Building Brand Awareness at Trade Shows

First quarter for most companies is trade show hell. I know I've had my share of them. Some that are back to back. But, are you getting the most out of your trade shows? I attended one in January and I was so amazed at some of the smaller companies who had no visitors ... and I mean no visitors ... coming to their booth. I inquired to find out how the show was for them. They said it was okay. Even though they weren't getting much traffic, very many leads, or much interest, they still felt they needed to be at that show. Not really the results that I would want if it were my company.

So, how do you promote yourself and integrate brand awareness into your trade shows? It's very easy. Remember these three rules.

1. Remember the "C" word consistency and the "R" word repetition. Loyal customers will remain true to you if they trust you. So, if you communicate to your customers what you stand for, they will come back for more. Keep your image consistent and repeat it in all of the marketing materials that you use for the show...from the tchotchkes to the pre-show mailer, to the literature that you hand out.
2. Make sure your corporate identity, that is, your logo, tagline, slogans, typeface, colors are all consistent in your marketing literature, website, and even e-mails. When people see you they will recognize you just by looking at your logo, layout, or colors.
3. Know your customers' perceptions of your company and products. If you don't have a clue how people perceive you, then do some informal surveys at the trade show. What a great way to informally ask people what they like or don't like about your company.

Your exhibit booth should be considered just like any other marketing communications vehicle. So, make sure the graphics, the colors, the logo, etc. are consistent with your other marketing materials. Be sure you are conveying a consistent message with your booth graphics and that message should reinforce your overall corporate branding message.

Too often companies will just show up, set up the booth, and hope the people will come. What incentive did you give them? Did you announce that you were attending the show? Did you do any pre-show activities, plan any events, or promote your company in any way? I see so much wasted marketing dollars being spent on trade shows that aren't successful. Did you even set any goals for the trade show so that you know if it is successful or not?

Train your staff to engage people to come into your booth and see what you have to offer. I see so many sales reps just talking to themselves. Or worse yet, they have their backs turned or their arms crossed which shouts "Stay Out". So, make your booth inviting. Make people be curious to find out what you are all about. One way to do this is through pre-show promotion, whether it be pre-show mailers, e-mail blasts, advertising, or web advertising.

And, don't forget to follow up after the show. Again, maybe you had a successful show, but you would never know it if you don't leave a good impression upon your exhibit guests. Show them that you care. Provide them the information they requested. And follow up with them again several weeks after the show to see if they need any further information.

All of these activities contribute to create a great experience, which, in turn, builds brand awareness for your company.

Neuromarketing: Have you Tried it?

According to Wikipedia, "neuromarketing is a new field of marketing that studies consumers' sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective responses to marketing stimuli. Researchers use technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure changes in activity in parts of the brain, electroencephalography (EEG) to measure activity in specific regional spectra of the brain response, and/or sensors to measure changes in one's physiological state such as heart rate, respiratory rate, galvanic skin response, etc. The goal is to learn why consumers make the decisions they do, and what part of the brain is telling them to do it."

It's long been known that people aren't necessarily truthful when asked if they like a product and why? So, neuromarketing takes market research to the next level and focuses on the subliminal nature of the brain's response. It's really neuroscience combined with marketing research. Neuromarketing helps the marketer understand what exactly the consumer is reacting to, whether it be the color of the package, the sound the product makes, or some other nuance.

In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the author described how Campbell's Soup recently used neuromarketing to rebrand its soups. They now have categorized their various product lines and have made the brand more evident by color coding the labeling. The company identity is much smaller and at a lower eye level so it isn't so prominent. Campbell's is hoping that an emotional response will be triggered when consumers see the new branding in grocery stores, and, in turn, will stimulate sales of their soups.

In the past, neuromarketing was a very expensive approach to marketing, but it is definitely more affordable as technological advances have been made. So, it is more accessible to more companies. Now, you may not be ready to embrace this type of market research for your company, but you may be able to stretch your marketing efforts a bit to really understand what drives your customers to purchase your products. As the technology matures, neuromarketing also will grow in popularity and use.

Happy Valentine's Day

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day...a day when we show our sweethearts how much we love them. But, do you also show your customers how much you care for them? Do you nurture those sales leads? Do you follow up with customer inquiries? Do you handle customer complaints in an efficient, caring way? I'll bet you that many companies don't spread the love to their customers on a consistent basis. You're probably too busy chasing new customers and dropping the ball on paying attention to existing customers. So, why is customer retention so important?

