Marketing strategy hybrid trade fairs: The planning and organization of hybrid trade fairs 4.0 – Hybrid = Virtual & Reality

Trade shows are a traditional marketing strategy used by companies to showcase their latest products and connect with other companies, customers and potential partners in the industry. By participating in event marketing formats such as trade fairs, many companies want to increase awareness of their brand and promote sales. Other common marketing goals include driving customer loyalty, improving product knowledge, and introducing new products. Although trade shows and other in-person promotional events have faced strong competition from digital marketing channels in recent years, they remain among the most profitable business-to-business (B2B) media strategies around the world. In 2019, the global B2B trade fair market was valued at $34.4 billion, and by 2023 this number is expected to exceed 40 billion.

Interestingly, while the trade show industry is largest in the United States, the largest trade show organizers tend to be European companies. The United States hosts a significant number of trade fairs worldwide. In 2019, the U.S. trade show industry generated over $15.7 billion in revenue, accounting for nearly half of total global revenue. When it comes to sales, nearly half of U.S. trade show revenue comes from registrations, with another quarter coming from exhibit sales.

Thanks to digital innovation, immersive offerings, and an overall focus on entertainment, the U.S. trade show industry has seen annual revenue growth for several decades . Considering that trade shows have often been described as outdated in the past, these moves have certainly helped revitalize this marketing format and transform traditional networking events into unique experiences.

Depending on the event, the number of exhibitors at major trade fairs in the USA has either remained stable or increased in recent years. When asked about attendance in 2019, few industry experts noted a decline in exhibitor and visitor numbers at U.S. conventions. Although reaching target audiences was cited as the biggest challenge in increasing trade show attendance, the majority of exhibitors were confident about future trade show results in 2019, and this optimism was also reflected in companies' marketing budgets.

However, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, marketers and exhibitors across the United States were forced to rethink their budgets and sales forecasts in early 2020. Around 66 percent of the US organizers surveyed decided to postpone trade fairs and congresses in view of the pandemic. In comparison, around 87 percent of organizers canceled their events completely.

In order to recover from the radical decline in trade fair attendance and revenue in the first quarter of 2020, many industry representatives shifted their event budgets to digital channels and began holding virtual events.

When and how visitors will be able to attend trade shows in person again remains to be seen, as the future of the exhibition, convention and meetings industry remains uncertain – in the United States and worldwide.

Trade show and event marketing – PDF Download

According to a June 2021 study, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) was the most important issue for the global exhibition industry. Around 29 percent of respondents cited the pandemic as the main problem, which is unchanged from December 2020. Economic questions followed in second and third place: 19 percent of those surveyed named the economy in the home market and 15 percent named global economic development as the second and third most important problem for the industry.

The trade fair industry

The trade fair industry is a fairly broad term that includes all organized events for the presentation or exhibition of a selection of items. At one end of the spectrum are public exhibitions of art or history in a gallery or museum, and at the other end are trade fairs in which goods and services from a specific industry are presented only to invited guests. Despite the differences, both sides of the industry are business-oriented - the most popular art exhibitions can attract more than a million visitors, while the exhibition industry generated over $30 billion in global sales in 2016.

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In many ways, the challenges for the exhibition industry are more complex than those for art and history exhibitions, as the range of exhibits for the latter is limited. Technological developments such as digital advertising and social media can reduce the need for physical trade shows to raise awareness of products - although these two aspects are not mutually exclusive, as the Internet can also be used to promote exhibitions. The personal nature of trade fairs also offers a unique networking opportunity. Interestingly, while the trade show industry is largest in the United States, the largest trade show organizers tend to be European companies.

Suitable for:

• Background knowledge about Pocket Booth and 3D product presentations: Product photo 4.0 / Product image 4.0

According to a ranking of the largest exhibition halls worldwide in 2019, based on hall capacity, the Hanover Exhibition Center was the third largest in the world with a gross capacity of 392,453 square meters.

Some of the largest exhibition halls in the world are located in Germany, including the exhibition centers in Cologne and Düsseldorf. However, in the top three largest exhibition halls in 2018 are the exhibition center in Hanover with 392,453 square meters and the main exhibition center in Frankfurt with 393,838 square meters. The exhibition center in Hanover consists of covered and open spaces, 27 halls and pavilions as well as a congress center. The Hanover Fair, export trade fair in 1947, was organized by the British military government as a trade fair. The Hannover Messe still takes place today and is one of the largest industrial trade fairs in the world with almost 7,000 exhibitors and 250,000 visitors every year.

However, the world's leading trade fair organizer in 2018 was not a German company, but a British company. The British event organizer Reed Exhibitions generated sales of 1.35 billion euros in 2018. Reed Exhibitions typically organizes B2B events focused on industries such as aerospace, beauty and cosmetics, healthcare and marketing, and dozens of other markets.

In the United States, the International CES is the largest trade show in the country with a total area of ​​2.8 million square meters. The International CES, held in Las Vegas, is a consumer electronics trade show showcasing advances in the global technology market. Among exhibitors and marketers in the United States, 43 percent expressed optimism about the effectiveness of trade shows as a marketing medium in 2020. However, that was before the coronavirus outbreak and its negative impact on the industry.

According to recent calculations, the B2B trade show market in the United States was worth $15.58 billion in 2019. Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the industry was forecast to decline sharply to $5.6 billion in 2020.

In early 2020, following the outbreak of Covid-19, industries that do not rely on digital presence came to a standstill. Both event planners and vendors expected their revenue to drop by 50 to 75 percent due to the outbreak, and industry representatives canceled their planned events for the year. Trade show marketers have had to adapt quickly to profit at least a little this year. And so B2B marketers immediately moved to replace some of the planned live events with webinars to engage customers online. The potential loss of customers was quite high, as the majority of conventions and exhibitions in the USA had visitor numbers between 200 and 2,500. To make online events as engaging as in-person conferences, B2B marketers used interactive features, chats, and live streaming in their webinars. All in all, it remains to be seen what the future of trade fairs holds, but analysts are sure that a hybrid solution consisting of online and offline event functions could be the best option in the near future.

In the United States, spending on marketing services dedicated to telemarketing reached $61.4 billion in 2020. Every year, the majority of marketing services spending is on sales promotion. Overall, spending reached $244.7 billion in 2020.

Companies that want to market their products or services face the choice of either building a marketing team within their corporate structure or hiring external contractors to handle the marketing activities for them. There is also a third option – to do both. Recent data shows this is the most popular option, with most B2B companies opting for a mix of in-house and outsourced marketing teams.

Marketing outsourcing during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)

During the early stages of the pandemic, many companies had to make quick financial decisions to minimize the potential losses caused by the decline in business. Contrary to expectations, budget cuts in outsourcing spending were not as large as one might have expected. For example, while some CMOs noted a significant decline in outsourcing marketing activities, the majority of marketers said there were no visible changes in this regard, suggesting that outsourcing was not the priority savings for industry representatives at the time.