DALLAS – The fifth of six reports in the Center for Exhibition Industry Research’s (CEIR) Omnichannel Marketing Insight series, “Who to Target for Exhibition Sales,” shows a continued rebound in the exhibition industry, with more than a third of respondents (36%) reporting larger budgets this year and 43% of budgets remaining the same.
While the majority (55%) of companies with budgets under $250,000 expect their 2022 exhibition budget to remain the same as 2021, growth is coming from companies with the most resources: 51% of organizations with marketing budgets between $250,000 and $749,000 and 48% of companies with budgets over $750,000 reported larger budgets.
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The report includes other positive statistics on the continued rebound of the exhibition sector. Respondents plan to attend five events in 2022, approaching the pre-pandemic median of six events, and the median booth size in net square feet (NSF) will return to the same size as in 2019 (200 NSF).
Sales Strategies for Exhibitions
The report recommends that companies implement large-scale sales strategies. For small businesses, this can be done by targeting management and marketing. For large companies, promotional campaigns should be extended to multiple departments.
Larger companies, those with more than 500 employees, involve more departments in the decision to exhibit, including the marketing department (60%), the head of a business unit, product, brand or division (36%) and the head of the events department (23%). Among large companies, only 23% report involving senior management in these decisions, compared to 68% of small companies (defined as having 99 or fewer employees).
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The larger an organization’s marketing budget, the more likely it is that marketing is involved: 68% of organizations with marketing budgets of $250,000 to $749,900 and 62% of those with marketing budgets of $750,000 and above involve marketing, compared to just 39% of those with budgets less than $250,000.
“The most important takeaway is the importance of tailoring exhibit sales goals based on the size of the potential exhibiting company—targeting marketing and general management for smaller companies and expanding outreach for larger companies,” said Nancy Drapeau, IPC, CEIR’s vice president of research. “This report gives you insight into other roles and departments to reach out to for these larger companies. Since marketing budget prospects are brighter for larger companies and those with larger marketing budgets, adjust exhibit sales conversations accordingly. These potential exhibitors may be willing to invest more in your event if it offers the target audiences they want to engage with and the framework that allows them to achieve their goals.”
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The full Omnichannel Marketing Insights series is based on a survey of 1,799 attendees and 316 exhibitors. This report is free to CEIR subscribers and IAEE members and can be purchased for $59 for non-members/non-subscribers here.
Contact Nancy Drapeau at ndrapeau@ceir.org