We used to go to the fair out of habit or because we wanted to present a new product, but we never had a hard and fast objective. We did not have a good enough definition of exactly what we wanted to achieve. There was no sign of clearly defined trade fair goals anywhere!” Ralf Kohler recalls. But without adequate objectives, post-event cost-benefit analysis is not possible either. But that's all in the past now.
 
It seems that engineering companies have changed the way they handle trade fairs as a marketing instrument and make use of figures. They provide information that can be evaluated and compared and therefore an almost mathematical basis for decisions, including whether or not to participate in a trade fair, although Ralf Kohler has to admit that the trade fair objectives are multi-faceted and cannot be measured directly.
 
“We look at the figures in areas where we are not happy with subjective estimates – the problem is more in defining them”, Ralf Kohler says. The important thing is: The effort to monitor them must be proportionate, continues Kohler, who is head of marketing and sales at Mafell, Oberndorf, and therefore responsible for success at trade fairs. Trade fair controlling is also his domain.
 
That was not always the case. The turn of the millennium brought a sea change in the trade fair arrangements. Until then, trade fairs of Mafell were characterised by habitual processes. The participations were organised by the sales department as a secondary task. The decision to take part in a fair was based on the topic of the event and the success of the previous trade fair. Other criteria were the budget situation or current events such as new products. Aims such as “showing presence” and “product launches” were interpreted in a rather versatile way; the trade fair concept was based on demonstration of machines and the actual design was largely determined by the technology. “The result was as expected.” Ralf Kohler: “Whether a trade fair was considered successful was based on the direct costs and direct trade fair turnover but also on subjectively perceived aspects, including whether the stand was well frequented and whether all the staff were busy.” That still did not answer the question as to what specific benefit came out of the trade fair participation.
 
A rethink about trade fair participations resulted in an expanded catalogue of goals. For example, the topics of brand messages and brand topics were added, such as the emotional brand building and positioning on the market. These are criteria that are pretty hard to appraise.
 
While trade fair costs (stand, square metres, hotel/expenses) and certain trade fair goals (number of leads, turnover, trade orders, orders per machine) are directly measurable, brand perception, sector mood, trends, competition monitoring are not directly measurable. Kohler defines the problem thus: “Even if your trade fair participation is defined by clearly specified aims, one question can usually never be answered adequately: What benefit did we get out of the trade fair participation?” The marketing boss goes on: “We find out about our kids performance at school by their grades. There are a number of indicators to achieve the same thing for a trade fair participation.”
 
To find out the benefit value of a trade fair participation, Kohler relies on a simple formula: trade fair benefit = costs of alternative marketing measures. “The crux of the matter is what it would cost to achieve the trade fair goals by other means. I have got to consider what other marketing instruments I save on with a trade fair participation.” Kohler: “Let us take the example of the trade fair goal regular customer care: If I take the number and importance of regular customers at the stand as my success criterion and then divide them into the Categories A, B, and C, I have the following alternatives: the sales force, appointments for the members of the management, inhouse fairs and other events. It becomes more difficult with VIP care, image enhancement in the trade, building up a relationship with the press, networking or boosting the “belongingness” of employees. He evaluates such aims by comparing pairs. The opportunities offered by success controlling are obvious: “The results help us to work on improving the trade fair appearance in a structured way. We can target the budget on areas where the biggest improvements can be achieved. Non-number-based basic decisions are made more objective and the benefit from the trade fair is easily demonstrated.” ch