Submitted
as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master in Business
Administration
with a Specialization in Management and Strategic Leadership by:
Jose
Ramon Sanchez
Author
Note
Jose Ramon
Sanchez was born in Caracas, Venezuela, with over thirty years of experience in
the business world, mainly in the fields of Graphic Arts and the Agroindustry.
He is a University professional visionary, inspiring, competent and consistent
with his ideals. Highlight in him a leadership capacity, and a solid knowledge
of his profession. His Bachelor's degree is in Business Administration, specialty
marketing (BBA, Major: Marketing). He has extensive experience in Project Management
and in the understanding of the business issues.
Abstract
The trade fair is a mercantile tool
usually used in Promotion. Fairs are
instruments of unquestionable value for companies, which use them to promote
their products, retain or acquire new customers, establish business contacts, and
others aspects of interest. In the past decade of the 20th century, and at the
beginning of the 21st century, the development of new technologies,
more specifically Internet, is changing the way of doing business and facilitating
exchanges with customers. The objective of this work is to analyze the
importance of traditional trade fairs with newer marketing tools. In addition,
at a more concrete level, the intention of this study is to explore the
similarities and differences of the traditional fairs with the fairs carried
out through e-marketing. We intend to highlight the advantages and limitations
of both channels of marketing.
The purpose of
this qualitative research is to understand the differences between traditional
trade fairs against the newer marketing tools over the Internet. According to
literature and data studied during this research, we identified some conflicts
between both schemes. A questionnaire was distributed to business people who develop
business in Tampa Bay area. Since the researcher identified the refusal to
accept by the final users the new marketing tools, it was concluded that the
resistance to assimilate this modern trade product, is because there are not
enough technicians able to manage these types of projects, and the labor hour
is expensive. A business opportunity
exits implementing courses referents to business over Internet.
Keywords:
Trade Shows, Trade Fairs, Industrial Marketing, Trade Show Planning,
Integrated Trade Show Communications, Integrated Marketing Communications, Relationship
Marketing, Trade Show Marketing, Effectiveness of Trade shows, Internet
Marketing, Electronic Trade Fairs, Business over Internet
Chapter I: Problem Background
A trade show is
that trade exhibition through which is achieved a high degree of attendance of
exhibitors and public to negotiate products with high quality and special
prices. Within the context of trade, fairs will find different kinds: local,
regional, national, and international. A definition for trade fair is a
collective visit by businesspersons from different sectors, properly planned,
to a city or region of the world, to establish trade contacts. This event is considered
a positive strategy in the area of sales to open new markets. This research
establishes the origin of the today's trade fairs with origin in the medieval
fairs. To structure a study, a challenge of circumscribing the scenario in two
directions exists: treating just one aspect, a specific fair studying it in
depth, or deal with it by making a full study of different type of fairs. For
this reason, we have decided to gather a set of data taken from documentary
sources concerning our working hypothesis and a flexible study that allows us
to treat it from a general perspective.
Trade fairs are an
important channel for promotion of commerce. With this instrument is possible
to implement commercial communications to stimulate our business and to afford a
personal devotion to our purchasers, improving the dissemination and providing communication
in the commercial world. Those improvements not only benefit the companies in
relation to exhibiting visitors. Trade fairs also create a special economic benefit
in the city, region, or state in which they are happening. They are a gorgeous,
profitable, and infomercial business events for the development of markets. Regardless
of being a tool with various years old, they maintain an essential importance in
the industrial marketing. On the other hand, new tools, like Internet are revolutionizing
how to do commerce and smoothing the progress of trade by organizations.
