Building Brand Awareness in 2025
Increasing brand awareness is a top goal for B2B companies in 2025. But what is a brand? And how can you evolve it to meet your changing company...
3 min read
Katie Steelman Wed, Mar 18, 2015
Trade shows catering to high tech industries such as contract manufacturing or optics are highly targeted, and they're still an important part of an integrated marketing strategy. In Optics & Photonics, Photonics West is the can't-miss show of the year.
In our annual Photonics West Lead Generation Survey, we asked Photonics West attendees to share their results from the show. The survey is our way of helping optics and photonics companies benchmark their marketing performance against others in the field.
This year we received a record number of responses from a variety of companies, from glass manufacturers to capital equipment vendors, and the results are in. We’ve compiled the data in the SlideShare presentation below, but first here are some highlights…
This is the second year in a row that more than half of survey respondents saw an improvement in lead gen over the previous year. This progress suggests that companies may be doing a better job with their trade show marketing, whether that includes pre-show emails, social media promotion, or PR. Promoting their booth number, as well as any presentations or demos they were hosting, likely helped drive prospects toward these companies.
It is also possible that prospects were more engaged because booth staffers were practicing proper trade show booth etiquette. Keeping your booth neat and smartphones put away (unless you’re using them for lead collection, photos or an in-booth activity) can make your booth more appealing to visitors.
The small jump in qualified leads indicates that companies might also be getting better at creating targeted content that resonates with their intended audience.
As in previous years, an overwhelming majority of respondents said that Photonics West is their best performing show. Optifab came in second, with slightly more than half the responses of Photonics West, while Optics + Photonics ranked third.
While the majority of respondents had 10- or 20-ft booths at Photonics West, nearly a quarter chose to walk the show. One respondent said that they walk most of the major O+P shows and find it to be a good way to meet clients and prospects.
If you’re unsure if a particular trade show is a good fit for your company, walking the show on your first visit allows you to get a sense of the show and assess whether it would be worth committing to a booth the following year. Walking also frees up time to:
Respondents were slightly more confident in their trade show preparation than in follow-up. As one respondent commented, “Sometimes the follow-up falls off the radar screen too quickly.”
We often see companies go into a trade show with good marketing momentum and meet a lot of qualified prospects, only to ignore those leads after the show. A clear lead follow-up plan can help business leaders avoid this Post-show Lead Amnesia. Phone calls are standard practice for hot leads, while email nurture campaigns are ideal for cooler leads.
Speaking of follow-up tactics, here are a few notes from the survey:
Also watch for an upcoming blog post on what marketing tactics worked and what didn't at the show. We'll share specific examples of high performers and effective marketing that can improve your ROI.
Increasing brand awareness is a top goal for B2B companies in 2025. But what is a brand? And how can you evolve it to meet your changing company...
Why Even Innovation Powerhouses Struggle to Launch Breakthrough Products (and How to Fix It) In recent years, product launches have slowed. Even...
We work with B2B leaders every day who have extensive marketing data, but don't know what to make of it. It's hard to know you're on track to meet...