Dynamic Business

Thousands of trade shows happen around the world every year; here’s how to find the right one for your business and make it worth your while.

Trade shows remain a popular way to reach international markets, offering qualified foot traffic in a three-dimensional space. Businesses can also provide experiences for all five senses and interact with potential buyers. However, it’s not enough to set up a booth and fill it with product.

Exhibiting at a trade show involves a significant marketing outlay, so it’s surprising to learn that a lot of businesses don’t know why they are there. Colin Green, managing director of Best of Show, an exhibition strategy consultancy, says exporters should list at least three strong objectives for exhibiting at the show. “You have to be specific—’I want so many leads’ or ‘I want to be sure that so many people got my branding’—so you have the measurement. You also have to be realistic, and accountable for you and your staff as well,” he explains. “When you’re at the other end of the show and you ask ‘was it successful?’ you’ll know.”

Identifying a target market will help exporters choose the most appropriate trade show, and it may be a different market overseas compared with your domestic market. Trade journals, associations, government departments, existing customers, and the internet provide information on upcoming shows so once you have a shortlist, you should compare show demographics with your target market, advises Green.

“Have a look at all the media the show is using to promote itself. Have a look at the target market of those publications so you can make sure the market that is being drawn equates to your target market,” he says. “If they’re not drawing the target market you want, it’s the wrong show.”

Rhonda McSweeney, executive general manager for corporate sales at FCm Travel Solutions, adds that you need to be strategic about the event by thinking of it as an investment. “You need to identify the trade shows that will offer the right audience for your business, have a good profile, attendance and the opportunities to really leverage your spend,” she says. “Decide what level of investment you want to make and focus on the events that will optimise the deliverables of this investment.”

Sponsoring the show could also extend your investment by delivering added benefits. “Sponsorship may give you speaking opportunities, signage or branded merchandise, internet promotions, advertisements and external publicity opportunities,” says McSweeney. “Companies may be able to leverage sponsorship deals to ensure their display booth is located in a prominent position; it may also give you access to the organiser’s database, which you can use to network before, during and after an event.”

Plan, plan, plan
It’s an oft-repeated saying, but if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, and this goes for exhibiting says Lea Rushton, manager for events and exhibition at Austrade. Most businesses plan at least six months out from the event, some up to a year out. The planning period should incorporate everything from the design and production of a booth to allocating resources, organising travel and logistics, and scheduling meetings.

For SMEs in particular, Rushton advises nominating at least one person to do most of the coordination. “If it’s happening in an ad hoc way, something will fall through the cracks. If someone has good organising skills and good attention to detail, take some other tasks away from that person so they can concentrate on project management,” she says.

Another vital part of planning is budgeting. Rushton recommends new exhibitors talk to previous exhibitors about what’s involved to find the ‘hidden’ costs. “It’s not just about booking your space, your flights and accommodation; they’re expensive, but there are many incidental costs,” she explains. “If you’re going to prepare new marketing collateral to fit your audience, there’s a cost for that preparation, design and printing, and the cost of freighting it over.”

Exhibitors also underestimate the cost of hospitality, notes Rushton. “If you’ve encouraged customers to come to the show, you need to talk hospitality: do you have to pay to get them into the exhibit? The cost of taking people out and networking with them can be quite expensive.”

Logistics is a necessity, and this is where many exhibitors make mistakes. One is using a courier instead of a freight forwarder. “Exhibitions have rules around the delivery of freight and some are much tighter than others. If you’re exhibiting in the USA, for example, you generally have to use the freight forwarders they recommend,” explains Rushton. “Some people may want to cut costs and go with a courier, but the courier won’t always be able to deliver within the delivery time window, they might not be allowed on site.”

Reading the exhibition manual is therefore a critical part of logistics planning, she emphasises.

Businesses also often forget about the customs and duties involved in moving material around the world. On behalf of stage and screen specialists Australian Touring Services (ATS Logistics), a brand partner of FCm, McSweeney notes that businesses need to think about what will go to the show—and what will come back.
“Businesses should draft two lists—one for consumables and one for returnables. Consumables include items such as leaflets, t-shirts and anything you would hand out. Returnables are the items you will bring back with you. By doing this, import duty and taxes will only be raised against the consumable items,” she explains.
A ‘carnet’ allows the temporary import of goods into a country, covering returnables such as booth material. To create a carnet, businesses need a description of the freight, serial number or identifying marks, value and country of origin.

Also consider freight scheduling to make sure your shipment reaches the show on time. A freight forwarder will help you negotiate government bureaucracy in getting your property in and out of the country.

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