Five ways to paint a more convincing ROI picture

by

Proving a return on investment (ROI) in a trade show or event has always been a challenge. Exhibit and event managers regularly hear, “Yeah, but what do we get out of this?” questions from their finance department when they review the numbers. However, after a year and a half of fairly pricey virtual events with even less evidence of ROI, proving the value of events is critical. Thrown into the virtual realm, event marketers scrambled to develop a quantitative rationale for the amount invested. As in-person events return, perhaps in a hybrid format, the demand to show a return on investment is even stronger.

The answer isn’t more data; the answer lies in the presentation and organization of existing data to meet the interests of the particular internal customer. Here are five ways to paint a more convincing ROI picture:

Use meaningful data, not simply raw numbers.

Is it important for your audience to know how many people you saw or how many leads you collected at a particular event? You can take the total attendance and show your contacts as a percentage of the total. But a total of what? And frankly, that method will not convince anyone that you have a favorable ROI.

How about the total number of attendees that match your customer profile or your buyer persona? For example, if you identify the attendees interested in y our specific product or service with plans to purchase, say within a six-month window or less, and have a budget of at least a certain amount, then, using audit or registration data, you can come up with a number that describes this audience—and that’s the number against which you should measure the number of contacts or leads. Point out that this way, you are eliminating the tire-kickers and the people who have no interest in your offerings.

Craft a Story

ROI presentations can be boring but don’t have to be. Create a story or stories. Talk about specific attendees and their buying journey. What did you learn from them? What type of competitive intelligence did you pick up>? Walk your audience through the engagement process from pre-show to show site and post-show, so they see the relevance of data and the meaning behind not only your ROI but your overall strategy. This is true whether the engagement process is in person or virtual.

Present Your ROI as a Challenge-Solution Narrative

Sift through the facts as well as what you anticipated. How many attendees were you hoping to see? How many did you actually see? If your exhibit was overrun with people, how did you handle the crowd to ensure the investment paid off? If the numbers were lighter than anticipated, how did you connect with the actual attendees to make their visits memorable and actionable? How did you plan a follow-up? Too often, promises to follow up are nebulous; how did you solve that problem?

Showcase your Wins as an Event Manager

Every person involved in event production has a symbiotic relationship with many people. Very often, those are the people who can provide extra value. For example, were you able to use your connections to an association to get a better space, to get technical support just for the asking, a sponsorship that you suggested because it highlighted your brand? Perhaps you were able to book an optimum time for your product theater or speaker because of your friendship with the exhibit hall coordinator. Part of the ROI discussion is your value to the company as someone who understands how to stand out at an event, whether virtual or in-person.

Bring in Ancillary Marketing Wins

How much press did you garner as a result of the event? How many social media posts, ‘likes,’ or retweets? While you may have conducted social media and advertising campaigns pre-show, the buzz that your presence at a show creates attracts attendees to your space to see what you are offering. These are all part of the ROI picture. And what about competitive intelligence? If an attendee is using a competitor’s product, find out why—and what would make them switch?

Finally, get your internal audience excited about your ROI presentation and about all the possibilities that events offer to increase revenue, support the sales continuum, and build brand awareness. Communicate your own belief in the exhibit and events industry. You know the medium is effective—make sure your internal customers know it, too.

New Call-to-action