ABM Study: Execs Like Tradeshows
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 7/24/2006
While senior executives are spending slightly less time at tradeshows now than they once did, they find the events as effective as ever, according to a recent study commissioned by American Business Media. The report, prepared by Harris Interactive, also found that all forms of business-to-business marketing are holding their own.
Harris surveyed business executives, end-users who might consider B-to-B media in making decisions, and found that 77 percent had attended at least one tradeshow in the last year, compared to 76 percent when a similar survey was done in 2001. Likewise, 86 percent said they had read a B-to-B magazine in the last month (compared to 83 percent in 2001) and 68 percent had visited a B-to-B Web site in the last month (the same percentage as five years ago).
The fact that the figures have not changed drastically since 2001 indicates that executives continue to see value in B-to-B media of all kinds, said Steve Ennen, American Business Media's vice president for digital media and information.
"What this does is offer a little ammunition on the front line of sales," Ennen said.
While those surveyed said they spent slightly less time at tradeshows than in 2001 (an average of 7.4 days a year compared to 8.1 days five years ago), senior-level executives in particular found value in them.
The average executive said he or she had attended 2.1 trade-shows in the last year (compared to 2.9 five years ago), but senior executives reported attending more (2.7 on average) than mid-level executives (1.7 on average).
Top-level executives ranked tradeshows as the second-most important way to learn about new products (after B-to-B magazines), while mid-level executives ranked tradeshows as fourth-most important (after magazines, Web sites and salespeople).
When asked what they did following a tradeshow, 27 percent of respondents said they made a purchase via the Internet, compared to 17 percent in 2001. The other two primary marketing media identified did lead to similar increases in online purchasing: for B-to-B magazines, 39 percent this year compared to 35 percent five years ago; for B-to-B Web sites, 35 percent this year compared to 34 percent before.
