Three Common Elements of ROI

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Trade Show Bob

often encounter fellow exhibitors who are totally perplexed by the challenge of figuring out their ROI. Most times, they know exactly how much they've spent, but are stumped when it comes to calculating the value they've received.

To these folks, I'd suggest that there at least three (and probably more) ways to calculate ROI that are common to every single trade show, or at least every single trade show I've ever encountered in my admittedly limited experience.

Before I share these, let me say that there are many additional (and quite creative ways) to predict future revenue or future desired results, but these vary by industry and circumstance. The methods below can (and should) be used by virtually all exhibitors (I'm sure there's some exceptions out there) to begin their ROI calculations. Further, each method is cumulative, and the results can be added together to arrive at a final ROI. This is not an either/or situation.

These three methods will work regardless of what you're selling, what agenda you're pushing, or how long or short your sales cycle is.

1. Brand Impressions. Simply by setting up an exhibit you make a brand statement that people see, whether they stop and talk to you or not. These impressions provide tangible value as real as the impressions you pay for when buying advertising space. Now, all you have to do is figure out how many people look at your exhibit, and an objective way to measure it. Here's one simple method that I learned from Exhibit Surveys Inc.

I call this "Adjacent Aisle Tallying", and it works like this:

Each exhibit has adjacent aisle space made up of 10-by-10-foot squares (usually aisles are 10 feet wide, but if your show is different, then adjust the numbers accordingly).

If you're a 10-by-10 exhibitor, you have one such space in front of your exhibit. If you have a 20-by-20-foot island, you have eight of them (I don't count the corners).

Randomly select a five-minute time period during each hour the show is open. For example, you might select 10:40-10:45; then 11:15-11:20; then 12:00-12:05; etc. You need to do this to insure as much fairness and accuracy, averaging the good times with the bad.

Next, select which "square" you will observe during each time period. Again, mix it up and try to get a representative sample of all areas surrounding your exhibit.

Then, during the time interval and square selected, simply watch and tally both the gross traffic, and those who you think have "glanced a look" at your exhibit.

Finally, at the end of the show, calculate your impressions as follows: Multiply the number of tallies times the number of squares times 12 (there are 12 five-minute time periods per hour).

The result for each tally period is an estimate of the number of impressions you made that hour. Add up each result and you have the cumulative impressions you made at the show.

For dollar value comparison, use the show's most popular media publication as the basis for determining the value per impression (assuming you bought print advertising instead of exhibiting) and calculate your value of having a branded exhibit on the trade show floor.

2. Media Coverage Equivalencies. My industry colleague Jefferson Davis has often pointed out that "advertising is what you pay for. Publicity is what you pray for." Pre-, at-, and post-show media coverage also has real, tangible value. Whenever I manage an exhibit, one major goal is to try to get key trade editors to come by our exhibit, so we could show them our cool stuff. If they found it interesting or newsworthy, they sometimes wrote articles including our company name and other informational tidbits.

Simply by watching for these press mentions before, during, and after the show, we measured the amount of space devoted to our mentions. Then we simply applied the going rate for equivalent advertising space in the publication (either on line or in print). It's another easy way to show the value you're creating at the show. And remember that in today's world of social media and blogs, there's value in tracking media coverage across all appropriate platforms.

3. Travel and Personnel Expense Savings. Many companies think that sending people to trade shows is a very expensive "boondoggle." Yet by doing a few simple things, you can prove just the opposite.
Find the person in your company who processes the field sales force's expense reports.
Ask them what the average expenses are for a typical business trip involving conversations or presentations similar to what you might do in your exhibit at a show.
Then ask your sales director, "Typically, how many clients do the sales people see when they travel, per trip?"
From this information, calculate the cost of a "field sales presentation" for your company.
Then, while at the show, count up all the face-to-face meetings your people are involved in, whether they involve customers, suppliers, or even just internal-only meetings.
Add these all up, along with the actual cost of T&E for the show, and you'll see that it's way more efficient to hold all these meetings at a trade show, on one plane ticket, instead of one-at-a-time via dozens or even hundreds of individual trips.
These cost savings are real, tangible revenue that you have saved the company from spending.
The sum of these three measures can be added to whatever you calculate as your future projected revenue to get a more accurate picture of what your show efforts have generated. In fact, you might find that these three alone will offset the cost of your entire exhibit.

Bob Milam, independent industry consultant, is a former EXHIBITOR Editorial Advisory Board member and a past All-Star Award winner, and a current EXHIBITOR Conference faculty member. tradeshowbob@gmail.com