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Face to face trade shows are increasingly favored by B2B marketers

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By Laurie Fullerton, Freelance Writer

July 18, 2016 | 2 min read

While B2B marketers are juggling an onslaught of digital campaigns seeking customer connections through numerous online channels, a 40 per cent increase of brand marketers participating in trade shows/exhibitions than in previous years indicates that real-time interaction is on the rise.

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Co-sponsored by experience creation shop Group Delphi, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) 2016 study reveals this week that face-to-face marketing persists as a key brand and sales driver for B2B businesses.

Additionally, the nationwide study suggests that 80 per cent of marketers believe that they can build or expand brand awareness in this way.

"It's no surprise to us that even as digital continues to take hold, brands place an even greater emphasis on the distinct value that the face-to-face experience brings in driving brand awareness, affinity and consideration," commented Justin Hersh, Group Delphi chief executive officer.

For B2B marketers with products or services to market, the study found that 76 per cent of executives surveyed agree that exhibitions support relationship management and engagement of existing customers with 63 per cent saying that exhibitions help cultivate relationships and feed the sales funnel with new potential customers. Additionally, the value companies place on business-to-business exhibitions as a way to support companies' most urgent marketing and sales objectives cannot be underestimated.

The strong year-on-year growth in the building, construction, home and repair (HM), communications and information technology (IT), food (FD), government (GV) and transportation (TX) sectors more than offset the weakness in the industrial/heavy machinery and finished business inputs (ID) and raw materials and science (RM) sectors.

“The exhibition industry continues to show steady and consistent performance,” said CEIR President & CEO Brian Casey, CEM.

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