The investment in trade show: the value added of Intelligence

Intelligence inside the trade shows is not a typical approach. Almost nobody does it and doing it means having an important competitive advantage that we carry with us until the next event.

Few companies go beyond the sales approach, which must be done indeed, and alongside plan a project to understand the market and above all its scenario.

Actually, making intelligence inside the fair means having a figure who is not inside the stand but literally walks miles in the fair to meet clients and competitor companies to understand what are the market news, how the market is changing and its expected scenario.

In other words, the exhibition approach aimed at making the most of the fair from a commercial point of view is augmented by a figure who wants to understand the market and support the definition of the company's strategy in the medium and long term in light of the sector dynamics captured.

The intelligence carried is not different from a traditional market intelligence activity but with some significant advantages:

• The timing to capture information since in 2-3 days you can have a very significant and real-time overview of the market;
• The amount of information, given that in a sector event normally all the main players are present and, not secondary, available to share information on their products, developments and perspective of the industry;
• Last but not least, the quality of the information, especially considering the fact that the information is as up-to-date as possible on the market, products, technological innovations, etc.

I would like to stress the importance of a planning within this approach. In fact, it often happens to participate in events of massive size and with a very very significant number of exhibitors where it is necessary to understand in detail the scope, the informative needs and define a plan in order to maximize the return of this investment.

What information are we interested in? Which companies are we interested in meeting? What technologies do we want to analyze? All of this must fall within the so-called and already mentioned KIQ's and KIT's - Key Intelligence Questions or Key Intelligence Topics - and in identifying the companies to which these questions should be addressed.

The briefing phases of this intelligence activity are actually multiple given that during the fair, in the light of the information that emerges, it will be necessary to review the objectives and knowledge to prioritize in order to maximize even more the result obtained during the 2-3 days of presence.

But it doesn't end there. During this presence and with this approach you will find yourself with many valid contacts, often directed to the heart of the company, which will be useful for follow-up's The traditional investment on a fair has always a long term Return On Investment - ROI - and intelligence has the aim of making this return as extensive as possible over time thanks to the alignment of strategies to current and prospective market trends.