SaaS GTM in Japan: Trade Shows and Events in Japan

Introduction

Trade shows and events may not be as mainstream as some of the ubiquitous marketing channels like SEO or SEM, but they are great ways to collect leads in Japan. Incorporating trade shows and events makes Japan go-to-market strategies robust by adding offline channels as part of lead generation. These offline initiative could be a shortcut to adding more customers in Japan.

When To Consider Trade Shows and Events

Events and trade shows and are great to consider when you want to add offline channels as part of lead generation. These offline channels also help with increasing brand awareness.

Trade Shows

Trade shows are great for getting a lot of email addresses. Business cards will be exchanged as a formality, so keeping track of these leads will be relatively easy. These may not be the most qualified leads, but trade shows boast large attendance. Working through these leads can result in revenue.

Trade shows are also great for getting in front of audiences who may not be actively looking or are not up-to-date with new technologies. Many SMBs and large enterprises will send their employees to learn about new technologies. Trade shows are where many buyers learn about new technologies:

The trade show participants likely need new technology but may not be coming in through digital channels. trade shows offer a unique, offline opportunity for attendees to learn about new technologies and connect with companies that could potentially provide a solution.

Events

Events are great if you’re looking to break into and become an active part of a specific community. The tech and startup scene is relatively small in Japan compared to the major hubs like Silicon Valley, so the communities are very tight-knit. One way of breaking into a community is becoming an active participant in the events. These events are likely to be less formal than trade shows.

Are Trade Shows and Events Worth It?

Business Card Culture

Determining whether trade shows provide a positive ROI is more manageable in Japan thanks to the business card culture. Business cards are traded quite often and openly at trade shows and events. A common KPI with trade shows and events is the “number of business cards collected.” Though this metric is arguably a vanity metric, it can provide a rough overview of the success level. Keeping track of the business is important to calculate a precise ROI.

Calculating ROI

Business cards add structure to the collection of leads at trade shows and events. This makes the ROI calculation quite simple:

Once you have the customer acquisition cost (CAC), you can compare it to the expected lifetime value and see whether the ROI is positive.

Trade Shows and Events

Broader Trade Shows

Some of the larger trade shows in Japan will have over 100,000 attendees with close to a thousand booths. trade shows dedicated to IT in Japan will have a broader category with subcategories. For example, The trade show may be about “IT” with marketing, e-commerce, and cybersecurity as subcategories. Here are a few of notable trade shows around technology in Japan:

Interop: trade show on AI Society & Internet. Their 2024 event in June had 124,482 attendees

Japan IT Week: trade show once a quarter, two in Tokyo, one in Nagoya, and one in Osaka. Each trade show has a broader theme around technology. You can expect around 50,000 attendees.

DXPO: trade show on digital transformation (DX). The 2024 theme is on back-office DX. The 2023 event had around 6,000 attendees.

Vertical-Specific Events

Similar to other regions, there are smaller and more focused events in Japan. These events are around a specific field, vertical, or sector. For example, the following two events are quite notable:

RubyKaigi: This event is dedicated to the programming language, Ruby. Ruby has a strong presence in Japan (with the creator being Japanese). This event is (probably) the largest Ruby event in the world.

Design Matters Tokyo: This event is the Tokyo version of the global Design Matters events.

There are countless smaller events that could be considered for event marketing strategies in Japan. Getting connected with the local community could also be a shortcut to growth in Japan.

Conclusion

trade shows and events can be rewarding in Japan. Many buyers in Japan get valuable information from these offline events. Though they may not be as scalable as digital channels, they provide the opportunity to get in front of a different audience than digital channels. If Japan entry and expansion is something you’re considering, book a free consultation here.