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Nomadic Display MD Laura
Moody looks at how you
put marketing thinking into
exhibition practice.
Market research is about
researching a specific market
by systematically gathering,
recording and analysing data about
customers, competitors and the
market. Market research enables us
to understand what people want,
need, believe and how they behave.
Quantitative market research involves
designing a questionnaire to be
completed by a large number of
people so that, if the sample is big
enough and the questions are
accurate, you will be able to determine
what the wider universe thinks.
Qualitative market research focuses
on gaining information from a smaller
group of people by conducting oneto-
one in-depth interviews. These
results are often seen as more
valuable because, while the number
of people interviewed is lower, this
research method allows the
interviewer to really uncover the
issues. However, the smaller research
sample cannot deliver results to be
used to generalise the entire universe.
Marketers use the results of market
research to understand the needs of
their customers and marketplace,
enabling them to create strategies
and business plans that ultimately sell
people what they want to buy. |
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The exhibition environment is a
fantastic place to conduct any type of
research. As a starting point we all
know a show gives you a snapshot of
what’s going on in your marketplace
because you get a clear feeling of the
mood everyone is in – an exhibition is
a marketplace coming together.
If you are already committed to
conducting market research then
choosing to do it when you are
exhibiting at an industry show gives
you the opportunity of being able to
talk directly to everyone you need to:
clients, prospects, competitors,
suppliers, the press, your industry
association... Giving you a timely,
cost-effective way of understanding
what your industry thinks.
Conducting market research on
your stand gives you the opportunity
to really listen to what visitors are
saying. One of the biggest anomalies
of exhibiting is that, strangely, many
visitors don’t seem to want to be sold
to, so they avoid engaging with the
exhibitors. While no visitor will want
to answer a lengthy questionnaire, a
short and very specific list of
questions will enable you to engage
with the visitor, but more importantly
really listen to them.
It’s important to talk to the organiser
about the market research you intend
to carry out. If it is very market
focused, with the aim of gaining
greater insight into your overall
market and the visitor audience, the
organiser will be very keen to share in
the results. They may even want to |
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contribute to the cost or at the very
least create a platform for you to feed
back the results in a way that will gain
profile for your company. This could
be in email or paper mail form to the
visitor database, or a seminar
presentation at next year’s event.
The PR value you can gain from
sharing or announcing the results of
market research can be enormous. If
you put some thought into what
might be newsworthy in terms of the
results, you can gear the market
research survey accordingly. Getting
a good story into the industry press
following your presence at an
exhibition is great exposure. Sharing
insightful and interesting market
research results with the press, the
show visitors and more importantly
your own clients and prospects will
present you as a knowledgeable
company who is really in touch with
the market.
The benefits of conducting market
research at exhibitions are great and
it doesn’t matter if you decide to
conduct a ‘quick and dirty’ survey
yourself, using your own stand team,
or if you employ the services of a
professional market research
company. Anything that helps you to
understand the needs of your buyers,
and enables you to shape your
product or service offering, is an
essential marketing activity. If you can
do it in a place that then helps you to
save valuable time and money – and
maximise the results – then that is
even better. |
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