A well-planned exhibition may be the most cost-saving part of the marketing plan. From the time sequence analysis, the marketing strategy of an enterprise's exhibition usually includes defining the purpose of the exhibition, selecting the exhibition, pre-meeting activities, in-meeting activities, post-meeting activities, evaluation of the marketing strategy effect and online exhibition as a supplement.
(1) Clarify the purpose of participation. Each enterprise has different purposes of participation due to different situations. Enterprises must set exhibition objectives before deciding to participate in the exhibition. The purpose of enterprises participating in the exhibition is nothing more than showing their strength, establishing brand image, promoting products, concluding transactions, looking for agents or wholesalers or joint venture partners, studying local markets, developing new products, etc. According to the marketing theory, the German Exhibition Association divides the exhibition objectives into five categories: basic objectives, product objectives, price objectives, publicity objectives and sales objectives. Enterprises should segment the market according to customer needs and adapt to these changing needs. For example, the strategy of seeking potential customers is completely different from the strategy of further strengthening long-term customer relations.
(2) Choosing an exhibition In many exhibitions, enterprises must selectively participate in a certain exhibition. When choosing an exhibition, the following factors should be considered:
First, the target market of the exhibition. The target market of the exhibition includes its theme orientation, purpose and audience structure. Before the enterprise participates in the exhibition, determine whether the exhibition conforms to the development plan of the enterprise and whether it can promote the enterprise to achieve the expected goal.
Second, the scale of the exhibition. A successful exhibition must have a certain scale. A large-scale exhibition can attract more professional visitors, which is the most important factor to ensure that exhibitors can achieve the purpose of the exhibition. Evaluating the scale of the exhibition mainly depends on the number of exhibitors and professional visitors and the size of the exhibition area.
Third, the ability of exhibition organizers to choose influential, experienced and highly recognized organizers. The organization of the exhibition is a huge systematic project, and a series of work, from exhibition promotion, invitation of professional visitors, organization and arrangement of industry activities to customer service, need the strategic coordination of the organizers in the case of truly understanding the needs of exhibitors in order to successfully hold it. Enterprises can evaluate the planning ability and promotion ability of organizers from their external solicitation letters, advertisements and various organizational plans. Compared with famous foreign exhibition companies such as Hannover Exhibition Company in Germany, the overall level of exhibition companies in China is not high, and there is still a big gap in exhibition invitation, exhibition organization and booth construction.
Fourth, the history and influence of the exhibition, such as the number of exhibitors in the past few years and the effect of the exhibition. Enterprises should choose exhibitions with influence, high popularity, many exhibitors and strong influence from exhibitors.
Fifth, under the trend of higher and higher participation fees, enterprises should choose suitable exhibitions within the budget according to their own financial resources, and the participation fees should not cause additional burden to enterprises. This is especially true for small and medium-sized enterprises that are cautious in spending.
Sixth, the city and exhibition hall where the exhibition is located. Generally speaking, big cities and international metropolises are the focus of the exhibition, and their transportation, hotels, customs declaration, visas, supporting facilities and exhibition hall services are better than other cities. Most of the exhibitions in China are held in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Dalian, Shenzhen and other cities with comprehensive advantages in economy, transportation, information, talents, technology and services.
(III) Pre-meeting activities Pre-meeting activities include public relations activities and identifying potential customers in advance and sending them special invitations. We can use the exhibition journal, pre-exhibition newsletter and pre-exhibition media publicity to expand the influence of enterprises and attract more target customers.
(4) Compared with other aspects, the activities in the conference are the decisive factors that determine the success or failure of enterprises' participation in the exhibition, mainly including the selection of booths, the layout of booths, the selection of exhibits and their display methods, the staffing of booths, the negotiation environment and related activities during the exhibition.
The choice of booth involves the decision of booth location and area. The choice of booth is generally based on the direction of the crowd moving throughout the venue; The booth area is generally 9 square meters, which is called a standard booth. It is worth noting that the dedicated booth, also known as the free exhibition area, means that when the booth area exceeds four or more standard booths, the enterprise can only keep bare land, and other decoration can be decided by the enterprise according to its product characteristics, technical characteristics, market positioning, activities during the exhibition and other factors. This kind of booth can fully display the corporate culture and publicize the brand concept, which is very conducive to establishing the overall image of the enterprise.
Booth is a window for enterprises to show their strength and product characteristics. The booth layout with personality and visual impact can make enterprises stand out among many exhibitors. The fundamental task of booth design is to help enterprises achieve the purpose of exhibiting. The booth should reflect the corporate image, attract the attention of the audience, and provide a functional environment for work.
