February

Last month we talked about how to get the most Return on Investment in a trade show environment. Well, how are you going to know what the most is unless you understand how to calculate your return in the first place?

The following is a step by step explanation on how to calculate you ROI in a trade show environment:

First, decide who you are going to market to. Essentially, this means who will be attending the show. Lists of attendees are usually available to exhibitors from show management, and are often included in the price of your booth space. If you have to purchase the list, make sure you add that to your cost sheet for your calculations.

Second, what kind of preshow marketing will you be doing? Invitations to your booth? Preshow mailers or flyers? Telephone marketing? Advertising in the show guide? This will be the second item on your cost sheet.

Third is the cost of the booth and exhibit itself. This one can be a little tricky. If you own your booth, this cost will generally be lower than if you rent your booth for each show. If you're purchasing a new exhibit for the show, make sure you divide the cost of the exhibit by the number of shows that you intend to used this exhibit for. If you generally keep your exhibits for two years before replacing them, and you do about 4 shows a year, than 1/8th of the cost of the exhibit should go on to your cost sheet.

Fourth is show services. This includes all of your installation costs, shipping, drayage, electrical, exhibit house charges, etc.

The final cost to add to your sheet is the money you spend following up on leads that you received at the show.

Now for the calculations:

The best way to find ROI, is to figure A) The cost of the show per the total number of attendees you marketed to; B) The cost of the show per the number of leads generated; and C) The cost of the show per the number of sales made from generated leads. D) The amount of money spent versus the amount of money generated.

It's important to remember that not all companies exhibit at trade shows to generate sales. Some companies want to maintain their presence in an industry, some want to introduce new products. ROI will mean more to some companies than others. You just need to decide what's most important for your company.

Next month we'll discuss more on how to track your ROI for marketing outside the trade show environment. In the meantime, feel free to email me with questions or article suggestions to design@advancedexhibitmethods.com.

Dear Exhibitors: