Last week we were at an trade show for automotive test market. Sounds like a scary place to be in 2009. Or more likely, a scary place to be spending your marketing money. The show floor was probably 20-25% smaller, and our booth became the last booth in the far corner. And who wants to be in the far corner of the show?
And nothing can be as scary for a marketing manager as pulling into an show site and NOT having to wait to park.
But it was a great event to be at. I told several people that if this was my first time at the show, despite the very weak automotive industry, I would re-sign for 2010 in a heart-beat.
Here are some random observations:
- I brought out our box of Bic pens for give-aways. And my guess was right … on an off year, even those would be popular for visitors to grab. We were cleaned out by 2pm the second day. (And for you nay-sayers, it also encouraged them to stop and talk … awesome results for 58 cents.)
- Certain automotive companies were at the event in force. These are companies I’d bet are going to recover from the recession stronger. And we need to be prepared to market to them.
- A lot of attendees were asking about solutions for testing the up-and-coming technologies. Now I have a better gauge of how strong certain needs are.
But mostly, the human element was the most powerful at the event. Customers dropped by the booth. Salespeople were actively engaged. Relationships between ‘players’ in our industry were strengthened. Sure there were slow points, but it never felt ‘dead’. Some would say we had too many people at the show, but it only added to the value of the event, and the buzz for our company.
Most important, we were acting as a market leader and being treated as such. That’s a vibe you can’t get on a Google search results, or even in a normal sales situation. The right show is truly a marketplace!
Right on Dave! We had a similar experience last spring at our lab expo Pittcon… smaller exhibit floor with less advertisers and smaller booths overall (okay, ours was slightly larger than usual) but many marketing managers I spoke with agreed the show was better than it has been for quite some time. I had a conversation with a marketing manager who said he cut back from a $130,000 show budget the previous year to HALF that expense and generated the SAME NUMBER OF LEADS with only a modest-sized booth (20×20) versus a titanic of a booth in previous years. Half the budget, same leads??? …tells me that some expenses really aren't being measured and egos get in the way far too often at these shows. Don't get me wrong, there is value in a larger booth but at some point you have to ask where the return ends for your business. I too find the greatest value in these shows is the human element. I'm definitely a web marketing guy, but I can't agree more that you need to join real conversations and get that face to face interaction at a show or two each year. All the best….I'm off to buy some pens!
Right on Dave! We had a similar experience last spring at our lab expo Pittcon… smaller exhibit floor with less advertisers and smaller booths overall (okay, ours was slightly larger than usual) but many marketing managers I spoke with agreed the show was better than it has been for quite some time. I had a conversation with a marketing manager who said he cut back from a $130,000 show budget the previous year to HALF that expense and generated the SAME NUMBER OF LEADS with only a modest-sized booth (20×20) versus a titanic of a booth in previous years. Half the budget, same leads??? …tells me that some expenses really aren't being measured and egos get in the way far too often at these shows. Don't get me wrong, there is value in a larger booth but at some point you have to ask where the return ends for your business.
I too find the greatest value in these shows is the human element. I'm definitely a web marketing guy, but I can't agree more that you need to join real conversations and get that face to face interaction at a show or two each year.
All the best.
…I'm off to buy some pens!