Why Trade Fairs Are essential For Export Marketing
Trade fair is a rather expensive marketing channel. Besides, substantial monetary investment, one should straighten out considerable logistics challenges. If you're taking part in overseas trade fairs, challenges are manifold for example visa clearance, sorting language barrier, on-site trade promotion etc.
Even after attending to all these troubles and spending considerable sum of money - you are still not sure what type of go back to expect on investment. Naturally, you might expect interest in trade fairs to diminish with time.
However, what we see on ground is simply opposite - trade fairs are becoming ever more popular around the globe.
In the united states alone, approximately 9,000 industry events or fairs attract over Sixty five million visitors per year. The Canton fair in China is really a legend. Ministry of Commerce (China) has been organizing this fair since 1957 and it is one among the most successful trade event all over the world. Spread over an area of 630,000 square meter, 15,000 exhibitors using their 41,000 stands display over 150,000 varieties of products to visitors from over 203 countries.
Trade fair is quite well-liked by Indian manufacturers and exporters - a well known fact evident from resounding success of Indian Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) who organizes a lot more than 50 trade fairs and exhibitions each year.
Why Trade Fairs are extremely Important?
Market research conducted by the Emnid Institute (Germany) during October' 2004 with respect to AUMA (Ausstellungs- und Messe-Ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft) asked 500 companies to rate the significance of communication tools in their communication mix using a scale ranging from 1 = extremely important to five = totally unimportant. Following may be the result of this survey:
1. Trade Fair / Exhibitions 76%
2. Personal Sales / Field Service 75%
3. Direct mailing 62%
4. Advertising in Trade Magazines 59%
5. Public Relations 43%
6. Events 39%
7. Internet marketing 39%
The reason behind such popularity of Trade Fairs is not far to find. Ask any marketing guru what he/she considers the most crucial elements of any marketing drive and the answer will be
Ability to achieve right target group
Ability to pitch right products to right buyers
Opportunity to have interaction with actual buyers one-to-one and obtain feedback
Opportunity for Brand Building and PR exercise
Trade Fair - with all of its accompanying difficulties and dear nature - fulfills each one of these marketing goals. In specific terms - a properly organized trade event delivers following benefits
Business prospecting - from buyers, distributors, agents
Market Intelligence - get competitor insights, market trends, innovation previews
PR Exposure - media, speaking opportunities, in-show awards
Opportunity to have interaction with assorted providers, industry associations, logistics partners, marketing channels etc.
Understanding how a trade fair suits your overall market technique is key to working out specific benefits your product/company needs and choose matching industry events and display media.
Trade Fair as Communication Tool
When it comes to effectiveness (range) and efficiency, trade fairs would be the communication tool of preference because they allow companies to interact with customers one-to-one and collect live market feedback.
Trade fair represents physical world - a replica of actual market within an simple to handle form. It brings representatives in the supply and demand sides of an industry together on same platform for a limited period of time. It gives participants comprehensive market information and serves as a platform for business contacts.
At the same time, trade fairs allow companies to use complete selection of marketing tools that they have available. Instruments that promote sales - referred to as marketing mix - associated with product, price, distribution and communication policy. When a company participates inside a trade fair, all of these areas are simultaneously activated and focused on specific target groups.
Should You Participate or Just Attend?
This is a very crucial question watch must address. If you're making initial forays inside a target market and your main objective would be to understand market dynamics, then simple attendance could be the right choice. Regardless, it is most sensible to attend a trade fair several times before choosing to participate. There are many trade fairs directory that will help you locate right fairs for your products.
However, if you already have some presence in a target market and intend to consolidate the forex market presence with increased customers, agents, distributors, PR media etc. - then participation may yield rich dividend.
For example, for those who have several customers inside a target country, who're geographically dispersed - participation in a trade show can be a cost effective option when you are not just demonstrating commitment to the market, raising your profile and enjoying other advantages of exhibiting, but you are also potentially saving time and cash from having to fly all over the country to meet your customers within their home territory.
