Trade Shows Continue To Provide Higher Quality Leads

Trade shows continue to grow in both attendance and number of exhibitors, even though exhibiting costs have never been higher. Why is that? Because trade shows still offer marketers substantial value in generating high quality leads.

When exhibitors returned in large numbers to the trade show floor in mid-2021, initially they were just happy to get face to face again with their clients and prospects.

But then exhibitors realized something pleasantly surprising: trade shows were providing noticeably higher quality leads than they did before the pandemic. Exhibitors were having many great conversations with potential buyers in their booths, and bringing home stacks of high-quality leads to feed into their sales pipelines.

“The quality of leads has been much better,” said Derek Sajbel, Director of Sales and Marketing at Kasco Marine, in an article on the Manufacturing Business Technology website. “We’re seeing more decision-makers and more targeted buyers coming through our booth.”

Why are trade shows providing higher quality leads? Here are four reasons:

1. Renewed Interest In Face-to-Face

When trade shows ground to a halt during the pandemic, the corresponding decrease in sales pipelines made sales, marketing, and the C-Suite wake up to how noticeably trade shows and events contribute to their revenue. And attendees have also realized how valuable it is for them to go to shows to network, strengthen relationships, seek partnerships, and compare vendors. Work-from-home employees are especially eager to go to shows.

And attendees now trust in-person events more than any other source of information, according to a Freeman and mdg presentation at SISO CEO Summit 2023.

2. Higher Concentration of Buyers

In late 2021 and early 2022, there were fewer attendees there, but the attendees that did come were more serious about finding vendors and making buying decisions. Without having to weed through tire-kickers, a higher percentage of booth staff interactions were with prospects of higher quality.

“The attendees are more targeted and the meetings are more intentional. As a result, the quality of leads has improved,” said Jennifer Hoff, President of Taffy Event Strategies, in an article on TSNN.com.

3. Economic Rebound

Trade shows were filled with buyers because of the post-pandemic economic bounce. The United States GDP went from -2.8% in 2020 to 5.9% in 2021. That brought attendees and exhibitors back to trade shows with a vengeance. The economy continued to grow since then, with 2.1% growth in 2022, and is forecast to grow 1.4% in 2023.

“The show organizer community is reporting a shift in lead quality, with exhibitors and attendees alike exhibiting a stronger intention to buy, a clearer understanding of their needs, and a greater eagerness to engage with new products and services,” said David Dubois, President and CEO of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), in an article on the Event Manager Blog.

4. Increasing Difficulty of Digital and Other B2B Marketing

Between digital marketing and technology changes, B2B marketers have found it harder to create high quality leads via popular digital methods:

• Virtual events, while valuable at helping keep industries connected and learning during the pandemic, were so weak at providing leads that almost all corporate exhibitors abandoned them once trade shows returned.
• Corporate I.T. departments, spooked by malware attacks, and filtering by Gmail and Microsoft Outlook, have made it harder for marketing emails to actually reach a prospect.
• Organic SEO listings are getting pushed off the page of search results in favor of paid search ads, leaving most marketers unseen by searchers.
• Paid search ads cost so much per click that the math of click -> visit -> lead -> sale becomes cost-prohibitive to many marketers.
• Outside of digital marketing, direct mail is harder in the Work From Home era, where business mail can’t reach employees who never come to the office.

Even digital marketers love trade shows. According to the 13th Annual B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Insights for 2023 report, “In-person events … were also the content type marketers said produced the best results for their organization. Furthermore, 52% expect their organization’s investment in in-person events will increase in 2023 compared with their 2022 budget.”

Already Higher in Quality, Trade Shows Keep Growing In Quantity

According to the Center For Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), the trade show industry’s steady growth will bring it back to pre-covid attendee and exhibitor levels by 2024. However, while on average 2023 shows have not yet reached 2019 attendee levels, many shows have already exceeded their 2019 levels:

Trade Shows with More Attendees in 2023 Than 2019
Show Name	2023 Location	2023	2019	Growth
Consumer Electronics Show (CES)	Las Vegas, NV	170,000	160,000	6%
Mobile World Congress (MWC)	Barcelona, Spain	60,000	50,000	20%
National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show	New York, NY	110,000	100,000	10%
South by Southwest (SXSW)	Austin, TX	100,000	85,000	18%
Dreamforce	San Francisco, CA	170,000	150,000	13%
Web Summit	Lisbon, Portugal	70,000	40,000	75%
Gartner IT Symposium / Xpo	Orlando, FL	20,000	15,000	33%
HIMSS	Orlando, FL	45,000	35,000	29%
Collision	Toronto, Canada	25,000	15,000	67%
Slush	Helsinki, Finland	20,000	15,000	33%

 

When attendance numbers increase, that tends to grab the attention of exhibitors, who then also increase their numbers. Here are some trade shows that have exceeded their 2019 exhibitor numbers in 2023:

Trade Shows with More Exhibitors in 2023 Than 2019
Show Name	2023 Location	2023	2019	Growth
Consumer Electronics Show (CES)	Las Vegas, NV	2,800	2,500	12%
Mobile World Congress (MWC)	Barcelona, Spain	2,000	1,800	11%
National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show	New York, NY	1,200	1,000	20%
South by Southwest (SXSW)	Austin, TX	1,000	800	20%
Dreamforce	San Francisco, CA	1,500	1,200	25%
Web Summit	Lisbon, Portugal	1,200	800	50%
Gartner IT Symposium / Xpo	Orlando, FL	1,000	800	25%
HIMSS	Orlando, FL	1,200	1,000	20%
Collision	Toronto, Canada	1,000	800	25%
Slush	Helsinki, Finland	800	600	33%

Trade Shows Offer Great Value in Lead Generation

“We’ve found that the quality of leads has gone up,” said Ron Walden, Executive Vice President of Emerald Exhibitions, in an article on TSNN.com. “People are coming to the shows with an intent to buy, and they’ve done their homework. They’re not just browsing.”

Marketers continue to invest in trade shows because the leads from trade shows are higher quality. That higher quality is caused by a strong desire to meet face-to-face, a higher proportion of attendees with buying power, continued economic growth, and the difficulty in generating sales leads via other B2B marketing mediums. As trade shows continue to grow, marketers receive both higher quantity and quality of leads.

We hope this article has helped you better understand and justify why trade shows continue to provide high quality leads. If you’d like ideas about how your company can generate more high-quality leads at trade shows, we would love to help. Simply call us at 651-578-3600.