Insights
September 2020
Virtual Fairs: Isolated Solu ons Vs. Long-term Strategy therefore crucial to determining the strategy. This also directly implies that it is not an “eitheror” decision – rather, the strengths and weaknesses must be weighed against each other and the strategic use of the two supposed alterna ves must be planned accordingly.
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irtual fairs have been around for years as a digital alterna ve to real trade fairs – but so far they have not been able to establish themselves. It was not un l the shutdown of the Covid-19 pandemic that they became increasingly popular. From a strategic perspec ve, however, the ques on now arises as to whether this is a short-term phenomenon or a long-term development. This analysis is crucial to the ques on of whether virtual fairs require an isolated solu on or long-term strategy in the marke ng Virtual fairs – short-term phenomenon or long-term development? Looking at this issue under the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is not only scien fically incorrect, but also dangerous from a business perspec ve. The mo ves for virtual trade fairs are too different and the feedback on the success of virtual trade fairs is just as varied. If you want to make a well-founded decision, virtual fairs must be placed in the context of global and long-term marke ng developments. Probably one of the most central changes in marke ng is the trend towards inbound marke ng or content marke ng. This trend is analogous to the change in user behavior: users want to inform themselves about products and make a well-founded purchase decision themselves. The mes of ac ve selling are over. Marke ng and sales are becoming the customer’s advisors along the customer journey. The contribu on that virtual fairs and real fairs can provide to the customer journey is
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Customer Journey – Digital vs. Physical Touchpoints A very good introduc on to the ques on is to look at the customer journey in terms of digital and physical touchpoints.
The customer-journey view has gained in importance in the context of online marke ng. The reason for this is not that people in offline marke ng have not thought about the customer journey, but rather because of the easier tracking of touchpoints in the digital world. The visualiza on of the touchpoints makes it clear that there are generally fewer physical than digital touch points. The ongoing trend towards digi za on is further accelera ng this. A look at city centers illustrates this development in the area of store touchpoints (retail trade). However, this growing imbalance can also be a possible explana on for the posi ve development of the live communica on sector (trade fairs & events) in recent years. If real trade fairs are “replaced” by virtual trade fairs, further physical touchpoints disappear. This means that virtual fairs are just another digital touchpoint and cannot replace the physical touchpoint “real fair”.
The previous sec on has shown that replacing real fairs with virtual fairs in both the isolated solu on and long term strategy cannot replace physical
touchpoints. So if “virtual fairs” are to be used sensibly, they must necessarily be a sensible supplement to “real fairs” and cannot be considered separately. The advantages and disadvantages of the respec ve formats must always be considered in the context of the customer journey (see sec on 1). The following thoughts serve this purpose: Ÿ Real trade fairs take place at a certain me, at a certain place and are limited to a certain period of me. Ÿ Naturally, the contacts of our target group are in different phases of the customer journey. Due to the restric ons (fixed me & limited me frame) the real event can only reach a part of the target group in terms of the customer journey. Ÿ Virtual fairs (digital events) therefore have the poten al to compensate for the limita ons of the real trade fair ( me and place) The following applies to the use of virtual fairs: The virtual fair must extend the dura on of the real trade fair and thus provide the content on a long-term basis. Ÿ Access to the content must be made available to the target group in every phase of the customer journey. Ÿ
Virtual fair: Standalone vs. Hybride
Save the new dates for EEA & GMI 2020
