These are challenging times for trade shows. Attendance is off at many, meaning sponsors aren’t getting the traffic they expected. Reduced traffic leads to a reduction in the number and quality of sales leads, and a much lower-than-expected ROI. In this digital climate, where people can access information immediately, and marketers are savvier than ever before, how much longer can the in-person trade show model survive?
It’s not just what we see anecdotally—it’s being documented in the media. In an article entitled, “The Death of the Trade Show”, Inc. magazine suggested that technology customers find markets moving too quickly for trade shows to keep up.
https://www.inc.com/dev-aujla/the-death-of-the-trade-show.html
An organization that monitors trade show attendance reports that, despite a significant recovery in attendance from the depths of the 2008-2009 recession, “real revenue in 2017 – $10.29 billion – was still 3 percent below the peak in 2007.” https://www.tsnn.com/news/ceir-announces-2017-fourth-quarter-index-results-releases-new-industry-insight-report
These developments aren’t surprising, since the entire fabric of the trade show industry is primarily constructed around hype, almost like a Las Vegas casino. Everyone wants to be around the bright lights, extravagant convention center, and fun location. But, at the end of the day, like a casino, the house always wins. ISVs, for example, pay tons of money to be present, yet many go home with little, or nothing, in the way of positive results (i.e. sales leads). And, even if they are able to generate some leads, their cost per lead is insanely high.
When ISVs return to the casino, thinking this time will be different, it’s almost always the same disappointing results. It’s a process that’s been repeated for a long time, but we are now seeing a huge shift in the way both Dynamics users and ISVs view the value of trade shows, and the hype is wearing off.
Trade shows were useful for many years because they provided ISVs with what amounted to one-stop shopping. They could plunk down a substantial sponsorship fee, knowing the conference organizers would produce thousands of industry movers and shakers eager to research new products and even make purchases at the show of add-on software.
The market landscape has shifted so significantly that trade shows are increasingly out of synch with the needs of decision makers at Dynamics user organizations. Fortunately, online resources like MSDynamicsWorld.com (MSDW) have been fine-tuning the tools those users need most often, including:
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- Immediate access to information. When Dynamics users have a need, they don’t want to wait several months until the next trade show to research how best to fill that need. They search Google or visit MSDW. To put this in perspective, MSDW ran 150 webcasts in 2017, which were attended by more than 15,000 Dynamics customers from around the world, who didn’t have to even leave their desk to get educated. That’s almost double the number of people who actually attended a Dynamics in-person trade show during that same year. In addition, MSDW ran 30 educational podcasts in 2017, which had over 15,000 listeners.
- A need for highly specific, highly targeted, content. Trade shows try and please everyone, which causes them to be specific to no one. That leaves Dynamics customers and partners struggling to find the type of highly targeted content they require to determine the best new products to fill their needs. How do we know? We recently surveyed more than 100 users and discovered that only 15% of Dynamics customers actually find trade shows effective in delivering them content that meets their specific needs. In contrast, over 78% said they prefer to consume content solely online, especially from sources like MSDW, because they can easily access content that is targeted to their whole business persona—specific role (user/partner), Dynamics platform, industry, job function, and even purchase cycle stage.
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ISVs have a similar need for data—especially analytics for calculating the ROI of their marketing investments. When trade shows are unable to provide the kind of careful tracking ISVs require, and that online resources like MSDW routinely provide 24/7, trade shows become less of a marketing priority.
This isn’t to say that all ISVs will completely turn their backs on trade shows. But we’ve seen many heavily reduce their trade show investments from previous years; for example, some just go as attendees to take advantage of the positive networking opportunities that trade shows still offer.
Decreasing their trade show spend has opened up a world of opportunities for those ISVs. With the dollar savings, ISVs are becoming even more creative in exploiting online opportunities that generate amazing results. MSDW regularly works with more than 100 ISVs to construct programs that test multiple content and target market options, as well as measure and continually increase ROI. These programs aren’t dependent on a conference schedule, but rather produce results that are immediately accessible every single day.
