Atten dTren d ®

2005 Update

Key Elements of
Successful
Marketing Plans

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 1

 Att en dTre nd ®
A Study of Attendance Marketing Practices
This project is an ongoing study of marketing
within the exhibition industry.

The research study is conducted annually by

Jacobs Jenner & Kent Market Research and
Frost Miller Group.

The current study was conducted in November

2005 via telephone interviews among 500 event
organizers throughout the US and Canada.
Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 2
 Att en dTre nd ®
A Study of Attendance Marketing Practices

Participation was at the highest level:


President/CEO/Owner/Executive Director
 Show Director/Group Show Director
 Operations Director/VP/Manager
 Marketing Director/CMO/VP/Manager

Both Associations and Independent Show Organizers

participated.

This presentation highlights Independent Show

Organizers’ marketing practices.
Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 3
 Atte ndTren d ®
What’s the relevance to my
marketing plan?
We believe organizers can chart a course to superior
results by studying the best marketing practices,
strategies and tactics of successful shows.

Understand industry-wide practices—the good and not-so-good

Benchmark your efforts

Keep pace with change

Abandon worn-out activities and embrace new ones in your program

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 4

Key Findings

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 5

 Exhibition Industry Report Card
(Attendance)
Since the 2003
benchmark study, 70%

exhibition industry 2003

60%
2004
attendance can be 61%
2005
60% Independent Total
characterized as 50%

becoming: 40%

43%
30%

31% 33%
- More stable in 2003 28%
20%

- Recovering in 2004 26%

- Continuing to grow 10%

12%
12%
64% 24% 6%
through 2005 0%

Growing Same Declining

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 6

 Location Of Events
[Independent Shows]

98% 100% 96%

100%

80%

60%
25%
40% 14% United States
10%
20% 8% 13% 14% International
Canada
0%
2003 2004 2005

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 7

 Size Of Event (NSF)
[Independent Shows]
60%

2003
50%
2004
2005
39%
40% 36% 32%
32%
30%
28%
28%

20% 25%
14% 15%
15%
10%

16% 14% 18% 28% 24%

0%

<25k 25k - 49.9k 50k - 99.9 100k - 249.9k 250k >

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 8

 Marketing Challenges
[Independent Shows]

2004 2005
1- Reaching VIP’s/power buyers 1- Increasing first-time attendees
2- Increasing international 2- Increasing international
attendees attendees
3- Reaching buying teams 3- Reaching VIP’s/power buyers

4- Increasing first-time attendees 4- Increasing response rates

5- Increasing response rates 6- Getting attendees’ attention

6- Getting attendees’ attention 6- Reaching buying teams

7- Increasing qualified attendees 7- Increasing qualified attendees

8- Increasing repeat attendees 8- Increasing repeat attendees

9- Converting pre-registrants 9- Converting pre-registrants

10- Travel after 9/11 10- Concerns about traveling

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 9

Internal Operations Challenges
[Independent Shows]
Improving ROI in marketing (2004) 2.94 3.57 (2005)
Measuring marketing effectiveness 2.87 3.04
Measuring ROI in marketing 2.80 3.29
Increasing the role/payoff of Web site 2.70 2.96
Assessing the “value” of attendees 2.67 2.52
Integrating marketing efforts 2.65 2.61
Improving customer service/personalization 2.63 2.61
Implementing e-marketing 2.61 2.38
Exploiting marketing technology 2.56 2.89
Monitoring the marketing process 2.56 2.87
Building/reinforcing a brand 2.48 2.63
Applying best practices 2.31 2.46
Learning from past failures/successes 2.11 2.04 10
 Emphasis Placed on
Internal Marketing Issues
[Independent Shows]
2005 Growing Shows 2005 Shrinking
(Mean 5 high) shows
Better understanding of 4.25 3.23
attendees/audience research
Better overall strategy 3.87 3.33
Better marketing integration 3.48 3.33
Better creative design 3.44 2.67
Better cooperation from trade 3.35 2.67
magazine publishers
Better cooperation from exhibitors 3.33 2.67
Better e-marketing 3.26 3.00
Better outside expertise 2.91 2.67
Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 11
 Marketing/Promotion Spending
[Independent Shows]
Overall, 49% of
shows indicate
they have 4%

increased their 2005 47%

marketing and 49%

promotional Decreased Budget

Same Budget
budgets in the 12% Increased Budget

past year, i.e. 2004 41%

advertising, 47%

printing, direct
0% 20% 40% 60%
mail, etc.
Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 12
 Spending by Show Growth
[Independent Shows]
Growing shows
generally indicate
they have
55%
increased their Shows 43%
marketing budget Shrunk

in the past year. 2% Decreased Budget

Same Budget
Increased Budget
5%
Shrinking shows Shows 38%
have primarily Grown
57%
decreased
marketing -10% 10% 30% 50% 70%
budgets.
Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 13
Marketing Budget – Per Attendee
[Independent Shows]
SHOW MARKETING AND PROMOTION BUDGET
PER ATTENDEE
(Based on Mean Calculations)
2004 2005
Shows Less than 25,000 NSF $26 $30
25,000 – 49,999 NSF $16 $18
50,000 – 99,999 NSF $34 $33
100,000 – 249,000 NSF $80 $79
250,000 or more NSF $52 $51

