PROGRAM MEASUREMENT
 My company’s trade show goals relate to awareness and education rather than sales. So what can I measure to prove the value of my program when we’re not gathering leads?
 Whether or not your company has sales-related objectives, education and awareness are viable goals that can be tracked via several measurement strategies. Here are two of the easiest and most economical ways to measure the effectiveness of your program when you’re not gathering leads or tracking sales.
1. Unpaid Media Coverage — If your exhibit activities, promotions, and/or products and services are newsworthy, you might score free media coverage, which almost surely satisfies awareness- and education-related goals. Be it print, broadcast, electronic, or some other form of delivery, media coverage can be measured by the number of impressions it generates and then assigned a dollar value.
But before you can measure such coverage, you have to become aware of it. Ask exhibit staffers to track which members of the press stop by the booth or talk to them at the show. Then follow up with each journalist after the show to determine if you received any coverage. Also ask show management for a list of journalists attending the show and monitor their publications during the show and for several months thereafter to see if your exhibit made it into their at- or post-show coverage.
Once you know which media outlets have covered your exhibit, activity, or product, contact the media source to get the price of advertising in that medium as well as the gross impressions likely associated with that exposure. Most media outlets can tell you the gross viewer impressions for selected issues or time slots, and most can even break down the demographics for you. Then, if your product received roughly half a page of coverage in a monthly magazine, for example, determine how much a half-page ad costs in that particular medium. This figure is the dollar equivalent of the free media coverage generated by your exhibit program.
However, the Public Relations Society of America recommends that you multiply that dollar equivalent by 2.5 to address the credibility factor of non-advertisement coverage. In other words, media coverage that is not prompted by a paid advertisement conveys a higher influence on consumers than paid placements — i.e. consumers perceive it to be more credible than paid advertising. Thus, according to the PRSA, nonpaid coverage is 2.5 times more valuable than paid advertising.
2. Presentations, Educational Materials, and Premiums — Another way to measure your exhibit’s effectiveness is to track the quantity of educational materials (product literature, CDs, memory sticks, etc.) distributed in your exhibit and the number of branded specialty items handed out. Granted, many of these items will end up in the trash bin either immediately or eventually after the show. But if you distribute these items to qualified booth visitors after you’ve imparted an education-related message, you’re also generating awareness.
Also be sure to count the number of people who witness in-booth presentations, including everything from one-on-one demos to theater-style presentations. Any time you’ve captured attendees’ attention long enough to deliver a presentation or a demo, you’re likely generating awareness and providing education. And be sure to count the number of people standing around a presentation, not just those seated in your theater, as standing attendees are usually just as engaged as those that are seated, provided they don’t walk off in the middle of the presentation.
Aside from some time and planning, these two simple strategies won’t cost you a thing. Used properly, they’ll help you validate your program and provide some hard and fast numbers to track your exhibit program’s effectiveness.
— E. Jane Lorimer, managing director, Lorimer Consulting Group, Denver
COST CUTTING
I need to cut exhibiting costs, but I don’t want to eliminate entire line items. How can I trim the fat with smart thinking rather than eliminating elements?
You don’t have to eliminate entire line items in order to trim your exhibiting budget. Instead, you can often decrease costs with careful planning and negotiation. Here are a few ideas to get your wheels turning.
Start by analyzing and reducing third-party markups. Unless you’re dealing directly with each supplier involved in your exhibit-marketing program, ask your third-party vendors how much they’re marking up your bill for other vendors’ services.
For example, according to a recent study by the Exhibit Designers and Producers Association, average exhibit-house markups on everything from transportation to installation-and-dismantle labor range from 28 to 76 percent. If you’re having a hard time making ends meet, ask your suppliers to reduce the markups, or simply buy directly from each supplier rather than through a third party. Granted, buying direct may cost extra time, but when funds are scarce, you might have more time than money.
Along these same lines, investigate the costs to pay large supplier fees upfront rather than over time. Suppliers often will offer you a discount if you can pay in a lump sum instead of paying individual installments.
Also, don’t limit your analysis to your supplier. Consider your internal assets — including everything from your products and services to your executives — and look for ways to barter their use in exchange for exhibit-marketing necessities. For example, negotiate with show management to have your CEO offer a keynote address at the show in exchange for a free or discounted booth space. Or trade educational sessions offered by your company’s employees for free or discounted show sponsorships.
Cutting costs doesn’t have to mean eliminating entire exhibit elements. With smart planning, negotiation, and bartering, you can cut costs without negatively impacting your program.
— Thom Walker, vice president of special projects, Winntech, Kansas City, MO
PROGRAM MEASUREMENT
I know it’s a bad thing based on the context of many conversations, but what does the term “Greenwashing” really mean?
The term “Greenwashing” is a combination of the word “Green,” as in being somehow environmentally acceptable or beneficial, and “whitewashing,” meaning to gloss over or conceal faults. Thus, as defined by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing Inc., Greenwashing is “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.”
In some cases, companies deliberately set out to mislead the public with erroneous claims about their Green initiatives, practices, or products. But in other instances, a company may offer a truly Green product or service, or it may have made Green strides in a particular area of its operations, but its public-relations efforts lead people to believe that the entire company or all of its practices or products are Green.
For more information on Greenwashing, read TerraChoice’s study, “The Six Sins of Greenwashing,” at www.TerraChoice.com .
— EXHIBITOR Staff
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