Problem Statement
An online fair,
also known as a virtual fair or electronic fair, is an online version of a
traditional fair. They allow companies and customers to meet and discuss business
opportunities through specialized websites. Like a traditional fair, online
fairs are live, fully interactive, and held at specific times. Online fairs
have grown in popularity and use, now being utilized by some colleges and
Fortune 500 companies. A virtual fair is intended to be a simulation of a real
fair with virtual booths, virtual people, and samples of products, chats, and
virtual decorations. In recent years, it has created a virtual trade fair
environment, which, despite being still a nascent market, offers multiple
benefits for the various actors of the fair market. In addition to the price, these
include other advantages like the comfort of a flexible schedule. The exhibitor
can edit in real time your stand and your offer without changing the whole
event. In addition, the fair is open to the public 24 hours 365 days a year.
That is, the virtual fairs allow contact with new buyers and reach the most
remote markets full time, provided they meet certain essential requirements.
An online fair you
must have content and quality of specific advertising techniques. It should
also have both exhibitors and visitors, just as the physical fair, to consider
your event a commercial tool in its sector. Therefore, have a network of
professional contacts that may interact with each other 24 hours a day both by chat,
by phone, or even better in video conferencing, is essential. Also, just like
that in the face-to-face fairs have professional organizers and suppliers
specializing in the virtual environment. It is clear, then, that a virtual fair
may not be a simple web page. Internet offers countless benefits to the scope
of the trade of marketing fairs. The emergence of the virtual fairs, that
optimize resources and increasing business opportunities without making costly
investments, becomes a good alternative of marketing to exhibiting companies.
However, the exhibitor continues for the face-to-face contest and is that
personal encounter never may be replaced by a videoconference, a chat, or a
phone conversation via Skype. However, technology marks the rhythm of our lives
and the virtual fairs offer a wide range of shopping possibilities. It seems
that soon, we will witness the implementation of a virtual parallel to the
physical fair business.
A supplement,
which, well used, will help to increase our results at traditional fairs and
will bring us more benefits. However, despite the advantages these shows have
not been able to provide the expected results. These events present with several
obstacles for their definitive implementation, and end users argue they have lost
the closeness to the customer, that the treatment is colder. This is on equal
terms than all of our competitors, who have more competition and that
medium-sized and small enterprises, do not have the necessary technical staff,
for the handling of them virtual scenarios.
Purpose Statement
The purpose of
this study is to analyze the role of trade fairs in comparison with other
marketing tools. In addition, at a more concrete level, the author of this work
intended to study the similarities and differences of the fairs, and electronic
marketing. Trade fairs are important instrument for development of business.
With this tool is possible to perform commercial communications to promote a company,
to provide a personal attention to customers, improve the distribution, and provide
information of the business position in the commercial environment. Those
advantages not only benefit the companies in relation to the exhibiting
visitors, Trade fairs also constitute a special economical phenomenon in the
city, region, or state in which they take place. They are a complex, rich, and
effective commercial phenomenon for the development of the markets. Despite
being a tool with several centuries old, they maintain an enormous vitality and
considered about as fundamental in industrial marketing.
Significance of the Study
Internet marketing
is a relatively new field that has brought about new and faster techniques of
reaching customers. Businesses are turning to this mode as it instantly reaches
the target consumers. The research paper will illustrate that businesses can
increase their customers satisfaction and turn around any negative customer
attitudes concerning their products and services. If the owners of small and
medium-sized businesses in the Tampa Bay area used the tools of the Internet,
to develop virtual fairs, they could lower their operating and promotional
costs, could raise revenues, as well as they would obtain betters marketing
results. This topic is about the latest technology in use by business firms,
such as marketing virtual fairs that business use to advance their goals. This
topic deals with online marketing strategies that are suitable for small and
middle businesses. This research area is essential due to the high number of
businesses coming up. The research will draw attention to the benefits and
drawbacks of these online marketing strategies for businesses.
