Although advertising is always changing, it remains a key tool in the B2B marketer’s arsenal alongside drip campaigns and personalized landing pages.

As an ad sales pro, it’s important that you know where B2B advertising is going and how you can take advantage of trends.

1. Native Advertising Takes Over

B2B brands continue shifting their budgets from tried-and-true traditional formats to digital ones. This likely has to do with the value online advertising offers. While data is typically thought to drive programmatic advertising, online insights can guide B2B advertisers to smarter direct marketing efforts.

Said another way, they simultaneously allow for a bigger and more targeted reach.

Changing buying behaviors brought on by the pandemic—only about 20% of B2B buyers said they hoped to return to in-person sales after the pandemic—will continue to put a premium on digital formats.

But times are changing, and run-of-the-mill digital ads don’t shine as brightly as they used to.

The downfall of third-party cookies and shifting sentiment around ads mean that B2B advertisers can’t blindly throw ads online.

This is why native advertising will continue to gain steam in 2023.

In 2022, eMarketer predicted a 14.9% YoY increase in native display ad spending, with most of it going to mobile devices and social media platforms.

These ad formats—offered across the digital advertising world—deliver a more natural experience, a big reason why they’re so successful; 68% of consumers trust native ads seen in an editorial context, compared to 55% for social media ads.

Similarly, branded content studios will prove invaluable; their native feel and access to niche audiences will be too much for B2B advertisers to ignore.

2. Events Are Back

After taking a pandemic-induced break, in-person events are back, and B2B advertisers are excited.

By the second half of the year, almost half of the respondents to a survey sample said they’re “extremely likely” to return to in-person events—and that’s far from surprising.

According to Bizzabo, 87% of B2B marketers say in-person events are a critical component of their company’s success. Meanwhile, 85% of leadership (senior managers, executives, and board members) believe in-person events are important to their company’s success.

With events on their way back, B2B advertisers will look to them as an opportunity to regain authentic connections with leads and prospects they lost.

That said, virtual (and hybrid) events are unlikely to go away as B2B marketers look to connect with their total addressable market (TAM) without having to spend thousands on in-person events (booths, travel, printing, etc.). True adoption, however, will largely rely on industry players coming together to perfect software solutions that make virtual and hybrid events possible.

3. Podcast Advertising Grows

With 79% of the U.S. aware of podcasts—and a growing percentage of them highly engaged—podcast ads are poised to become an even bigger medium for B2B advertisers.

More on the nose for the B2B advertisers, research shows that podcast listeners tend to be educated and affluent.

B2B marketers are embracing the trend in a couple of ways:

• B2B brands are buying ads on existing podcasts. This allows marketers to reach an already engaged and niche audience actively paying attention. According to NPR CEO Gina Garrubbo, B2B brands make up one of their biggest advertiser categories.
• B2B brands are creating their own podcasts. These “branded podcasts” give B2B brands interested in content marketing a new medium. Creating a podcast takes more of an investment than a blog post, but it also likely leads to higher levels of engagement. Examples include Rise & Grind (ZipRecruiter), Masters of Data (Sumo Logic), and Luminaries (DELL).

The ongoing adoption of podcasts certainly has B2B advertisers’ attention, but so does the proven impact of the actual ads, namely, the ones read by hosts. Host-read ads give B2B advertisers an authentic and relatable way to connect with niche audiences.

A study from Nielsen found that host-read podcast ads were “significantly more likely to be described by respondents as authentic and believable, and less likely to be felt as forced.” 

4. Out-of-Home Advertising (OOH) Expands

OOH advertising is up across the board; OOH advertising revenue increased by nearly 30% in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the previous year, accounting for more than $2.6b.

Many B2B brands are running these ads and will continue to do so in 2023. From airports to cabs and the subway, B2B advertisers are getting their messaging across during your morning commute.

“While OOH may appear ‘old-school’ on the surface, exciting new OOH placements and integrated geolocation data have transformed the medium into a sophisticated outlet for savvy marketers,” explains Vector Media, a creative agency.

