Trade Show Opportunities
A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Puppet
Boring Doesn't Sell
No one ever sold anybody something by boring them to death. If you want someone to buy what you're selling, you must first engage them. That requires creativity.
Unoriginal, unimaginative, uninspired web pages, brochures, ads, newsletters, emails, dealer correspondence, training materials and direct mail pieces do nothing to help you stand out from the crowd. If you're not committed enough in your brand to invest in creating a good impression, then prepare to be boring. And boring doesn't sell.
While creative elements like design, art, layout and photos aren't really part of what you're selling ... they often have the biggest impact on prospects' impressions about what you're selling.
Creative elements get attention, communicate more clearly and enhance credibility. They help prospects to make positive judgments about your company, your products and the image that you project.
They Haven't Run Out of New Places to Put Ads
Just when you thought advertising couldn't get any more intrusive, it does. AdRail uses patented technology to help get your brand under the fingers, feet and eyes of the masses. Click this link to see escalator handrail advertising in all its obnoxious splendor. You can even watch a video or preview your design on a handrail.
Fewer Trade Shows, More Opportunities
Budget cuts have reduced attendance at major trade shows across all industries. Smaller crowds have influenced a minor percentage of companies to withdraw from exhibiting at some shows.
Companies that don't exhibit at shows where they had a traditional presence are probably stepping over sales dollars to pick up marketing dimes. While there may be less booth traffic, surveys of exhibitors indicate that there are as many decision-makers visiting booths as ever. In other words, shows are no longer "working vacations". People are there for business.
While it may be prudent to downsize your exhibit, it's still vital to have a presence at shows that cater to the industries you serve. Otherwise you're letting competitors gain attention, stature and sales ... all in the name of "economy". Invest in good traffic-builders to make sure customers and prospects visit and remember your booth. (A puppet comes to mind.)
Make the exhibit experience enjoyable and memorable. Remember that although trade show crowds are diminishing, the advantages of maintaining a presence at shows are not.
The Bucket List
The Bucket List, a movie that depicts two terminally ill men who decide to do all the things they ever wanted to do before they die, induced a number of publications and writers to create their own "Bucket Lists". Even Forbes Magazine came up with "10 Things to do Before You Die" ... most of which I could never afford to do or would never have the nerve to do. But reading other people's "Bucket Lists" did provoke me to write my own. Here are 9 things I want to do before I climb into my suitcase for the final time.
- Learn all the words to "Louie, Louie".
- Get banned from a Casino.
- Run a marathon and stop at 26 bars along the way for refreshments. (Probably have to do this in Sheboygan.)
- Jell-O wrestle Beyonce ... again.
- Get drunk and cut someone's hair ... again.
- Sing the national anthem at a chess match.
- Go into a gun store and ask the guy, "What do you recommend for teaching someone a lesson?"
- Learn to bowl overhand.
- Scare the he** out of the airport TSA agent who opens up Dale's carry on ... again.
- ____________________________ (Send me your suggestions in the comments section)