On average, the cost to obtain an attendee varies

by the size of the event, but it is not proportionate
to the actual NSF.
Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 14
Cost To Acquire One Attendee
[Independent Shows]
By: Change In Attendance

$33.05
$32.15

$18.10 $18.20

2004 2005 2002 2005

2004

Declining Growing
Shows Shows

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 15

 How do these all fit together?
E-mail PR Direct Mail
Marketing Special
Promotions

Telemarketing
Marketing Plan
Discounts

Relationship
Exhibitor Marketing
Promotions
DB Marketing
Research Web Advertising

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 16

 Marketing Vehicles Being Used
[Independent Shows]
2005 2005
Growing Shows Shrinking Shows
E-mail marketing 95% 91%
Direct mail 96% 98%
Special promotions/discounts 89% 56%
Relationship marketing 89% 60%
Web advertising 87% 85%
Exhibitor sponsored promotions 65% 30%
Public relations 83% 64%
Marketing research 78% 52%
Targeted (database) marketing 83% 55%
Telemarketing 54% 46%
Outside marketing firms 43% 10%

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 17

Marketing Mix Used By Organizers
[Independent Shows]
The
emphasis 96% 98% 95% 91%
89%
which 83%
growing
shows 65%
place on 60% 55%
specifically
directed, 30%
special
programs is
much
higher than
that of Relationship Exhibitor Direct mail e-Marketing Targeted
declining Marketing
Progams
Sponsored
Promotions
Marketing

shows.
Growing Declining

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 18

Relationship Marketing Programs
[Independent Shows]
Cheaper Reg. 26%

Money-back Guarantee 18% 33% Growing

Shows
Concierge 36%
Shrinking
Travel & lodging points 29% Shows

Education Creds 67% 64%

Team Meeting Space 32% 56%

VIP Services 46% 62%

Matching Services 36% 8%

Orientation 39% 60%

Coupon Specials 42% 56%

Co-Located Shows 47% 67%

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 19

 Start Of Pre-Show Marketing

53%
2003
2004
39% 2005
36%
31%

32%

13%
15% 20% 10%
11%
11%
10% 7%
5% 7%

18+ months 12+ months 6+ months 3+ months 1+ months

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 20

 Start Of Pre-Show Marketing
(Industry Wide Growing & Shrinking Shows)
47%

Growing
43%
Shrinking
35%

15% 15% 15%

9%
8%
9%
4%

18+ months 12+ months 6+ months 3+ months 1+ months

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 21

Best Promise To Motivate Attendance

71%
68%

48%

41%
24%
41%
s 14%
ni ng
ar ing
Le o rk 8% 23%
w n
Ne t w ti o
Ne u ca 10%
E d er s
pli 8%
up rs
n ts plie
urre su
p
u nts 2004 2005
C w c o
Ne Dis

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 22

 Goal In Using E-Mail
To generate leads and produce pre-registrations 78%

To communicate with attendees and produce pre- 78%

registrations
To produce pre-registration by past attendees & 74%
“hot” lists

To communicate with attendees and produce leads 60%

To generate new leads from “prospecting” lists 56%

To communicate with pre-registered attendees 50%

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 23

Difficulties of E-Mail Marketing
(Mean score 5 high)
Finding reliable e-lists 3.83
Identifying the best messages, copy or design 3.58
High bounce-back due to bad addresses 3.31
High block-rate due to spam blockers 2.90
Tracking response 2.89
Legislative restrictions or regulations 2.62
Dealing with attendees’ ill-will toward spam 2.58
Testing e-mail campaigns 2.50
Identifying the best days and times to transmit blasts 2.49
Finding reliable e-mail service vendors 2.28
Managing in-house e-lists 2.23

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 24

E-mail Tracking Tools Used
60% 55%

50%

40% 33%

30%
18% 19%
20%

6%
10%

0%
Web traffic Web traffic E-mail Other Don't track
reports (In- reports analytics responses
house) (External) reports
(External)

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 25

 Use of Blogs in Marketing

Shrinking Shows 8% 18%

Use Blogs Plan to use Blogs

Growing Shows 19% 14%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 26

Key Learnings

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 27

Summary
The good news – attendance continues to
increase.
The size (NSF) of the largest events and
smaller events have had great increases.
The first time attendee has become the key
target of event marketers.
The greatest internal operations challenge
is still understanding measurement (ROI).
Growing shows have a different marketing
plan than shrinking shows.
Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 28
 How Should I Adjust
My Marketing Plan?
Test alternate formulas for/measures of
marketing ROI
Survey, survey, survey your audience
Strengthen relations with industry
publishers
Test a few new targeting strategies (such
as segmenting multi-buyers and VIPs)
Expand your customer loyalty programs

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 29

 How Should I Adjust
My Marketing Plan?
Assure your positioning resonates with first-time
attendees
Create high-value education to attract first-time
attendees
Integrate your direct and Web marketing with
other activities:
Special promotions
Exhibitor-sponsored promotions
Public relations
Begin promoting attendance 1 year out with
reemphasis at 6 months

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO 30

Attend Tren d ®
2005 Update

31