April 2007
Annual Report: Attendee marketing benchmarks and trends

With four years of solid or steady  attendance growth, show organizers con-tinue to look for ways to expand and improve the quality of their audiences.

By Heather Kirkwood

Ninety-six percent of show organizers report that attendance at their shows is either holding steady or on the rise, according to the fifth annual AttendTrend survey of trade show organizers conducted by the Frost Miller Group and Jacob Jenner & Kent. With four years of solid growth behind them, show organizers are now looking for ways to expand and improve the quality of their audiences. It’s not an easy task, however.

Just as in past years, show organizers are interested in VIP power buyers, first-time attendees and international attendees — yet all three of these groups remain the most challenging for shows to attract. This year, international attendees ranked the most difficult group to reach, followed closely by VIP power buyers and attracting first-time attendees. 

The annual AttendTrend survey, a study of attendance marketing best practices, was conducted by telephone and surveyed 450 major show organizers throughout North America in December 2006. The survey explored how show organizers marketed to attendees, how those marketing efforts are viewed from an operational standpoint within their organizations, and which marketing techniques were most used by growing shows.

Marketing budgets on the rise
Overall 51 percent of shows reported their marketing budgets rose in 2006, compared with 49 percent in 2005 and 39 percent in 2004. Only 5 percent of shows reported shrinking marketing budgets, up from 3 percent in 2005 but down from 11 percent in 2004. The rest reported marketing budgets were holding steady.

As in past years, there was a strong correlation between growing marketing budgets and growing shows. Of shows with growing attendance, 53 percent spent more on attendee marketing, and 43 percent had budgets that remained the same. Only 4 percent of growing shows actually cut back on their attendee marketing expenditures. By contrast, 70 percent of shrinking shows cut their attendee marketing budgets.

Like exhibitors, show organizers need to justify their marketing budgets with measurable outcomes, but measuring direct ROI of a given campaign can be difficult. The three biggest internal operational challenges cited by show organizers:
 • Measuring the ROI of marketing
 • Measuring marketing effectiveness
 • Improving the ROI of marketing activities

As show organizers try to improve their marketing efforts, they’re putting the greatest emphasis on executing a better overall strategy, followed closely by increasing their marketing budgets and better understanding their attendance research.

The message and motivators
Show organizers were relatively consistent with previous years about which factors are most motivating to get attendees to come to the show. Seventy-one percent reported that the promise of seeing new products is the greatest motivating factor for attendees. Other top motivators are networking and educational seminars, according to 52 percent of show organizers.

Marketing tools
This year’s results seem to indicate that it’s less important for a show to use a certain marketing tool just because it’s been successful for other events. Instead, it’s more important to use the tools most appropriate for your audience — and use those tools well. Key highlights about marketing tools shows employ:
 • E-mail, print advertising and Web advertising were the most frequently used marketing tools in 2006.
• Relationship-marketing tactics were more frequently used by growing shows than by shrinking shows (61 percent compared with 46 percent) but still scored among the top tools used by both groups.
• Growing shows also used market research more frequently than did shrinking shows (77 percent compared with 69 percent), yet again, the strategy was one of the top ones used by both groups.
• Direct marketing was ranked as the most effective marketing tool, followed by print advertising and e-mail.

E-mail marketing
E-mail marketing remains one of the most popular marketing tools for show organizers. It’s relatively cheap, and used well, can be effective.

Most shows, 64 percent, obtain e-marketing lists by barter. Another 38 percent of shows purchase lists. Of those who purchase lists, 46 percent have list budgets between $10,000 and $25,000, up from 36 percent last year. Ninety-two percent of shows do test their e-marketing lists, but only 37 percent do it frequently.

When it comes to e-marketing campaigns, the biggest challenges show organizers report are finding reliable lists and combating the spam filters.

Blogs
Currently 32 percent of shows use blogs to promote their events, and another 28 percent have plans to introduce a blog in the next 12 months for this purpose. It’s the first time the AttendTrend survey has asked about blogs. Show organizers scored blogs as “average” in their effectiveness for marketing to attendees.

Of those not using blogs, 67 percent believe it just isn’t something that would benefit their show or that it’s simply an unproven tool. Another 33 percent say it isn’t a priority for them right now.

Relationship marketing and value-added trends
Continuing education opportunities and co-located shows continue to be the two most popular relationship marketing or value-added offers for attendees, however, in 2006 matchmaking services rose to the third most popular offering. Forty-two percent of surveyed shows now offer matchmaking services, up from 37 percent in 2005 and 28 percent in 2004.

Key takeaways

1. Most shows — 88 percent — report attendance at their shows grew or held steady.
2. More than half (51%) of shows increased their budgets in 2006
3. 53% of growing shows have increased their attendance marketing budgets, while 70%of shrinking shows have cut their attendance marketing budgets.
4. In 2006, increasing international attendance was the greatest marketing challenge, compared with attracting first-time attendees in 2005.
5. Print advertising was the marketing tool most used by show organizers in 2006, compared with e-mail marketing in 2005.
6. Show organizers rank direct mail as the most effective marketing tool, followed by print advertising.
7. 87% of shows increased their reliance on e-mail marketing in 2006.

