Organizers of Growing Tradeshows Exploiting E-mail
Organizers of growing tradeshows more likely to use e-mail for attendance acquisition than organizers of declining shows, survey says
BETHESDA, MD—June 27, 2005—Seventy percent of organizers of growing tradeshows are using e-mail marketing to acquire attendees, while only half the organizers of declining shows do so, according to the third annual AttendTrend™ survey of tradeshow organizers conducted by Frost Miller Group and Jacobs Jenner & Kent.
“Most successful tradeshow organizers believe in the power of e-mail marketing,” says Kevin Miller president, Frost Miller Group. “Organizers whose shows are declining seem less certain.”
The survey also revealed that 60 percent of organizers of growing shows use e-mail marketing for attendee lead-generation, while, again, only half the organizers of declining shows do so.
In addition, the survey showed significant trends in e-mail marketing practices among all tradeshow organizers:
- Seventy percent of organizers use e-mail to reach prospective attendees, but only half use it to reach pre-registered attendees.
- Nineteen percent send text-only messages, while 44 percent send both text and HTML messages. Only 4 percent enhance their e-mails with rich media.
- More than half rely exclusively for response-analysis on in-house reports. Seventeen percent do not track response at all.
- Nearly one-third rely exclusively only on in-house e-lists, while 42 percent rent outside e-lists, 18 percent purchase outside e-lists and 9 percent barter for outside e-lists.
- Of those who use outside e-lists, three-fourths invest as much as $10,000 in them annually. Forty-two percent frequently test those lists before using them, but 47 percent never do.
- The top two challenges facing tradeshow organizers who use e-mail for marketing are identifying reliable e-lists and determining the best copy and design approaches.
The annual AttendTrend™ survey represents the exhibition industry’s only definitive study of major tradeshow organizers’ marketing “best practices.” Conducted by telephone, the survey polls 500 major organizers throughout North America.
Complete survey findings are available at no charge at www.frostmiller.com.
About Frost Miller Group
Since 1992, Bethesda, MD-based business-to-business agency Frost Miller
Group has provided branding, marketing research, strategy, graphic design,
copywriting, Web development, public relations, and media planning and placement.
Among its clients are American Society for Microbiology, Freddie Mac Foundation
and National Mining Association. Washington Business Journal lists
Frost Miller Group among the area’s top 25 advertising agencies. More
information is available at www.frostmiller.com.
About Jacobs Jenner & Kent
Baltimore, MD-based Jacobs Jenner & Kent is a full-service marketing
research and consulting firm established in 1980. Its recommendations are
based on primary research using qualitative and quantitative methods, including
focus groups, in-depth personal and telephone interviews and self-administered
mail studies. The company has clients in tradeshow and association management,
high technology, finance, healthcare and consumer products. More information
is available at www.jjkresearch.com.