For example, location data allows advertisers to target the initial ad placement and retarget people who have been close to the ad on mobile or web platforms. It’s the natural next step in bringing together the physical and the digital in B2B advertising.

Here’s an example from The Trade Desk (TTD):

TTD’s campaign tapped into OOH advertising to reach brands, media agencies, and commuters in major metro areas. The campaign, “What Matters,” delivered programmatic OOH ads on digital panels on bus shelters, newsstands, elevators, and lobby screens. Additionally, the campaign included connected TV (CTV), YouTube, and online video ads.

OOH, especially of the digital variety, will remain top of mind among B2B advertisers as they fight to find respite from some crowded online ecosystems and prepare for a world without third-party cookies.

B2B Advertisers Fight to Stand Out in 2023

B2B advertising hasn’t always been “cool.”

Historically, B2B advertisers have defaulted to traditional channels, like print and TV, to get their message across. If they did enter the digital world, their journey was often limited to LinkedIn.

But as the B2B world grows and the competition intensifies, advertisers are spreading their wings.

As they do so, they’re adopting the latest and greatest the digital advertising ecosystem has to offer. In 2023, that means native ads, events, podcasts, and OOH.

For more insights, sign up for MediaRadar’s blog here.

This makes planning trade shows and large events difficult. Venues, travel reservations and speaker commitments have to be dependable. 

Due to instability, hopes of in-person events returning this year are looking grim. What does this mean for event organizers and sponsors?

We encourage you to subscribe to our blog for the latest data surrounding the advertising industry. We will provide daily updates as COVID-19 continues to make its mark on the US economy.

Digital events are growing stronger

According to a recent survey conducted by CEIR, 81% of organizers who were forced to cancel their events shifted to digital (compared to 69% in April). The top two reasons for this, according to Vice President of Research Nancy Drapeau, are uncertainty of regional lockdowns and corporate ‘no travel’ policies.

Spikes in cases are happening around the country and it’s unclear when an increase could cause political leaders to ban gatherings of large groups. This uncertainty makes it risky to invest time and money into planning physical events.

In 2019, MediaRadar found that over seventy thousand companies sponsored and exhibited at an event. This year is not shaping up the same way.  Instead, sponsors are turning to webinars.

Since the beginning of the year, the number of brands advertising across webinars has almost tripled.

Many events—especially large conferences and summits—are now using virtual event technology to recreate event experiences as much as possible with features such as: multiple content tracks, interactivity, CRM integrations and more.

Informa plc is one of the world’s largest network of events. More than 160 of its events have been cancelled or rescheduled from 2020 to 2021, and another 300-plus brands have turned their event digital this year. Despite this move online, many professionals are ready for in-person events to return.

In-person events will return slowly in the U.S.

Even though it will be a long road back to full-capacity events, analysts say there is optimism. 

According to the UK Daily Telegraph’s Questor column, Informa plc’s June 12th trading update was ‘reassuring’ because Credit Suisse changed its forecast from a £122m operating loss this year to £132m profit.

Even though things weren’t as bad as expected, Informa says it could take a decade before its stock prices return back to 2019 levels. Informa’s first in-person event, China Beauty Expo, recently took place on July 9th and the company has several more events lined up in September. 

Even though international events are starting to take place, the US is slower to rebound due to the fact that the number of infections is rising. Until last week, Informa’s MAGIC fashion event was scheduled to take place in September in Las Vegas. On July 10th, Informa announced that it would be cancelled and moved online. 

“The prospect of a return for some of our major events brands in mainland China from July is now real,” said chief executive of Informa plc Stephen Carter. Other areas, including the U.S., are experiencing a “gradual and phased” recovery. 

As events return, there will be new health and safety protocols. Sponsors and exhibitors must be flexible and get comfortable with last minute changes. One thing is certain—event experiences will certainly be different than they were pre-COVID. 

