What Works? Find Out by Reading These Case Studies
What Works? Find Out by Reading These Case Studies
| Dynamics in Exhibit Marketing for Healthcare Exhibitors: A study of practices and staff performance that impacts attendee decisions to use, prescribe or recommend products and services.
Sponsorship was made possible by: EWI Worldwide, Livonia, Michigan
Methodology Marketech, a 22 year old company that offers exhibitor staff training and performance measurement has been interviewing healthcare professionals for the past five years. This study follows a prior White Paper (Why Physicians Come to Your Exhibit) done in 2005. Where feasible, comparisons will be made to the prior study. For this study, we have used cumulative quantitative findings from exit interviews performed at 23 medical conventions held during 2006 and 2007 and conducted for 11 top-name pharmaceutical and device companies who were exhibiting at these events. Intercept interviews were conducted with visitors at the events as they exited the client booth. Only those questions that were asked in the same way were used for this White Paper. Not all companies were studied at all shows. Medical meetings included in this paper are listed in the addendum section at the end. Each exit interview project averaged 100 responses per question. Charts for each statistical finding indicate the number of companies surveyed and the number of events surveyed as well as the timeframe (i.e. 3 companies, 3 events 2006-2007 means we surveyed three different companies at three different events during 2006 and 2007). For some findings, we interviewed randomly screened US doctors on the show floor at medical conventions. These interviews were not conducted for a specific medical segment. That information is noted on related charts. This paper also references cumulative findings from repeated qualitative studies conducted by Marketech, Inc. for a variety of exhibiting companies relative to best practices in exhibit marketing. The qualitative studies were conducted on site and used a standard template guideline for gathering observed data. Report Highlights Pharma Exhibits The number one reason physicians stop at pharmaceutical exhibits is “happenstance”—just walking around seeing all the exhibits. Happenstance can include brand familiarity, booth appeal and booth attractions such as refreshments and product presentations. It clearly says there are little or no agendas set for this segment of exhibitors. Four of every 10 visitors to pharma booths say getting something popular as a promotional item will influence their decisions to stop at that particular exhibit. Device Exhibits The top reasons attendees stop at device exhibits is because they have an interest in the products, or they wanted to see a specific demo. Our research suggests that device companies do a slightly better job of drawing visitors purposely through pre-advertised products, rep demos and rep engagement on the floor. In terms of giveaways on the device side, visitors prefer food and beverages over “things.” Pharma & Device At-show advertising and sponsorships do not significantly resonate with either segment in terms of prompting booth visits; however, name or product recognition does prompt about 11% of booth visitation for both segments. Both segments did a respectable job of greeting and engaging visitors to their booths – four of every five visitors were greeted and engaged. Two of every five visitors to both pharma and device exhibits say they are more inclined to use, prescribe or recommend products seen at the respective exhibits. This statistic has risen 10 points since 2005. Key Takeaways for Exhibit Performance This White Paper has four key takeaways for improved healthcare exhibiting performance: 1. Get on your attendee’s agenda. Depending on generating traffic to your exhibit based on happenstance leaves you at risk for attendees not visiting at all. Instead, use whichever techniques resonate best with your target audience, be it direct mail, email or personal invitations by field sales reps to purposely drive booth traffic. 2. Utilize exhibit promotions, challenges and giveaways that are meaningful, have a high perceived value and ones that create memorability. Using an “off-the-shelf” promotion will get little attention and have even less drawing power to your exhibit. 3. Select and assign staff that are both customer-centric and product knowledgeable. Staff needs to be able to discover the attendees’ specific needs and impart new learnings in a way that will yield a greater inclination or prescribe, use, buy or recommend more of your product or service. Seventy percent (70%) interviewed said staff interactions were “very valuable” in terms of elements encountered at the booth. 4. Design a compelling exhibit experience and employ customer-focused tactics to create an attendee experience that not only captures their attention but also delivers a memorable message.
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