Homebound Water Industry Adapts To Travel-Less Reality

By Bill King

Research conducted in 2018 by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research indicated that companies who participate in industry events allocate nearly 40 percent of their marketing budget to exhibitions and industry shows, almost five times more than the 8% spent on online marketing.

That’s a staggering number considering that even before the coronavirus-related cancellations and postponements that we are currently witnessing in the water industry, exhibitors had been experiencing less and less booth traffic from end users over time at individual shows.

There are a number of reasons for this. One of the principal reasons is a result of the last crash in the markets that we experienced back in 2008 -- the great recession. Cash-strapped municipalities significantly reduced their travel budgets, only sending senior managers and leaders to national events. Mid-level and operational staff were restricted to more local, sectional events in their own backyards. A crop of issue-related conferences emerged, pulling specialists away for general events to speak and attend more specific, focused networking meetings.

Let’s hope that the current economic concerns of local business owners and employees doesn’t trigger a similar fall off in municipal revenues and that the shuttering of restaurants, gyms and shops is only a short term hit that we quickly recover from.

In many ways, it isn’t that customers have been traveling less. They are just traveling to more diverse gatherings. The impact of individual events for exhibitors has been dropping off and yet the volume of events has been exploding. The tradeshow budget has not got any smaller. It’s just been spread thinner over a bevy of events that each pull in a smaller handful of meaningful contacts.

And now COVID-19 has arrived. Figures published by data intelligence company PredictHQ indicate that in February alone, concerns about the coronavirus led to a 500% surge in cancellations and postponements of significant events. And that was before state- and worldwide leaders began severely reducing face-to-face interactions by enacting significant travel bans and limitations.

Many of our association friends and colleagues are successfully rescheduling events for later in the year. Fingers crossed it’s going to be a busy Fall.

As the water industry reacts to the impacts of coronavirus on travel, it offers another opportunity for Sales leaders to evaluate their marketing mix and the steps they are taking to reach prospects and customers outside of events. In some ways, it’s an overdue reevaluation. For while individual show ROI has been falling, Web-based online engagement has been on a tear and continues to grow exponentially.

More water and wastewater professionals turn to the Web everyday to find valuable thought leaders and engage with information-rich content. And at a fraction of the cost of exhibiting at the lowest producing events in your travel plans.