For more updates like this, stay tuned. Subscribe to our blog for more updates on coronavirus and its mark on the economy.

They create significant revenue, foster engagement and provide space for new relationships. 

The average retail event can bring in over $6 million — but 2020 is shaping up differently due to Coronavirus. 

Many key trade shows have rescheduled or cancelled completely. Events that are set to continue are seeing many participants withdraw from their commitments, as large corporations are restricting employees from participating. 

Here we cover the latest on coronavirus and the major trade shows that have been impacted.

We encourage you to subscribe to our Blog for the latest data surrounding the advertising industry. We will provide daily updates as COVID-19 continues to make its mark on the US economy.

The latest on Coronavirus

The COVID-19 virus (coronavirus) has now spread to 77 countries, killed more than 3,200 people and infected more than 100,000. 

As of March 10, the US death toll according to the CDC had reached 25 people. 

Bill Gates stated that this virus is now behaving like the “once-in-a-century pathogen we’ve been worried about.”

The Gates Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation teamed up to help with prevention efforts. With their support, researchers in Cambodia have identified the full genome of the virus, making it much easier and faster to identify in people.

On top of this effort, Facebook is giving free advertisements to the World Health Organization and removing false information from its platform. This is a strikingly different approach than Facebook’s approach towards political ads and misinformation. 

Facebook recently announced the cancellation of its F8 conference that was scheduled for early May. Similarly, it announced that it would not be participating in the SXSW conference. 

Facebook is not alone. There have been a number of event cancellations that will impact a wide variety of industries and businesses. 

Conferences that are being rescheduled or cancelled

Business connections and advertising opportunities are pending on how global health leaders continue to control, or not control, the spread of COVID-19.

The first major cancellation announcement was the Mobile World Congress. The event hosts more than 1,200 companies and generates almost $500M Euro in economic impact for Barcelona. 

MediaRadar data places MWC is a top 5 event in terms of exhibiting and sponsorship revenue.

Other major events across industries that were cancelled include:

• Ceraconference was set to host energy and oil executives from over 80 countries in Houston. It was canceled.
• The American Physical Society canceled its largest meeting of the year just 34 hours before the event was set to begin. They faced backlash from thousands of doctors who had already arrived in Denver for the short notice.
• Google recently called off its Google I/O 2020 conference for developers. Google had already announced that it would convert other in-person events to an online format. It is suspected that this event will also be carried out online.
• The Geneva International Motor Show was cancelled after the Swiss government put a temporary ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people. 

Others have been suspended: 

• The MIPIM property fair rescheduled its conference. It was supposed to be held between March 10 and 13th. While this is being written, it is rescheduled for June 2-5. However, it’s believed up to 10% of attendees have already canceled.
• The Game Developers Conference (GDC) was suspended after several major attendees, like Microsoft, pulled out. 

Some events will be transformed from in-person events to a purely online format, like the Adobe Summit.

SXSW Ordered to Cancel: A Reschedule is Pending

Some events plan to carry on as normal, but plans are changing daily. 

SXSW organizers originally said they had no plans to cancel or suspend the annual event that brings over 400,000 international travelers to Austin, Texas. 

The event’s determination to continue was not looking promising when Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey canceled his keynote place at the event. Other major VC’s and Startups were pulling out and a petition on Change.org reached over 55,000 signatures to cancel the event. The event’s organizers were ordered to cancel the event just one week before it was set to take place.

Last year, the event made $355.9 million for the city of Austin. Refund policies are unclear and lost revenues are not fully accounted for. There are talks about the possibility of rescheduling the event for later in the year. 

The SXSW ordeal exemplifies just how important trade shows can be, but how the protection of public health is paramount this year. The list of events and trade shows that have been rescheduled or cancelled is growing daily. Read here for a daily update.  

Which would you prefer: an unsolicited LinkedIn message or handshake over coffee and pamphlets? 

Social media continues its rapid, upward expansion and targeted ads are getting smarter. But nothing beats a face-to-face connection in the B2B world. 

