REPORT

While events and trade shows are still a vital part of the marketing and customer engagement mix, senior marketers remain challenged to identify effective methods to measure and prove ROI, according to this CMO Council study, conducted in partnership with the Exhibit & Event Marketers Association. Further complicating this scenario is that events and trade shows have largely remained isolated and disconnected from the overall business strategy, with 45 percent of respondents struggling to make a case for attending or participating in shows and 19 percent lacking a strategy to act on the leads they gather.

The report highlights qualitative and quantitative findings gathered from a survey of more than 260 brand marketers fielded during Q4 of 2012 and Q1 of 2013, as well as interviews with 21 senior brand marketers and 11 experts within the event and trade show industry. The study issues a clear call to action for both marketers and event producers to look at the business measures and analytics that are powering today’s advanced, data-driven and highly targeted customer engagements.