All Audits
All Audits
| If They Ask, We Will Audit
From the IAEE E2 Newsletter – July/August 2009 edition
We are well aware of the impact of unemployment, the roller-coaster stock market and the elusive bottom to the housing market decline have had on exhibiting and attendance. Brand marketers, from both exhibiting and attending companies are doing more with less and are trying to keep businesses viable. The budget tightening woes are now commonplace and the industry is evolving because of it.
Virtual events are becoming more commonplace to allow people the opportunity to see products and services without traveling. Glenn Hansen, President and CEO of BPA Worldwide states,” Social media is everywhere and the online world has led to instant gratification. The result is a sense of urgency and a set of metrics so marketers can see the results of their ad or sponsor dollars in real time. This is carrying over to anyone who has budget responsibility for either in print, on-line or in-person investment. Trade shows are no longer operating in their own silos when talking about measurement. Everything is being looked at”.
Brand marketers who are exhibiting at trade shows have said they want and need more information from their organizers to justify their investment. The
“The demand for measurement is unbelievably high from the corporate side”, said Skip Cox, President of Exhibit Surveys, Inc., in a past Trade Show Executive article. “And that’s with everything they’re doing – private events, advertising, online – not just trade shows.” At the EXHIBITOR 2009 Show, attendees who visited the BPA Worldwide booth remarked how speakers and the audience in conference sessions were mentioning the need for brand marketers to ask for third-party audited data. John Brooks, Director of Marketing for BPA Worldwide stated that the buzz from the conference sessions was the most pervasive he had ever seen with regards to asking organizers for this data. “When we speak to organizers about using the audit service, their major objection is that no exhibitors are asking for it. It is great to see the attendees of this event so interested and eager to create the demand for this industry best practice. And what better way for an organizer to showcase the quality and value of their audience than by providing independently certified third-party data that shows it in black and white. Seeing is always believing!”
Organizers continue to say exhibitors are not asking for the data. However, seminar producers like Larry Zollo, President of Skyline Exhibits and Graphics, Inc., have heard from show organizers who have expressed their displeasure for promoting the need for independent, third-party audited data, and for when attendees follow through and actually contact their organizers to ask for it. Zollo adds, “We have had some organizers call us after a few of our Successful Tradeshow Marketing Strategies seminars regarding discussion with those in attendance asking for independent, third-party data in the form of audits. Audited data is the basis for these folks to justify which shows they choose to try for the first time or continue to invest in. At Skyline, we hope to bring all industry best practices to light. The more enlightened industry people are, the more beneficial they are to the industry”.
The important question show organizers must ask themselves is, “How can I best serve my clients?” One important answer is – by providing them with the proof they need to justify continually investing in the valuable marketing opportunity being provided to them. The mark of most successful businesses is their ability to be proactive with their customer base. Steven Hacker,
The opportunity is right for organizers to become heroes of and partners with their clients. If you audit, they will come.
About the author John Mikstay,
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