In the selection of exhibits, we should choose exhibits that can reflect the advantages of our own products. The quality of exhibits is the most important factor for exhibitors to impress the audience. There are three principles in selecting exhibits, namely, pertinence, representativeness and uniqueness. Targeting means that the exhibits should conform to the purpose, policy, nature and content of the exhibition; Representative means that the exhibits should reflect the technical level, production capacity and industry characteristics of the enterprise; Uniqueness means that exhibits should have their own uniqueness and can be distinguished from other similar products.
In the way of display, the exhibits themselves can not explain the whole situation in most cases and show all the characteristics of the products of the enterprise. Generally, it needs to be accompanied by real people such as charts, materials, photos, models, props, models or commentators, and explained, emphasized and rendered by means of decoration, scenery, lighting, audio-visual equipment and other display means. In a word, exhibition design should be the unity of content and form, whole and part, science and art, inheritance and innovation.
In terms of staffing, the quality of staffing determines the success or failure of exhibitors. The ability and display of the personnel equipped by the enterprise reflects the position of the enterprise in the industry. Enterprises without representatives or narrow booths will face the danger of losing market share. In particular, whether the body language, dialogue and knowledge of service personnel have affinity is extremely important for the success of the exhibition. Service personnel should communicate with the audience as much as possible when distributing materials to achieve interactive effect. The staffing of the booth can generally be considered from the following aspects: first, choose the personnel of relevant departments according to the nature of the exhibition; Second, determine the number of personnel according to the workload; Third, pay attention to the basic qualities of personnel, such as appearance, voice, personality, initiative, etc. Fourth, strengthen on-site training, such as professional knowledge, product performance, demonstration methods, etc.
Exhibitors can also carry out new product launch, annual meeting of dealers, product display and other supporting activities during the exhibition, which is an effective means to develop new customers on the basis of stabilizing old customers; In addition, creating a relaxed and pleasant negotiation environment will also help to improve the business success rate.
(V) Post-meeting activities and evaluation of marketing strategy effects Enterprises should incorporate the information collected during the exhibition into their marketing information systems, and analyze and evaluate the obtained market information. Enterprises should also compare the display results with the predetermined goals in time, summarize the effects and analyze the reasons. Generally speaking, it is difficult to accurately evaluate the effect of an exhibition, mainly because some achievements can be immediate, but they are more likely to be produced some time after the exhibition. In order to help exhibitors evaluate the exhibition, exhibition organizers generally provide statistical information about exhibitors. Enterprises can evaluate the effect of the exhibition according to these statistical information and their own actual situation, and initially decide whether to participate in the exhibition next time.
(6) Pay attention to the role and development prospect of online exhibitions. Online exhibition has become a new trend in the exhibition industry, which is called never-ending exhibition. At present, online exhibition is only the supplement and support of physical exhibition, but with the further development of information technology and e-commerce, online exhibition is expected to come from behind and become the main body of modern exhibition industry. Compared with physical exhibitions, online exhibitions have the following advantages: first, they are cheaper, faster and easier to succeed; Second, equal opportunities, regardless of the strength of the enterprise, as long as the product is suitable, it is possible to find a suitable buyer. Third, it can reduce the exploitation of middlemen, and more and more buyers try to buy products directly from manufacturers. As a promising sunrise industry and green industry, convention and exhibition industry has begun to take shape and developed rapidly in China, and the era of convention and exhibition economy is coming. With the increasingly fierce market competition and product market segmentation, exhibition, as an effective business platform among enterprises, has incomparable advantages over other marketing media. It will become an important marketing activity for enterprises to promote products and establish brand image through participation in the exhibition, and it will inevitably put forward higher requirements for exhibitors' exhibition ability. At present, many domestic enterprises pay insufficient attention to the exhibition. On the one hand, the development of China's convention and exhibition industry is immature, most of the exhibitions are small in scale, lack of clear positioning, high in convention and exhibition cost and low-level vicious competition, which leads to poor participation effect and affects the enthusiasm of enterprises; On the other hand, the company's own understanding of the exhibition is not deep enough, the awareness of establishing brand image at the exhibition is not enough, the display ability is not strong, and the purpose of the exhibition is not clear. It is undoubtedly of great significance for the healthy development of China's convention and exhibition economy to improve enterprises' understanding of convention and exhibition functions and strengthen their display ability.