Fairs remain as an
instrument of unquestionable significance for companies. According to (Stevens,
2005), five major scenarios evidenced at the trade fairs exist, (a) promote
products to a professional audience, (b) retain and loyalty to current
customers, (c) promote cross-selling of products, (d) know the reality of
business and the competitive position of the Exhibitor from the rest, 5(e)
encourage the introduction of new products and new markets. Additionally
consulted studies make us to deduce that bigger clients are preferably to be
treated at fairs while e-marketing tends to be more used to manage small
accounts or to keep informed on the latest advances and the company launches
customer. Secondly, both e marketing and trade fairs have specific
characteristics that reflect its suitability with respect other, depending on
the promotion objectives depending on the moment and the situation.
Fairs are incomparable instruments for
establishing business relations with other companies or clients, despite its
high cost; e marketing, instead, less cost to the company obtaining greater
penetration not sensitive to seasonality you have fairs. In fact, according to
a report by (Yankelovixh/Harris Interactive, 2001) (Stevens, 2005) the fairs
were valued by employers over other tools such as e-commerce marketing. The
study stated that 64% of those attending to the fairs would recommend a product
promoted in this event, compared to 50%, which would only do so after visiting
a web page. As a result, the study also follows that commercial instruments,
trade fairs, and electronic marketing, are complementary and not alternative
tools that enhances the unquestionable validity of the fairs in the era of new
technologies of information and communications.
All this implies
adopting a multidisciplinary vision to the fairs, always, whereas the
correlative affects that might achieve in comparison to other tools of
marketing (Zikmund & D'Amico, 2001). As we have seen, the technological
development has allowed exploiting complementarities between trade fairs and e
marketing. Thus emerged the virtual fairs that have managed to combine the
virtues of trade fairs and electronic marketing and overcome its limitations.
The future of the virtual fairs probably moves in the near future around the
virtual worlds, where companies and consumers, are living in an alternate here
and now.
In the traditional
fair format, exhibitors expend an effort to attract the curiosity of potential
customers for striking up a conversation about their commercial goals, and to
share with participants the benefit of commercializing with their company. In
that sense, exhibitors rent a booth in a conference center. They stock the
booth with program information and decorate it with material regarding their
organizations. This involves, fair registration fees,
translation/printing/shipping of fair materials into the local language
traditional fairs will often include seminars with topics of interest,
including presentations by consular officers about navigating and legalizing
merchandise the customers wish to highlight. Likewise, other costs are associated
with having special activities and events, around the fair schedule, such as
meetings with local partners, marketing and catering of special events and
seminars; airfare, visa fees, hotels, meals, laundry, for each one of the
company representatives.
By contrast,
virtual fairs use technologies, which allow sellers to chat with buyers via
webcam and/or instant messaging. This allows companies to pass information and
brochures to buyers electronically, and to handle multiple conversations at
once using chat room and instant messaging software. Virtual fairs can take the
form of a small web conference with virtual presentation software, such as
PowerPoint slides uploaded into web conference software, and simply dialed in
to the phone line that was dedicated for that conference in order to access the
audio service necessary to give my presentation and to participate in the
conversation. The major advantage of virtual fairs is the fact that they
dramatically reduce the costs related to mobilization, fair registration fees
may be higher in order to cover the costs associated with the technology, which
can be outsourced by the organizer, one does not have to pay for printing,
shipping, hotels, food, airfare, and other travel expenses.
In the author
opinion, virtual fairs do not seem to be as effective as traditional fairs for
recruiting new customers. The major drawback of the virtual fair format is that
it eliminates the personal connection face-to-face that the company is able to
talk with and smile, laugh at their jokes and I make a few jokes of my own make
with the spokespersons of other companies, when we make a connection, while
they are at our booth. We are in the possibility of answer their questions,
finalizing the conversations with a sincere promise to be easily available to
them as they make their decisions. The author is not convinced of the
effectiveness of virtual fairs for driving negotiations with customers on the
business-to-business format. The face-to-face meetings are still necessary in
order to form strong relationships with overseas agents, the virtual fair in a
B2B format provides a decent and inexpensive alternative to agent workshops, and
I do not feel that they will ultimately be very successful for our purposes.
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