My parents and their business partners promoted a series of very successful rare and antiquarian book and paper shows in Pennsylvania over the span of about 20 years.
The mailing list for dealers/potential dealers who would get contracts and other show-related mailings was EXTENSIVE.
One of my jobs at every show was to walk around to all of our dealers who were set up and ensure that the contact information we had for them was, in fact, correct.
We had more than a dozen dealers who did every single show with us.
The advertising budget? We were small beans compared to some of the shows (but we were hosting these in York, Lancaster, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, not one of the major metro areas) so by comparison our advertising budget was small, but we still hit every trade paper in the country as well as newspapers in most major metro areas in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.
You knew it paid off, too, when you would look out just before the doors opened on Saturday and see 500 people waiting to get in.