Events hold an important place in nearly any advertising budget — not the least of which are those within the hospitality market. 

Trade shows provide new opportunities for supplier relationships and events across the board facilitate networking for everyone from attendees to sponsors to host publications or associations. In fact, Bizzabo found that most marketers believe that “event marketing is the single-most effective marketing channel for achieving business goals.” This makes event marketing an essential channel in B2B going into 2020. 

Now, new data from MediaRadar supports the idea that events contribute in no small way to the marketing environment within the hospitality market. Not only that, but spending on events is up within the industry, when looking at the five biggest hospitality events. These run the gamut of interests and specializations, from technology and design to investments. They include: 

• The American Lodging Investment Summit
• Hospitality Design Expo 
• Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition & Conference
• International SPA Association Conference & Expo 
• ISSE 

The Shape of Hospitality Event Spending 

Spending on these top five hospitality events went up 17 percent between 2017 and 2018. The highest grossing event (HD Expo) brought in $26 million across those two years. Attendee fees play a part, but the lion’s share of revenue comes from event marketing in the form of sponsorship packages, booths, placements and more. 

Events are a particularly good fit for the hospitality market: hotels have a constant need for consistent suppliers, and suppliers can grow their business both buy expanding into new markets and upselling current customers. HD Expo, for example, pitched their exhibitor package by reporting that companies that purchased “enhanced marketing opportunities” at the event increased their leads by 140% in 2018. 

Hospitality groups have to source everything, so the product categories within the market span everything from furnishings to food and beverage. 

The top five product categories for 2018 were:

• Furniture: Big advertisers included RH Contract and Charter Furniture.
• Software: Oracle Hospitality and Protel made up a significant portion of software advertisers. 
• Lighting: Currey & Company, Daniolite and Pacific Coast were all among major advertisers. 
• Hair Care: Rusk and Redken were among the top spenders in this product category. 
• Wall Covering: Two of the top advertisers here included Koroseal Interior and TRI-KES.

Event marketing includes everything from program sponsorships to paid keynote addresses. But the hallmark of any exposition or conference is the vendor booth. In 2018, the most common booth size was a 10×10, followed closely by a 10×20 size booth. 

Clearly, event organizers are focused on getting as many vendors participating as possible. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use a hospitality event to build long lasting advertiser or vendor relationships. 
To learn more about event marketing done right, download our recent webinar with MediaRadar CEO Todd Krizelman and Bizzabo VP of Marketing Alon Waks. 

The word is out: events are now a major channel for B2B advertising. For most publications, it’s not a question of if. It’s a matter of how. 

For more information on events and trade shows for B2B, check out our resources on why you should host a trade show and how retail trade shows deliver value beyond the booth. 

To get into the details of how to decide on the range of booth sizes for your event or trade show, see our list of top considerations below. 

Our top two recommendations? Don’t discount by the size of the booth, and don’t fall into a ‘one-size-fits-all’ mindset. Offering varied booth sizes and premium spaces will help you create more value for your vendors and attendees. 

You’ll need some careful planning to find the winning mix of 10×10 booths, tables and lounges. 

Size of Your Event Space

The size of your venue will certainly affect which sizes you can offer. Bigger space are more expensive, but can also allow for higher paying vendors. It’s a trade off, and one you should be flexible with. Layout matters just as much as size; look at your logistics and how you want people to move throughout the space before delineating booth sizes. 

Read More: 6 Conference Venue Mistakes to Avoid 

Number of Anticipated Vendors

If you have a high number of vendors coming, fitting them all in with large booths may be an issue. On the flip side, offering smaller booths with fewer participants will make your event look skimpy. 

Attendee:Vendor Ratio 

With a lot of vendors vying for space and many attendees looking to glean value out of your event, balancing booth size can become difficult. The higher the ratio, the more varied booth options you’ll want to offer. To encourage true networking and avoid booth hopping, offer a handful of larger booths or lounges. 

