Exhibition organisers are spending an average of $27 per visitor on advertising to attract them to trade events and $13 per visitor for consumer events, according to recent research released by the Exhibition & Event Association of Australasia (EEAA).

In total, the exhibition industry’s marketing and advertising spend is in excess of $25 million per annum, a figure which the EEAA hopes notice and start taking the power of the exhibition industry seriously when allocating their clients’ spends.

The EEAA commissioned two pieces of research: an industry benchmarking study compiled by Evaluation Solutions; and a study into visitor and exhibitor trends since 2003, produced by Micromex Research.

Both pieces of research were released to senior exhibition industry managers at the EEAA Leaders’ Forum in early March 2006.

“The research showed that those who understand the medium and the power of face-to-face marketing have increased satisfaction levels on the quality, number and value of sales leads and intend to keep exhibiting in the future,” said Mark Baker, CEO, EEAA. “This reflects the importance to them of retaining exhibitions as part of their marketing activity.”

To maintain their involvement, organisers are investing heavily in visitor marketing to a targeted and qualified audience.

Ninety-six percent of consumer exhibitions use television as the main medium to promote their shows, with TV spends ranging from $23,500 - $121,000 per event. Radio has a similar penetration, utilised by 95% of consumer exhibitions, with average spends per event ranging from $20,500 - $55,500.

Trade events, as expected, do not generally utilise TV, although radio is increasingly being used, particularly by the larger business events, with average spends around $20,000.

The major form of media promotion for trade events is industry magazines (used by 84% of events) and accounts for one-third of their advertising spend.

All exhibitions – consumer and trade – place a heavy emphasis on the use of direct mail to attract both exhibitors and visitors. And there is a substantial increase in the use of email and websites to inform, and as a tool for preregistration.