Business-to-Business Internet Marketing, Fourth Edition - Lifecycle ...

128 BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS INTERNET MARKETING
discovers that the most expensive show is actually generating
the lowest-quality leads. When the costs of supporting that
particular show and fulfilling the leads are added up, it is clear
that the company has an ROI disaster on its hands. The
marketing manager talks to the sales manager about it. The
sales manager just shakes his head, laughs, and says, “Oh
yeah, the leads from that show are junk. My salespeople don’t
even pay any attention to them.” This is truly chilling—
a b-to-b direct marketer’s worst nightmare.
I hope this does not sound familiar, but it should be food for thought.
Conventions and trade shows in particular should be carefully evaluated.
These events tend to be far less effective than seminars in generating
qualified leads, because the venue is very different.
If you have attended such shows, you know the score. You can go
from booth to booth and pick up a slew of very expensive literature and
a variety of giveaways free and without obligation, and in most cases
you can remain totally anonymous while you scoop these goodies into a
gargantuan convention bag. You can even participate in various games
and contests and actually win something valuable—although you have
not got the slightest interest in the exhibitor’s product or service. At the
end of this major trade show, all the exhibitors truck home with hundreds
or maybe thousands of “leads”—only to discover that most of
them are about as qualified to purchase as the people manning the hot
dog concession stand at the trade show.
This kind of shotgun marketing is not easy to justify to management.
The cost of booth space, promotional materials, handouts, and
travel is just part of the picture. The waste of staff time and the cost of
fulfilling junk leads further magnify the problem.
Of course, not all trade shows leave a bitter taste in marketers’
mouths. I can recall stories of technology companies whose marketing
and sales staff come back from shows flush with hundreds of thousands
of dollars worth of business booked in a few days. Just as important,
some very significant products are launched at trade shows. With shows,
as with marketing seminars, fabulous success stories abound—as do
unmitigated disasters. The trick is to learn how to use event marketing
in a targeted, results-oriented way so that you can achieve the former,
not the latter.