Read More: 5 Basic B2B Conference Planning Tips You Can’t Skip 

Premium Spaces Available

Before offering premium spaces, be sure your event venue can handle it. Will booth spaces have to be limited, or will you have room to sprawl? 

What Vendors Buy Elsewhere 

To have a baseline to work with, first look at what size and types of booths vendors are buying at similar events. You shouldn’t copycat, but it’s good to understand budgets and preferences before even landing on your booth size options. 

Differentiation From Competitors

On the note of looking at what vendors buy, be sure your offerings bring some differentiation from competitors’ events. The last thing you want is ‘just another B2B trade show’. Instead, actively look for ways to build networking into your booth layout, translate the value of various packages to sponsors and have a booth option that truly makes you stand out. 

Read More: 5 Simple Things to Do to Facilitate Networking at Your Event 

Outside Costs

Be mindful of what participating in your event will cost your vendors — from materials to opportunity. Making your event unique is a must, but not at the expense of your sponsors. If vendors have to create entirely new materials to fit your mold, you may want to rethink what you have on offer. 

Communication

If you offer premium options (like a lounge or larger booth), be careful with how you communicate the agreement. Make sure that your vendors know exactly how big the space is and what they need to bring (versus what you will provide at the venue). On that front, be absolutely sure that you can follow through on your promised space before making the pitch. 

‘Value Added’ Work

Value added options are usually great in theory, but work as a double edged sword in event marketing. If you want to win over a particular brand, upgrading them to a larger booth the week before the event may not be the way to do it. You’ve suddenly created a huge amount of work for their marketing department as they scramble to get everything together for a lounge vs. a 10×10 booth. Instead, look for ways to add value without increasing your vendors’ workload — additional social posts, for example, or a special mention at the beginning of a breakout session. 

Networking at events and trade shows is a great way to build rapport for potentially sales-ready relationships.

Usually this means having a plentiful stock of business cards and a well polished elevator pitch.

But everyone else will be stuffing their carry on with business cards and have that tired pitch tagging along too.

How can you get ready for the event so that you’re remembered as prospects board the plane? What is the best way to follow up once everyone gets back to the office? These are our top five tips gleaned from the sales pros here at MediaRadar.

#1: Don’t forget about your current clients

Conferences are not just an opportunity to build prospects; they’re a chance to have some face time with your clients.

Successful client relationships depend on ensuring that you continue to address their business needs. While you may have your own methods for following up on this front, nothing beats an in-person meeting to show a proactive level of customer care.

Ahead of the conference, send out emails to your clients to ask if they will be attending. If they are, be sure to schedule a specific time when you can get together. This will be your chance to highlight any new offerings and tie in a timely conversation with the conference’s topics.

#2: Make use of the conference list

Use the conference list — complete with sponsors, vendors and speakers — to identify prospects you want to get in front of during the event.

Once you have a shortlist of prospects, do your research on each prospect. What has their activity looked like on LinkedIn and Twitter? What kind of media is their brand looking to buy? What efforts have been successful in the past, and how can you augment these successes for them?

Throughout this process, make sure you get organized so you have easy access to the list and relevant information.

#3: Take the time for a tailored approach

Research is one thing, and tailoring your sales approach based on the information you’ve gathered is another.

Using the shortlist you made above, ask yourself (and your sales reps) one critical question: if I get one minute in front of this prospect, what’s one thing I want to be sure that they know?

Having that piece of knowledge in the back of your head means you won’t have to completely revamp your sales pitch. Instead, you can simply plug in a specific value proposition you know will land.

Bonus: ahead of each event, spend some time reworking your elevator pitch — does it pass the “mom” test?

#4: Put that in-flight WiFi to use

During the conference, make note of who you meet and what you talk about. Make notes on the back of the business card if you have to; better yet, get organized with a spreadsheet in the hotel room.

Then, on the plane home, fire up your laptop and get cracking on those follow up connections. Send a personalized message referencing something that you talked about or something you remember about them. It’ll be waiting for them when they get back to the office.

