Exhibitions are an excellent way for you to promote your business and generate awareness for your brand as well as great leads. Events also often offer a learning opportunity to attend keynotes, seminars, masterclasses, and networking sessions. This is evidenced by The Power of Live Research Project commissioned by AEO’s FaceTime. They state that:

 

• 76% of visitors at B2B & B2C events make new purchasing decisions - this is great news for a visitor or exhibitor. This is because as a visitor you would hope to be seeing products and resources that can improve your business and thus would like to make purchases that can help in the long run. As an exhibitor you want visitors in attendance who are willing to make purchases.

 

• 69% of attendees when asked two weeks later said they had or would be recommending brands they'd seen at the event - this is a win-win again for visitors and exhibitors as attendees want to meet great brands they can recommend and franchise owners want to generate awareness for their company.

 

• The average visitor spends 5.5 hours at a live event- equal to viewing 660 broadcast adverts - this suggests that as an exhibitor you have attendees undivided attention for a long period of time. Visitors do not even spend this much time shopping, yet you have the opportunity to speak with and market to them at a business event.

 

• Live events are 2x more effective than TV ads, 3x more than print media, & 4x more than radio ads - this echoes the last point about having a visitor's undivided attention. Nothing is more effective than real facetime.

 

• Your brand perception is improved by 21% after visitors experience you at a show - this speaks to how exhibitions can generate brand awareness and improve your reputation.

 

Exhibitions offer an excellent opportunity for visitors and exhibitors alike. If you are on the fence about whether business events would be for you, hopefully these statistics have given you food for thought.