• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, November 25, 2011

According to a new study and presentation from The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), four out of 10 executives indicate they are participating in the same number of exhibitions today as they did several years ago. Looking out to the next several years, 60% of executives say the number of exhibitions will hold to current levels, while 25% expect them to increase.

The first released fact sheet, from The 2011 Changing Environment of Exhibitions Study, shows that marketing executives assign high value to using business-to-business exhibitions to achieve their most pressing marketing and sales objectives.

The top five, current high-priority Marketing objectives for companies are:

• Building or expanding brand awareness (83%)
• New product or service promotions or launches (63%)
• Reinforcing brand awareness (63%)
• Promotions targeting specific business sectors (58%)
• Existing product service promotions (45%)

For executives identifying these objectives as high priority, 73% or more rate exhibitions as highly valuable in helping their companies achieve these goals.

The top five, current high-priority Sales Objectives for companies are:

• Existing customer relationship management/engagement (73%)
• Relationship management/engagement with key accounts (67%)
• Relationship management/engagement with prospective customers (64%) generating new sales orders with existing customers (57%)
• Generating new sales leads in general (56%)

For executives identifying these objectives collectively as high priority,

77% or more rate exhibitions as highly valuable in helping their companies achieve these goals, with the exception of generating new sales orders with existing customers, where 57% assign high value to using exhibitions to achieve this objective

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