Don’t go into sales mode with these messages. Just make the connection and leave it there for the time being. An initial “Have a good weekend” will sit much better than “Let me know how we can work together.”

#5: Schedule time for follow up  

That initial follow up message plants a seed. But you still have to water it.

The people you meet at events and conferences are real prospects if you treat them like real prospects. After you make that initial connection, schedule time in your own calendar in the following two weeks to send a follow up message with more of a value proposition. Again, don’t just copy/paste. Use your notes from both before and after the conference to be sure you’re speaking on their level.  

Conferences, trade shows and events are fantastic opportunities for prospecting — provided you put in the work. We’re not talking business cards that get forgotten in the bottom of a suitcase. We’re talking research, lists and a dedicated follow up. You’ll be glad you made the effort.

Trade shows can be valuable for advertisers and publishers alike — just see our previous piece on why you should run a trade show.

Retail trade shows in particular give ad sales teams the chance to be front and center with media buyers typically focused on the consumer or supplier. But given the rise of digital advertising and programmatic exchanges, do trade shows still hold importance for ad sales?  

The short answer is yes.

The more detailed answer? Keep reading.

Reports of Retail’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Digital advertising doesn’t negate the need for personal connection in sales and marketing — retail included. Retail trade shows remain relevant, even in the digital world.

“By attending trade shows, retailers have access to new vendors, established vendor partners and service providers that all cater to their unique retail market,” Forbes contributor Nicole Leinbach-Reyhle wrote back in 2014. Instead of jumping through all the hoops to connect with their target audience, retailers often find their audience hand delivered at trade shows.

The value has been maintained through 2019, it seems. Alexis Mera Damen at Shopify speaks to where the value in retail trade shows lies today: “Most buyers don’t make an order on the spot — especially if it’s their first interaction with you. You can use trade shows more as an opportunity to network, show your products, and meet new wholesale customers that you can follow up with later.”

The traditional use of trade shows as a means to make sales is still viable; but as digital channels have grown retail trade shows have become a way to connect face-to-face and build relationships that last.

MediaRadar Insight: The Value in Retail Trade Shows for Media Sellers

It’s clear that trade shows still hold a central role for most modern retailers. But what value does taking part — or even hosting — trade shows hold for media sellers?

MediaRadar took this question on, finding that retail trade shows hold at least as much value for ad sales as they do for retail brands — even if it’s not a perfect comparison.

As of 2018:

• The median revenue brought in from a retail event is $6.1mm. This includes both exhibitor and sponsor fees.
• 98 percent of participants (both exhibitors and sponsors) at retail trade shows also advertised in another media format in the same year.
• There was a 10 percent YoY increase in the number of participants at retail events. Not only are trade shows still relevant — they are actually growing in popularity.

Virtually all participants in a retail trade show also advertise in other media formats.

84 percent of trade show participants ran digital ads in 2018, while 53 percent ran print ads.

This makes the case for the retail trade show as a way to ‘get your foot in the door’ for a long term advertising relationship with media buyers.

What Damen pointed out for retail brands is true for media sellers as well: trade shows are a promising way to start a good advertising relationship. Of course, trade show hosts also have the benefit of bringing in revenue from the retail event itself.

Getting the Most Out of Retail Trade Shows

Trade shows are a good way to bring in revenue and adding a new way for advertisers to engage with your offerings. But just as important is the fact that retail trade shows can be a good way to build relationships with advertisers for the long term.

Whichever the case, trade shows warrant a second look by most media sellers in 2019. With MediaRadar Events, hosting companies teams can:

• Instantly see who is sponsoring events. Quickly search for brands that participate in events using the missed business and power prospecting reports.
• Easily know who is exhibiting at events. See if a specific brand values events in the Integrated Account Review.
• Get spend estimates for sponsorships. Determine how much your competition is charging their sponsors for event participation
• Calculate your share of the event market. See where you stand among your competitors and how events contribute to your market penetration.

