Planning for your 2025 trade show and event budget? The easiest method is to take your 2024 budget, add 2 to 3 percent, and call it a day.
While that certainly saves you a lot of time, you would miss the golden opportunity that a new year brings to actively challenge key aspects of your trade show program – and then put those changes into action with your 2025 budget.
Here are 8 questions whose answers will help you create a budget that delivers greater sales and marketing results from your trade show investment.
1. Do we store exhibit assets we don’t use anymore?
You probably feel too busy to visit your exhibit house and review all your inventory to see which parts are not worth keeping. Or, you don’t want to toss anything in case you might just need it later. While understandable, that pain avoidance is costing you money.
It’s time to bite the bullet. If you have old or damaged displays you never use because you’ve already bought their replacements, get rid of the older ones. If you have graphics left over from displays you don’t use, get rid of those, too. If you have heavy old exhibits you replaced with modular or portable displays, send them on their way. The savings next year on asset management and exhibit storage will be noticeable. Also, ask your exhibit house to recycle whatever they can.
2. Do we have a working ROI measurement system?
It’s hard to hit a target if you don’t know where you’re aiming. And if your target is greater ROI from trade show leads and sales, you need a solid measurement system to ensure your aim is true.
An effective ROI measurement system will track your trade show and event leads to determine which convert into sales, and then compare those sales to trade show expenditures to calculate ROI. A web-based CRM system makes it all so much easier, as long as you tag your leads by show or event name, and track which companies turn into won deals. Once measurement is in place, you can ask the next question:
3. How well have our trade shows and events performed the last 2 years?
When you have strong measurement systems in place, you can go beyond just saying, “We had a good show.” You can instead determine which trade shows and events produced an acceptable quantity of high-quality leads, and eventually what was the revenue generated from each trade show and event. You can then compare every show against each other, and decide to shrink your booth space at the poorest performers, or drop them altogether. And also find new shows similar to your best performers. Your revised show schedule will then revise your budget.
4. Is our company growing or shrinking more than 10% annually?
If your company is growing fast, your trade show budget will likely grow, too (especially if your trade shows are fueling that growth!). That means scaling up your best-performing trade shows with bigger booth spaces, more booth staffers, and bigger show services fees.
However, heaven forbid, if your sales are shrinking fast, you have to determine which shows have to be trimmed or eliminated first, and find out what those revised costs will be. Try to avoid simply cutting booth staffers and promotions while maintaining your same show schedule and booth sizes – that will cause your ROI to suffer more.
5. What are our company’s plans for entering new markets?
Your upper management may have 2025 plans to enter new geographies or new vertical markets that are not known yet publicly. Those new markets may require finding and exhibiting at trade shows new to your company.
Hence, ask your management what new markets they plan to enter. If they won’t tell you ahead of time, let them know you need a lot of lead time to not only find and budget for these new shows, but to also secure booth space, because the best spots are taken months in advance, and some shows even sell out. If they still won’t tell you which markets they plan to enter, at least ask if you can add a certain percent to your budget for the new shows.
6. Should we be renting or buying our exhibits?
Some exhibitors prefer to rent their larger exhibits (usually those who do very few large shows), so they can expense the cost directly to each show, avoid storage fees, and avoid capital expenses for exhibit properties. On the other hand, other exhibitors (usually who do more shows) prefer to own an inventory of exhibit assets, that they can select from depending on their booth size and functional needs.
Pull out your show schedule and ask your exhibit house to run the numbers to see if there is a marked improvement in your costs by either buying or renting your larger trade show exhibits.
7. Do we budget enough for promotions and interactive engagements?
More of our clients are asking us about ideas for interactivity and engagement but then realize they lack the budget or lead time to go forward.
Investing in engaging prospects is a great use of your trade show and event budget. So, plan for it now. Set aside a larger percentage of your budget for promotions and experiences that will pull in more booth visitors, keep them there longer, and better persuade them you are the right solution for them.
Alternatively, ask yourself if the current investment in promotional items is boosting your ROI. Not all promotional items are inexpensive, and they take time and money to inventory, organize, and ship to and from trade shows. Are they proving to add value to your overall event program?
8. How would we scale down our exhibiting in a pinch?
After you have your 2025 trade show event budget approved and the year is progressing, things may suddenly take a turn for the worse, either with a recession, a downturn in your industry, or higher spending priorities in your own company. Be like the pilot who is always looking ahead and behind to where they would land if their engines conk out. Have a plan already outlined on what you would cut first, second, and third if you needed to.
Just be realistic – your booth space costs are often paid many months in advance, and you can’t always get those fees back if you cancel or downsize. Similarly, you may not be able to get refunds on an exhibit that’s already built, or airfare that was already bought.
Make a Successful 2025 Trade Show + Event Budget
While these 8 questions are valuable for the insights they provide, it will take time to determine the answers for your company. Therefore, start asking these questions now, so you can plan a more informed budget for next year.
We would love to help you maximize the results you get from your trade shows, events, and branded interiors. To start the conversation, call us at 1-800-849-2601 or contact us.