Yes, I agree we all need new customers and we all need to continue to grow our database of prospects. But, marketing tends to generate inquiries and doesn't think about developing programs to maintain and preserve the equity they already have in their existing customers. I know we would all like to have our customers stay with us "until death do us part" but we know in reality that isn't possible. But, what can you do to spread a little love to your customers? Here are a few tips.

• Make sure you are in constant contact with your customers. This is easily accomplished through monthly e-newsletters, your blog, or some other type of regular correspondence.

• Offer your loyal customers some incentive to remain loyal. Make them feel special. Give them special previews of things to come. Provide them information before you send it out to the general public.

• Create special marketing programs just for existing customers. You could offer a discount or invite them to a unique event for customers only. Whatever you do, make sure they feel special.

• Ask your customers to participate in surveys so you receive feedback (both good and bad) in order to improve your customer service, products, or how you interact with those customers.

• Plan an open house and showcase your facility. This is a great opportunity for your customers to have one-on-one conversations with your executive management. This can be a very good learning experience for all.

So, this Valentine's Day, don't just think about your sweetheart. Think about how you can make your customers feel loved. You'll reap many dividends for years to come.

New iPad from Apple: Have you seen it yet?

All the buzz this week has been about Apple's new iPad. What do you think about it? Will you go out and buy one when they hit the stores?

I'm sure most of the early adopters and techie people will jump at the chance to buy one, especially since Apple has priced them in an affordable price range. But how do you think business-to-business applications may use this new tool? Right now, most of my clients are still PC based and use a Blackberry rather than an iPhone for text messaging and retrieving e-mails. So, do you think this technology will be widely used in businesses at some time in the future?

I, for one, can see it being a great tool to display my portfolio or provide a really beautiful presentation when I'm pitching a client. And, also as I am sitting in a meeting, I can take notes using the word processing capability of Pages. I, of course, being in the marketing and advertising profession, am an Apple fanatic, anyway.

But, I see this technology going even further at some time in the future. Think of all the applications that can be written for such a device. Wireless and portability are the wave of the future. Even Steve Jobs said, "Apple is a mobile devices company" in his keynote speech when he introduced the iPad on January 27, 2010. The new tablet is positioned as a product in between the iPhone and the laptop. I'm not saying your desktop computer is technology of the past but mobility is definitely the buzzword of the future.

Marketing Research: It's Chicken Soup for Your Marketing Plan

I just returned to the office after attending a trade show in Palm Springs, CA. While I was there I was approached by someone who was starting a new company and wanted to get some market research to confirm this entrepreneur's thoughts and ideas about a particular marketplace. I got to thinking that many of my clients don't often add market research as a component of their annual marketing plans. And I wondered why not. Of course, if you are starting a new company, I thought it would be wise to confirm your theories about the market trends but why don't established companies want to budget even a little bit of money to either purchase marketing research or design their own market research study? And even if they do spend the money, why does the report usually sit in a desk drawer and never is read or analyzed?

Well, I'm not sure that I've come up with a good answer, but I think sometimes we don't want to see or hear the truth. If your company is humming along at a pace that is comfortable to you, you probably don't want to hear that you should be moving in another direction. Or, if your company is making buggy whips, for example, you don't want to hear that the automobile has replaced the horse and buggy. I'm being facetious, of course. But, I think most of us plod along doing the same thing year after year because that's all we know how to do or because it's just too difficult to push that boulder up the hill. We don't want to make waves in our company. We don't want to get caught in the political crossfire. So, we don't do any market research.

Time to change your attitude about market research. It is an invaluable tool to either confirm that you are headed in the right direction with your marketing strategies or to pull you in the right direction. For example, if you find out that the particular market you currently serve is trending downward and that some other technology is replacing it, why wouldn't you want to re-applicate your product line or create an entire new product line to continue to serve your customer's needs?

Market research doesn't need to be expensive. There are two types of market research. The first type is called Primary market Research. This is research that you gather yourself. You could hire a market research company and spend thousands of dollars, but you may already have much of the information you need in-house. Talk to your sales reps. They can be a great source of industry information about your competitors, about your customer's wants and needs, and about general industry trends.

You can also plan a small focus group in conjunction with a trade show where you know your target audience will be attending. Develop a short 5 question survey and distribute via e-mail or on one of the social media sites. All of these ideas are very cost effective and easy to accomplish.

The second type of market research is secondary market research. You can find much of this type of research on the Internet. Some companies typically will sell their research studies for a fee. But, there is a lot of information for free on the Internet. You can garner this type of information from trade associations, government databases through the Freedom of Information Act, and don't forget your local library.

So, make a resolution for 2010 to gather information about your products, your customers, your competitors, or industry trends. You'll be able to make better strategic marketing decisions with good solid marketing data in hand.