The B2B exhibition channel captures largest share of exhibitor marketing budgets.
DALLAS – The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) released new research tracking how much business-to-business (B2B) exhibitions capture of exhibitor marketing budgets in its 2018 Marketing Spend Decision Report.
“This report shows the continued strength of B2B exhibitions. It is the face-to-face marketing channel of choice for brand marketers that use it,” remarked CEIR CEO Cathy Breden, CAE, CMP. She added, “The report offers exhibitors and exhibition organizers valuable metrics. In addition to profiling the complete marketing channel mix among brand marketers that exhibit, it also includes other important metrics that indicate movement in the market that stakeholders need to understand to effectively respond.”
Though B2B exhibitions dominate in capturing the largest share of the marketing budget of these brand marketers, this study reveals marketing budgets are stagnant. Stagnant budgets, coupled with the documented increase in median number of exhibitions participated in, finds median spending per exhibition has not increased since last reported in 2015. Taking inflation into consideration, spending has declined marginally.
Looking forward to 2018, the number of exhibitions participated in is expected to hold. Positive movement in net square footage (NSF) is expected to come from more exhibitors planning to increase their booth sizes at events they are participating in over adding exhibitions to their schedule for 2018.
This report profiles business-to-business exhibitors by:
- Top ranked important objectives for exhibiting;
- Success metrics to evaluate the outcome of exhibiting;
- Marketing spend allocation across all marketing channels;
- Digital tactics used among those allocating marketing dollars to digital channels;
- Number of exhibitions participated in 2015 and projections through 2018;
- Typical booth sizes from 2015 and projections through 2018; and
- Median spending per exhibition estimate.
2018 Marketing Spend Decision Report also highlights differences by specific demographics including annual revenues, annual marketing budgets, booth size and specific CEIR sectors.
Online survey results are based on a study conducted by CEIR during the spring of 2017, polling a sampling of exhibitors from lists provided by Freeman, GES, Fern Expositions, Hargrove and Shepard Exposition Services. A total of 424 exhibitors responded.
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She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