MediaRadar Events will be released in June 2019.

Trade shows offer a boon of opportunity for those looking to get face-time with their prospects as well as the B2B companies that leverage their expertise to host them. Events provide a personalized way to advertise and connect with an audience, while at the same time allowing media companies to expand their relationships with advertisers and widen their portfolio.

Here we discuss why events remain a major part of the marketing budget of many US businesses and how trade shows can prove to be a profitable addition to what you have to offer.

Event Marketing Remains a Major Part of Budget

For companies looking to expand their reach, trade shows are a great addition to their marketing mix. This investment is a major part of budget for B2B companies. For ad sales, they translate into new and upsell opportunities. According to Bizzabo,

• Over 20 percent of marketing budgets are allocated to in person events.
• 62 percent of marketers plan to invest more in live events in 2019 than they did in 2018.
• 95 percent of marketers agree that live events provide attendees with a valuable opportunity to form in-person connections in an increasingly digital world.
• 81 percent of marketers believe that in the upcoming years, live events will become increasingly important to their organization’s success.

These statistics alone show trade shows will remain a critical element of the marketing mix for many businesses. There is growing opportunity for Trade publishers to leverage their market expertise and expand their event portfolio:

• B2B events account for $512 billion in annual spend.
• 75 percent of those that sponsor events are constantly looking for new partnerships.
• Sponsorship spending is predicted to amount to $62.8 billion, up from $60.1 billion from 2016.
• 68 percent of B2B marketers agree that live events help generate the most leads, while case studies help convert and accelerate the most leads.
• 79 percent of US marketers generate sales using event marketing.

The demand is there. Advertisers clearly use live events and trade shows in their marketing efforts — and consider it a particularly effective use of their marketing budget.

Trade Shows Help Industry Thought Leaders Leverage their Expertise

Trade show organizers have a responsibility to connect exhibitors with attendees and share their highly valued content and expertise with those attendees. According to The Trade Group, exhibitors primarily value these connections and the qualified leads they can introduce to their sales teams.

If you have a product or service that revolutionizes the way your audience can approach their work, or have a strong network of contacts that could benefit from coming together at your event, then a trade show is a perfect way to establish yourself as the thread that connects like-minded professionals. Positioning your organization as that driving force has the potential for huge return, given the power events hold in the 2019 B2B landscape.

Trade Shows are Profitable, Pure and Simple

“There are literally entire corporations founded on the economics of producing trade shows,” writes Geoff Beers at The Balance. “That should tell you just how profitable this industry can be, even if you only hold one show a year.”

Attendance fees and vendor packages are not the only way to create revenue through a trade show. You can also offer sponsorship packages, complete with messaging and positioning for the brand. “Most sponsor packages include signage placement around the show, premium booth positioning, and the option for sponsors to engage with attendees through the use of free samples or intercom messages,” writes Beers. “The key to landing lucrative sponsorship deals is to make sure the brand is offered exclusive exposure that cannot be found through other types of advertising.”

You Can Use Trade Shows to Widen Your Portfolio and Audience

Event marketing is popular and profitable — and you should do everything you can do take advantage of that happy confluence. According to event marketing company GES, “Trade shows are evolving from traditional networking events into immersive experiences that excite the consumer.” Adding trade shows to your advertising offerings should reflect this new opportunity for engagement.

But to do so effectively, you need the right information. With good intel on who invests in event marketing and why, you can take a strategic approach to hosting a trade show or any other event.

With MediaRadar Events, hosting companies teams can:

• Instantly see who is sponsoring events. Quickly search for brands that participate in events using the missed business and power prospecting reports.
• Easily know who is exhibiting at events. See if a specific brand values events in the Integrated Account Review.
• Get spend estimates for sponsorships. Determine how much your competition is charging their sponsors for event participation
• Calculate your share of the event market. See where you stand among your competitors and how events contribute to your market penetration.

For more information, schedule a demo today!