How to Measure Exhibition Performance
The tool to measure the performance of an exhibition is different among exhibitors. Every exhibition is a result of some basic procedures and creativity. Thus, the basic guide is to measure whether the exhibition meets its goal and needs or not. If you wonder why we should measure the performance, there are four reasons. First, you would want to know your investment return related to the exhibition. Second, you would like to know the kind of exhibition that suits your products or services most. Third, you would like to find out any difference between before and after an exhibition so as to analyze how well your teams have been doing. And the last one, a measurement can give encouragement to your teams so that they know the set target and the standard you want.
Measuring the performance of an exhibition includes many areas of marketing. It is not just about the going on exhibition, but also about your competitors, sales, market climate, internal activities, and the long run effect. Not every area may show good performance. For example, your team might have managed excellently and you have crowds coming in the exhibition, but the sales level is not as what you have expected. So it is really important for you to see not just the exhibition itself. Well, so how about the goals we have to measure? Basically you should develop a system that fits with your exhibition, which can either be simple or a bit complex. One clue, you will get best measurement when the measured goals are quantitative. If you tell your team that the goal is to get more customers, change it to to have sales revenue of $2,000.
So what you have to do is to prepare your list of goals. Include all other related values such as customer relationship, business/company image, and so on. However, it is important that you make a priority of goals. There is no way you can get the best result in every area. Setting the goals may need evaluation of past similar exhibitions so you can learn how they performed. But if you do not have one, try to discuss with your event organizer or other exhibitors about how the exhibition will likely to get. And then you have points to be matched with the internal targets.
There are six basic areas of goals that can help to measure an exhibition performance: sales, customer relationships, market research, brand building, channel building, and media relations. Sales include the sales generated right away, sales leads generated, and customer contact database you obtain. The customer relationship area may include building relationship with new customers, educating new customers, getting testimonials, retaining relationship with old or loyal customers, and even re-obtaining lost customers. The area of market research is about researching new product or service, new advertisement or campaign, and brand awareness. For brand building, you will need to do some things like building brand awareness, brand positioning, demonstrating the benefits of your product or service, developing new market, and building investors’ trust. The channel building includes building new distribution channels, reputation, and supporting current channels. And the last one, media relations are about generating relationships with media and journalists to get editorial coverage.