Sema Trade Shows

Chapter 11 Trade Show Presentation:

SEMA

Chapter 11 discusses Communicating via Advertising, Trade Shows, and PR. The biggest part of the marketing communication budget is devoted to advertising. Advertising can reach many people with a small amount of money compared to the exposure rate. The best way for some companies to advertise to other businesses is Trade Shows.

Trade Show Marketing, or exhibition marketing is an exciting industry because of the complexity of trade show plans, the traveling to exotic locations, and the different situations thrown at you ate different venues. Trade shows are important because they rank second only to advertising in terms of marketing communication. Buyers are more and more depending on trade shows over the years. As an example SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association), a car trade show grows 5% every year. It helps maintain the $250 billion industry. Trade shows can provide an opportunity for dialogue, and they reach buyers that salespeople have not. They help meet potentially new customers, opportunity to strengthen customer relationships and most importantly create sales.

Show selection is a primary responsibility of an exhibit manager. They have to figure out the expected audience at the show, type of show, and cost. Like advertising, the choice must be made on the basis of cost per exposure. There are two measurements that can be useful in predicting the number of prospects at the show, net buying influences and total buying plans. Net buying influences is the percentage of show audience that has influence in the buying process for the specific product. Total buying plans is the percentage of the audience planning to buy the product within the next 12 months. There are two types of shows, vertical and horizontal. Vertical shows focus on one industry or profession and horizontal shows are shows that include many industries and professions.

When a show is selected, there are three sets of activities, pre show promotion, show management, and post show follow-up. Pre show promotion activities are direct mail and invitations. The show management