I have been using micro-learning with these social media images, rather than long blogs. They seem to do well in Instagram, for sure. There is no CTA as I am merely posting as a private citizen. (..and job hunting)
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Without embellishment, I have worked at, managed or attended 200 “trade shows,” ranging from a 24’ tall laminated monster booth at the 2nd largest exhibit on the planet (RSNA) to humbly standing next to a table in random hotel hallway.
Events remain relevant for marketing – however, they remain expense. Squeezing value is essential, especially as EVERY marketing activity (spend) is benchmarked against digital marketing’s trackable ROI.
I have many tactical tips for event success. A smart nice post from Smith Debnam Narron Drake Saintsing & Myers, LLP reminded me of some strategic tips – meaningful even if you’re just attending… not exhibiting.
Set appropriate exceptions with senior management.
This is critical for B2B events for solutions that typically have long and multilayered buying processes for target prospects. For these type events, my internal positioning (budget justification) weighs heavy on branding and booth polish and professionalism. I want to a.) look organized for current clients, reinforcing their decision to continue working with us; b.) look sharp and solid for prospects (of course) and c.) look badass for industry peers (trust us to partner with) and competitors (fear us).
Don’t JUST stand in the exhibit hall.
Conferences provide an incomparable chance for to learn, teach and network. Find the balance while you are there: attending sessions, speaking on topics and proactively making time to network. It’s impossible not to check emails, but strive to have conversations during breaks. Spend that time meeting new people and prospective clients. Remember, you are PAYING to be there. You could have stayed back in your office to check email.
Plan your time before you travel
One week before arriving at a conference, take time to review the agenda and, if provided, the attendee list. Set a balanced schedule of the sessions you want to attend. Don’t over book yourself and then “fail.” Also, contact attendees ahead of the conference to plan dinners, sit-togethers at a lunch, and plan to meet-up at a party or hotel bar. Don’t leave this to chance. Don’t leave any of this planning to random passings in a hallway.
Immerse yourself with event engagement
Conferences are work, period. You reap what you sow. Never decline an invitation to participate on a session panel. These are prime opportunities to enrich your personal and corporate brand. Also, dig in to broader conversations by following the event’s social media #hashtag. Tag your tweets and posts and monitor the hashtag throughout the conference to get a sense to the industry issues that others are discussing.
As always, “analog networking” is still relevant
Don’t forget your business cards. Exchange them with great enthusiasm. Make organized notes on the back of the cards you receive. This will make your post-conference follow-up decidedly more effective. Also, make sure you enter them into your marketing department’s demand-gen lead form. Please.
Use digital in real-time
Send LinkedIn connection invites that night. Just get it done. You will appear organized, not over eager or “uncool.” It’s business.
Follow up personally and feed your marketing database
Once you are back in the office, photocopy your cards and give them to your marketing team to assure all contacts are catalogued. You can also use your phone camera and email them. Just get it done ASAP. The ROI tracking will be a priority for next year’s dance to justify the needed revenue to attend.
Order your personal follow up action items by importance and styl of: handwritten note, email, LinkedIn DM, phone call, etc.
Make a re-cap memo
Share what you saw and learned at the conference with peers and management. Include competitive news, industry trends and emotional impressions. Be frank to the value of attending and exhibiting.
Exhibiting or just attending conference is expensive. Being strategic and on-purpose will add value, far beyond having your logo on booth wall. That’s just lazy.
Use GIF images for graphics, JPG for photos. That's it..
Graphics include illustrations, most icons and screen shots, etc.
Photos: including this shot of the cup of coffee grounds I got while driving. A better photo would be of me trying to wipe grounds OFF my tongue with copier paper... at 65mph.
Embrace your authenticity and free your content.
Not all content is pretty.
I have experienced this dozens of times at the conferences I have hosted. Presenters try to send in PPT files that are 50MB and larger.
Quite often, this occurs with real estate, oil & gas and drilling firms. Their presentations tend to include many high-res arial photographs and maps. This will not affect the visual "screen" or projected resolution display.
Click on your inserted photo to activate the compress function, upper left. Sorry, there is not delete funny people function.
The ONLY place Kashi acknowledges they are a Kellogg’s property is in the investor relations materials – never on the cereal boxes.
Kudos to Kellogg’s for recognizing that their shareholders like the Kellogg’s/Kashi financial brand story – but the healthy earthy crunchy folks who EAT Kashi cereal (and associate Kellogg’s brand with sicky-sweet-unhealthy cereal) do not. This was a very savvy and brand-humble decision by Kellogg’s marketing.
Not every “product” you may own fits under your brand, especially if you are active in M&A. Some can be assimilated overtime, but be wary if the house brand it so concrete in a wrong direction.
Cursing is “plain English” and – exactly as we use it verbally – you can use creatively to add “color.” I would not suggest dropping an F-bomb.
This ad, the final “punch-line" in a series, was sent ten’s of thousands of times in hardcopy direct mail, magazine, email and online. It did damn well.
BLOG ARCHIVES:
Since 2009, I have been blogging contiguously about investor relations,
regulatory complacence and marketing. Here is my archived content: