Marketing Wisdom

Do you do events? If you go to tradeshows, then, yes, you do events. 

Something that a LOT of people who do events (i.e. are in charge of setting up their booth, their display, etc.) don’t ever do, is step back and walk the booth like one of their customers. They step back and look at it from a “presentation” aspect, that, it looks nice, that the “logo” can be seen and has the right “light” on it, and so on.

But, do you step back and look at from the perspective of their customer? Of an individual that has been standing for six hours, that is tired beyond belief and just wants to sit down and have the meeting.  Or do you look at it from the perspective of your customer, who is only three feet tall (i.e. kids).  Or from the perspective that your booth will have 300 people in it and no one will be able to see anything below the height of six feet.

How many times do you hang your banner on the front of the table, because it won’t “fit anywhere else”. Put 10 people in front of your table, and the banner is ineffective.

Just think – put yourself in their shoes! It will save you time and give you a much better ROI on your brand, your product, and your efforts.

So many events, so little time.  How can you manage, or, more to the point, understand the “right” event to go to (to expose your product or service)?

It comes down to some common sense.  Ask yourself the following questions and then decide which event you should attend:

1) Does this event target my market?

Do the people who attend this event “want” my service or product? Will they purchase or provide me a lead if I attend? Will my sales increase because I attended the event?

2) Does this event help my brand?

Will my brand become more “famous”? Will my brand be exposed to the right target market? This is different then #1 above, as some companies attend events to get brand exposure and awareness, where sales are secondary to the company (at that time).

3) Does this event give me the exposure I want?

Will my product, service, or brand be exposed to the right market? Will the press come? Will I get the inquiries that I need to “up the ante” of my product, service, or brand?

4) Will my bottomline be affected by attending this event?

It will definitely affect it in the negative, as most shows cost a minimum of $10K to attend, and more likely to be in the three diget range. But, will it pay for itself. If not, then why attend – see #2 and #3 above, which could offset the bottomline cost.

5) Because I attend this year (or this quarter, month, etc.), do I have to attend again next year? And if not, will I lose credibility in the marketplace if I don’t?

There are of course many more questions that can be asked.  And most likely, you will need to have those answers before you can do the show (i.e. a presentation to managment to gain approval of the budget).  But, start with these, as they will help you wrap your head around the most fundamental issues involved with event marketing.