Trade Shows: A Strategic Marketing Tool for Global Vompetition

Markets and business relationships today have become global. In the meantime, it is noticed that the trade shows and exhibition industry has experienced a rapid growth. Trade shows are considered as a vital communication technique for those companies that operate in international markets. Making them an integral part of the marketing communication strategy in turbulence periods enables companies in: developing customer relationships; offering possibilities for sales and sales promotion; undertaking and maintaining good international business relations; monitoring international competition, as well as, minimizing entry barriers in new markets. During the last 5 years, trade shows usage has increased considerably even in Albania. Companies operating in different industries meet their competitors and their target markets in specific trade shows every year. But, it is important to mention the fact that even though trade shows usage is increasing constantly, research on its effectiveness is still limited.The aim of this paper is to study the effectiveness of marketing communication techniques. More specifically, it is focused in studying the usage of trade shows as a strategic marketing tool in competing in international markets. For this reason there were chosen two Albanian based companies that operate solely in foreign markets: FPM Albania and Henry ltd. Both companies focus their communication strategies in international markets solely on trade shows, which facilitated the process of evaluating the effectiveness of this marketing technique on variables such as sales, international business contacts, market research, etc.