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For companies, exhibitions are an important marketing method for building their branding and attracting new customers.
Recently, some companies have been holding online exhibitions and real exhibitions at the same time, which is known as hybrid holding.
For companies, exhibitions are an important marketing method for building their branding and attracting new customers. However, the Corona disaster made it impossible for any company to organise a real exhibition, and most of them may have reluctantly turned to holding online or virtual exhibitions.
Now that the Corona disaster is finally over, many companies are holding real exhibitions for the first time in several years. As mentioned earlier, exhibitions are an important marketing tool for introducing new products and promoting existing ones.
The following three objectives can be stated simply as the purpose of holding exhibitions.
To attract new potential customers, to increase awareness of the company and its products, and to improve relations with existing customers.
Exhibitions are organised according to a certain theme. Therefore, the visitors are basically all interested in the theme of the exhibition. Exhibitors set up their own booths and appeal to visitors by displaying panels and products, demonstrating actual equipment and showing demonstration videos.
Before the Corona disaster, real exhibitions were the norm, but after the Corona disaster, some companies are now able to hold both real and online exhibitions. In this article, we will examine the advantages and disadvantages of real and online exhibitions, the differences between them and their cost-effectiveness.
Before the Corona Disaster, real exhibitions were the mainstream, but in the Corona Disaster, online exhibitions became the mainstream. Online exhibitions are exhibitions held on the web. The purpose of holding them is the same as real exhibitions.
They differ from real exhibitions in that they are held on the web and therefore offer a variety of content, such as virtual exhibitions of products and services, introductions of services using video, and webinars.
The advantages and disadvantages of 2D and 3D exhibitions are that 2D exhibitions are cheaper to organise than 3D exhibitions and do not take as long to prepare. The advantages of 2D exhibitions are that they are cheaper to organise than 3D exhibitions and do not take as long to prepare.
3D takes a certain amount of time and costs. Conversely, the advantages of 3D are that it is more immersive than 2D, users stay longer and are more satisfied, and there is more flexibility in branding. 2D tends to be an extension of the website, making it difficult to differentiate from other companies.
Both have their advantages and disadvantages, so it would be ideal to use them in different ways depending on the theme of the event. The biggest advantage of online exhibitions is that they can be accessed easily by participants via the internet.
For this reason, they have come to be used in a wide range of industries and situations, regardless of whether they are BtoB or BtoC. Other advantages include lower costs compared to real exhibitions, and the fact that they can be held regardless of weather conditions and location. The next section explains more specific advantages of online exhibitions and explores their future potential.
Organising a real exhibition involves significant costs, including administrative costs and exhibition costs. Management costs include labour and time costs for preparation and day-of-show operations. In addition, the costs of staff travel and operating costs are also included in management costs.
Exhibition costs are the costs of renting exhibition space and setting up the venue. Generally, it is said that exhibition events held jointly by companies cost between 300,000 and 500,000 yen. Other exhibition costs include the cost of producing sales promotion materials.
These costs incurred at a real exhibition can be kept low by using an online exhibition. In addition, while real exhibitions are affected by weather and climate, online exhibitions are not.
Furthermore, the location of a real exhibition is important, and the number of visitors is limited, but an online exhibition can be easily accessed by anyone on the internet.
On the other hand, depending on the theme or product, online exhibitions may not be as attractive as they could be, and attracting visitors tends to be a bottleneck. In addition, if an online exhibition is to be held independently, it is essential to build a dedicated website.
This requires a web production company or the use of tools and platforms sold by vendors, which can be time-consuming to prepare. However, now that the Corona Disaster has passed, both real and online exhibitions can be held.
The hurdles for organising exhibitions themselves have been lowered and the methods used are more varied than in the past, such as using both real and online exhibitions, or joint or independent exhibitions, depending on the theme and products to be exhibited.
Recently, some companies are holding online and real exhibitions at the same time, and this is even referred to as hybrid holding, so it is likely to become a key point in the future to hold exhibitions flexibly without being influenced by the advantages and disadvantages of each.
◎Advantages
・Low cost compared to real exhibitions.
・Not affected by weather, climate or infectious disease outbreaks.
・Reaches customers in distant locations.
◎Disadvantages
・Difficult to communicate the attractiveness of certain products.
・Difficult to attract real customers.
・Difficult to build a website
◎Advantages
・Hand out leaflets and materials about your products.
・Set up signs that can be read from a distance.
・Disadvantages of a real exhibition: - Monitors and demo equipment in locations that can be seen by passers-by.
◎Disadvantages
・Exhibitor fees, booth decorations, notices, management and other costs.
・Time-consuming preparation for distribution and delivery.
・Time-consuming preparation for distribution and delivery.
・Difficult to measure effectiveness.
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