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E-mail formats used for marketing
Text only
2005 - 12%
2006 - 5%

HTML 
2005 - 39%
2006 - 30%
Both 
2005 - 36% 
2006 - 39%


Text or HTML enhanced with rich media 
2005 - 13% 
2006 - 5%

All of the above 
2005 - 21% 
2006 - 21%

Tracking tools used to measure e-mail response
Web traffic reports generated in-house 
2005 - 55% 
2006 - 56%

Web traffic reports generated by registration firm, Web hosting firm, ASP, etc 
2005 - 33% 
2006 - 34%

E-mail analytics reports generated by registration or outside e-mail service providers 
2005 - 18% 
2006 - 12%

Other method 
2005 - 6% 
2006 - 9%

Do not track response 
2005 - 25% 
2006 - 28%

Top e-mail marketing difficulties
E-mail marketing difficulties in 2006 
1. Finding reliable e-lists
2. High block-rate due to spam blockers
3. High bounce-back due to bad addresses
4. Identifying the best messages, copy or design approach
5. Managing in-house e-lists
6. Dealing with attendees' ill-will toward spam
7. Tracking response
8. Identifying the best days and times to transmit blasts
9. Finding reliable e-mail service vendors
10. Testing e-mail campaigns

Relationship-marketing or value-added programs offered
Continuing education 
2004 - 44% 
2005 - 71% 
2006 - 68%

Co-located shows 
2004 - 40% 
2005 - 43% 
2006 - 48%

Free meeting space for buying teams 
2004 - 38%
2005 - 37%
2006 - 32%

Orientation sessions 
2004 - 38% 
2005 - 4% 
2006 - 32%

Coupons for show specials 
2004 - 30% 
2005 - 38% 
2006 - 39%

Matchmaker services 
2004 - 28% 
2005 - 37% 
2006 - 42%

Unusual entertainment 
2004 - 23% 
2005 - 23% 
2006 - 26%

Travel and/or lodging "points" 
2004 - 21% 
2005 - 23% 
2006 - 24%

Money-back guarantees 
2004 - 19% 
2005 - 15% 
2006 - 16%

Free lodging for VIPs 
2004 - 16% 
2005 - 30% 
2006 - 21%

Gifts/premium incentives 
2004 - 16% 
2005 - 32% 
2006 - 36%

Concierge services 
2004 - 12% 
2005 - 32% 
2006 - 33%

Campaign timeline
18+ months 
2004 - 10% 
2005 - 8% 
2006 - 2%

12+ months 
2004 - 36% 
2005 - 44% 
2006 - 54%

6+ months 
2004 - 31% 
2005 - 34% 
2006 - 45%

3+ months 
2004 - 10% 
2005 - 7% 
2006 - 2%

1+ month 
2004 - 13% 
2005 - 7%
2006 – n/a

Blog usage for show promotion in 2006
Currently use a blog to promote events to attendees 
Yes - 32% 
No - 68%

Plan to introduce a blog for this purpose in the next 12 months 
Yes - 28% 
No - 72%

Have no plans to use blogs for attendance promotions 
Yes - 40% 
No - 60%

Greatest marketing challenges in 2006
1. Increasing international attendees
2. Reaching VIPs/power buyers
3. Increasing first-time attendees
4. Reaching buying teams
5. Increasing overall response rates
6. Increasing repeat attendees
7. Getting attendees' attention
8. Increasing qualified attendees
9. Attendees traveling given security concerns
10. Converting pre-registrations to verified registrants

Greatest challenge to internal operations in 2006 
1. Measuring ROI in marketing
2. Measuring marketing effectiveness
3. Improving ROI in marketing
4. Assessing the "value" of attendees
5. Building/reinforcing a brand
6. Exploiting marketing technology
7. Increasing the role/payoff of Web site
8. Monitoring the marketing process
9. Applying best practices
10. Integrating marketing efforts

Key takeaways
1. Most shows -- 96 percent -- report attendance at their shows grew or held steady.
2. More than half (51%) of shows increased their budgets in 2006
3. 53% of growing shows have increased their attendance marketing budgets, while 700%of shrinking shows have cut their attendance marketing budgets.
4. In 2006, increasing international attendance was the greatest marketing challenge, compared with attracting first-time attendees in 2005.
5. Print advertising was the marketing tool most used by show organizers, compared with e-mail marketing in 2006.
6. Show organizers rank direct mail as the most effective marketing tool, followed by print advertising.
7. 87% of shows increased their reliance on e-mail marketing in 2006.
8. Show organizers report that new products are the No. 1 motivating factor for attendees to come to a show.

E-mail Marketing Key Takeaways
1. Most shows (86%) use e-mail to communicate with attendees and generate leads, while only 39% use e-mail to communicate with pre-registered attendees.
2. 64% of shows bartered for e-mails lists in 2006, up from 53% in 2005.
3. 77% of show organizers spent more than $10,000 for buying or renting e-mail marketing lists in 2006.
4. More than half of shows (63%) never or infrequently test e-mail lists they purchase.
5. 28% of show organizers don’t track e-mail response.