Customer Reviews

Trade Show & Event Marketing: Plan, Promote & Profit

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the late 1970s, I managed trade show exhibits for a division of a Fortune 500 manufacturer. So I can say from first-hand experience that Ruth's book is filled on every page with exactly the kind of guidance and instructions a business needs to make its trade show exhibiting less stressful and more successful. I highly recommend it.

If you are in marketing and you exhibit at trade shows, this book may change your behavior forever. Not only does it provide in-depth information about what trade shows can do and how they operate, but it also explains the financial structure you should put in place to determine whether participating in a trade show is worth your while financially. That may be bad news for corporate marketers who prefer to unpack their booth, buy the coffee and flowers, and hand out literature.
But if you want to turn a trade show appearance into a truly special corporate event, author Ruth Stevens has a game plan for you. Her book includes sample budgets, case studies, expense spread sheets, lead generation forms, checklists, survey ideas and a great appendix listing sources of additional information. It explains everything you need to know about the opportunities that trade shows offer and how you can use them to advance your marketing goals. We highly recommend this book to marketing managers of business-to-business companies who want to start getting solid returns from special events.

Ruth Stevens has compiled a great great resource for anyone doing any type of event - from seminars to full-blown trade shows. This is a valuable resource for any marketing library and a must for anyone responsible for ROI on any type of event.

Not until I dug into the case histories did I realize how truly valuable this book is. These punchy examples drive home point after point with clarity that makes all other how-to books I've read on this subject pale by comparison. "Put Ruth in Your Booth" could be its subtitle.

Ruth has hit all the right buttons in this book. As a trade show consultant, too many of my clients focus on the display and event on the show floor, neglecting the pre-show and post-show part of the medium. When you take Ruth's well-documented book literally and plan, promote, you will indeed profit. Especially with proper post-show lead development. I am sending copies of this one to my best clients and prospects.

Ruth P. Stevens, Trade Show and Event Marketing, is an excellent resource for helping to strategize, plan, manage, and market for the event industry. Her book includes 10 case histories which help with an understanding of the planning and promoting of events. If you are looking for something practical, which also hits on strategy, than this is the right book for you. Her goal in writing this book is to help with making event marketing valuable and effective, and to provide means to demonstrate ROI. She helps connect metrics to your objectives.

As a direct marketer who is involved with event and trade show marketing, I found this book helpful for developing strategic approaches to event marketing. Ruth Stevens has a couple of objectives in this book to help business marketers:

1. Make trade shows and corporate events a valuable and effective part of their entire go-to-market strategies.
2. Manage their business event investments in a way that provides demonstrable ROI.

This book is a must for any event marketer. If you are looking for something that hits both strategy and gets into some helpful tactics than this book is for you. I highly recommend it.

Ruth Stevens' Trade Show and Event Marketing has proven to be a very useful book with many good ideas. As a Marketing representative who has worked in both the Tech Industry and for Consumer Products companies I have had the opportunity to attend a wide variety of trade shows, ranging from annual Comdex and CES shows in Las Vegas, to ECRM, NACS, and GMDC shows around the country. When you are dealing with such high costs and logistical problems at these shows you can tend to feel overwhelmed. But authors like Ruth Stevens have helped to pave the way, making our paths to trade show success a little more pleasant, by way of communicating a thoughtful approach to difficult problems. Good work!
Review by: Adam Platts, Northridge

Excellent direction on how to make a trade show work for your business. Detailed, authoritative, fun to read. This book is a must-read.

Completely comprehensive on every aspect of trade shows and event marketing. Whether you are part of show management or an exhibitor this book is a solid reference. Even if you are seasoned at trade show and event marketing - you will learn something from this book.