Atten Dtren D

Atten dTren d ® 2005 Update Key Elements of Successful Marketing Plans

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

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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

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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

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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

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Key Findings

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

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Exhibition Industry Report Card Since the 2003 benchmark study, exhibition industry attendance can be characterized as becoming:

(Attendance) 70%

60%

2003 2004 2005 Independent Total

61% 60%

50%

40%

43% 30%

- More stable in 2003 - Recovering in 2004 - Continuing to grow through 2005

33%

31%

28% 20%

26%

10%

24%

64%

12%

6%

12%

0%

Growing

Same

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

Declining

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Location Of Events [Independent Shows]

98%

100%

100%

96%

80% 60% 40% 20%

14%

10% 8%

25%

13%

14%

0%

2003

2004

United States International Canada

2005

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

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

2003 2004 2005

50%

39% 36%

40%

32% 28%

30%

20%

32% 28%

14%

25%

15% 15%

10%

16%

14%

18%

28%

24%

25k - 49.9k

50k - 99.9

100k - 249.9k

250k >

0%

<25k

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

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Marketing Challenges [Independent Shows] 2004

2005

1- Reaching VIP’s/power buyers

1- Increasing first-time attendees

2- Increasing international attendees

2- Increasing international 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

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Internal Operations Challenges [Independent Shows]

Improving ROI in marketing

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

(2004)

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Emphasis Placed on Internal Marketing Issues [Independent Shows] 2005 Growing Shows (Mean 5 high)

2005 Shrinking shows

4.25

3.23

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 magazine publishers

3.35

2.67

Better cooperation from exhibitors

3.33

2.67

Better e-marketing

3.26

3.00

Better outside expertise

2.91

2.67

Better understanding of attendees/audience research

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

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Marketing/Promotion Spending [Independent Shows] Overall, 49% of shows indicate they have increased their marketing and promotional budgets in the past year, i.e. advertising, printing, direct mail, etc.

4% 47%

2005

49%

12%

Decreased Budget Same Budget Increased Budget

41%

2004

47%

0%

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

20%

40%

60%

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Spending by Show Growth [Independent Shows] Growing shows generally indicate they have increased their marketing budget in the past year. Shrinking shows have primarily decreased marketing budgets.

55% Shows Shrunk

43% 2%

Decreased Budget Same Budget Increased Budget

5% 38%

Shows Grown

57% -10%

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

10%

30%

50%

70%

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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

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Cost To Acquire One Attendee [Independent Shows] By: Change In Attendance $32.15 $18.10 2004

$33.05

$18.20 2005

Declining Shows

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

2002 2004

2005

Growing Shows

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How do these all fit together? E-mail Marketing

Telemarketing

PR

Direct Mail

Special Promotions

Marketing Plan Discounts

Exhibitor Promotions

Relationship Marketing DB Marketing

Research

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

Web Advertising 16

Marketing Vehicles Being Used [Independent Shows] 2005 Growing Shows

2005 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

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Marketing Mix Used By Organizers [Independent Shows] The emphasis which growing shows place on specifically directed, special programs is much higher than that of declining shows.

96% 98%

89%

95% 91% 83%

60%

65% 55%

30%

Relationship Marketing Progams

Exhibitor Sponsored Promotions

Direct mail

Growing Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

e-Marketing

Targeted Marketing

Declining 18

Relationship Marketing Programs [Independent Shows] Cheaper Reg. Money-back Guarantee Concierge Travel & lodging points

26% 18% 36%

Shrinking Shows

29%

Education Creds Team Meeting Space VIP Services Matching Services Orientation Coupon Specials Co-Located Shows

Growing Shows

33%

67%

64%

32%

56% 46%

36%

62% 8%

39%

60%

42%

56%

47%

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

67%

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Start Of Pre-Show Marketing 53%

36%

2003 2004 2005

39% 31%

32% 15%

10%

13%

20%

11%

7%

18+ months

10%

5% 12+ months

6+ months

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

3+ months

11%

7% 1+ months

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Start Of Pre-Show Marketing

(Industry Wide Growing & Shrinking Shows) 47%

Growing 43%

Shrinking 35%

15%

15%

15%

9% 8%

18+ months

9%

12+ months

6+ months

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

3+ months

4% 1+ months

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Best Promise To Motivate Attendance 71%

68%

48% 41%

24% s

w Ne

Le

ng i n ar

41% 14%

ing 8% k r o n w o t ti 10% Ne ca u s d E er pli p rs u lie ts p n p nts rre su u u o w C c Ne Dis

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

23% 8% 2004

2005

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

78%

To communicate with attendees and produce preregistrations

78%

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

74%

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

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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

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E-mail Tracking Tools Used 60%

55%

50% 40%

33%

30%

19%

18%

20%

6% 10% 0%

Web traffic Web traffic reports (Inreports house) (External)

E-mail analytics reports (External)

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

Other

Don't track responses

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Use of Blogs in Marketing 8%

Shrinking Shows

18%

Use Blogs

Plan to use Blogs

19%

Growing Shows

0%

5%

10%

14%

15%

Attend Trend 2005 - SISO

20%

25%

30%

35%

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Key Learnings

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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

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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

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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

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Attend Tren d ® 2005 Update

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