cost of shipping, set-up/tear-down and equipment maintenance.
  
  
• Renting you the equipment you need for events and presentations if required.
  
  
• Managing the 1001 logistical details necessary to ensure a successful show and to minimize costs. These include booth storage, shipping and maintenance.
  
  
• Increasing the number of visitors to your booth with pre-show promotions.
  
  
• Increasing editorial publicity opportunities by managing event-centric announcements and arranging press and analyst meetings.
  
  
• Helping you convert more leads to sales with targeted post-show promotions. Pre-show promotions have been shown to draw up to 33% more of the "right" visitors to a booth.

MarketingSage® is a contracted marketing department that helps other marketers and business executives increase revenue by generating sales leads, building brands, launching new products and establishing new sales channels. You can add Strategic Planning & Process Design, Advertising, PR, Internet Marketing, Direct Marketing, Channel Marketing, Event Marketing, Graphic Design and Copywriting capabilities when you need them, for as long as you need them.

MarketingSage's ROI-centric methods are more effective and cost-effective than building a large internal staff or trying to mange multiple agencies or freelancers. We deliver a measurable return far in access of the cost of our services. In fact, client return on investment in MarketingSage is guaranteed.

If you think MarketingSage may be able to help you and your business, please give us a call at 925-426-0488 or click here to have us contact you.

*CMO Council, 2005 study. **Center for Exhibition Industry Research