Business functions
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Of all the marketing instruments, trade fairs have by far and away the broadest
range of functions: they serve the development and the cultivation of customer
relations, the search for partners and personnel as well as the positioning of
the entire company. Trade fairs are test markets for new products and thus also
market research instruments. Trade fairs also serve to increase the level of
awareness of the own company, to analyze the competitive situation and to
prepare the sale of products and services. For young companies, in particular,
it is important to have the opportunity to gain an overview of the competition,
their presentation and their products. For this purpose, at an early stage of
opening up a market, a visit to a trade fair can be sufficient.
Customer cultivation / Customer acquisition
In business, the development of long-term customer relationships is taking the
place of short-term thinking in individual transactions. Such links in the
sense of relation management can be achieved particularly effectively through
trade fairs, with which the customers are bound through quality standards that
have proved themselves over many years as with a branded good. Trade fairs
offer an ideal communication platform for the effective direct customer
contact. The sales benefits for the exhibiting companies result from the
contact opportunities with a powerful national and international buying
clientele which extends well beyond the own circle of customers. As a result,
frequently new additional markets are opened up.
According to a study commissioned by AUMA, one-third of the visitors at German trade fairs are first-time guests at the respective event.
Foreign visitors are particularly frequently first-time visitors:
Almost every second foreign trade fair visitor (49 %) is present for the first time, among the domestic visitors the figures is one in three (32 %). Exhibitors, therefore, have excellent opportunities to win new customers by participating at a trade fair.
Presentation of new products, technologies and services
Especially as a result of their temporal and spatial concentration, trade fairs
are perceived as events which make the many different sector trends visible and
due to the spatial proximity of the respective competitors virtually demand
that innovations are offered. Trade fairs are test markets for the acceptance
of products ready for the market as well as for prototypes and design studies.
In particular, smaller and medium-sized companies benefit from a trade fair,
because their innovations attract more interest in the spotlight of a trade
fair than otherwise.
Almost 90 % of the exhibitiors at German trade fairs want to present innovations; only the winning of new customers and the increase of the awareness of companies and products (92% and 90%) is more important for the exhibitiors.
Platforms for founders of new business
Newly-founded companies need contacts to potential customers, sales and service partners and platforms for the public presentation of their products and their company. They can achieve all this directly by participating at a trade fair. That is why 70% of the companies which have not been on the market for more than 4 years, believe that trade fairs are important or very important for their business-to-business communication. On average, these young companies already organize almost 4 trade fair participations within 2 years.
Image improvement / media effect
Through attractive company and product information as well as competent
communication, exhibiting companies strengthen their image among the visitors,
but also among the wider trade public, because trade fairs are events with a
powerful media effect. They are occasions that are widely used by the daily and
trade press for intensive sector reporting. The topical media make use of trade
fairs for reports on the situation in the sector and company reports; the trade
press reports extensively on the exhibited products and design innovations.
Benchmarking
Due to the fact that during the trade fair the competitors present themselves
to visitors in close proximity to each other, a unique competitive situation is
created. The trade fair participation strengthens the consideration of the
quality of own products and services and those of competitors. The trade fair
is, therefore, within the sector, the classic instrument for benchmarking among
competitors.
Employee motivation / employee recruitment
Trade fairs represent a challenge in terms of logistics and planning for all
concerned within the company, since their dates cannot be shifted. They thus
create a powerful motivation for the achievement of company objectives.
Surrounded by an impressive trade fair stand, employees of exhibiting companies
often feel motivated in a special way, to make contacts with customers and
examine the competitive environment. In addition, trade fairs provide the
exhibitors with the opportunity to meet potential new employees. Through the
direct personal contact, the exhibitor can immediately obtain an initial idea
as to whether the person would fit into the company. The arrangement of
appointments for an initial personal interview as well as the associated costs
become superfluous.
Personal communication
The direct conversation between business partners and the joint experience
generate trust and sustainability. At the trade fair the customer can
extensively check out function and design, and pose his questions about them
directly, explain his individual requirements and be provided with the
appropriate counselling. The flow of information is channelled through a
process of selection. As a kind of basic supply for the provision of permanent,
general information, the Internet provides support for trade fair preparation
and follow-up. The personal, trust-building communication cannot be replaced by
this.
Emotional approach
Trade fairs are events for the senses: buyers want to assess product quality
with all their senses. They want to see machines in action, feel fabrics and
taste foods. At the same time, in marketing the emotional approach to the
consumer is becoming increasingly important. These functions cannot be
satisfied as effectively as by trade fairs by any other communications
instrument. Therefore, even in the online age, trade fairs will continue to
retain their leading position in the area of emotional product relations.
update 1/2010
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