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Archive for December, 2009

Tips To Have A Trade Show Booth That Draws Potential Customers

The key to great trade show exhibiting is marketing. Having a strategic exhibit marketing and tactical plan of action is a critical starting point. To make trade shows a powerful dimension in your company’s overall marketing operation there must be total alignment between the strategic marketing and your exhibit marketing plan.

Here are a few points to make your trade show booth popular in the exhibition:

1 Think neatness and visibility when putting your trade show display together.
Use a display board to hang some of your products at customer eyelevel to draw them into your display. Make sure your display is organized and tidy; customers will be turned off by messiness or by having to do too much searching to find what they want. Have all your prices clearly marked.

2 Build the impression of demand into your trade show display.
Customers will want your products more if they think they’re in high demand. Place a strategic sold sign on one or two items. You might even leave a display spot empty giving the impression that you’ve been too busy to restock.

3 Pull a crowd to your trade show booth.
Use an interactive display such as a quiz or game on a computer a contest draw a scheduled demonstration; it doesn’t need to be fancy to draw people’s interest and get them to cluster around your trade show display rather than the others. At a gardening trade show I once saw over 50 people crowding around to watch an exhibitor demonstrate how to turn compost!

4 Have a stock of promotion items that you can use as giveaways at your booth.
Small items that people can take away and use while being reminded about your business are best. Be sure you place these items in a location where people will have to walk into or through your trade show display to get them.

5 Use a prize draw or contest.
Having some kind of prize draw or contest is a great way to collect contact information from booth visitors. You can give away promotion items to encourage people to participate.

6 Make it easy for booth visitors to get information.
Use signs in your trade show display to give information about prices minimum orders shipping costs or any other basic information they might need to know to save them the trouble of having to wait to ask when you’re busy with another potential customer.

7 Make sure you have plenty of promotional literature on hand.
You’ll want to have a good supply of color fliers and brochures as well as order forms price sheets and business cards that you can hand out to booth visitors so it will be easy for them to find all the information they need about your business later. You should also have a press kit prepared for the trade media.

8 Be ready to do business.
Be sure you have a good supply of order forms pens credit card slips or anything else you need to conduct sales and keep track of people’s orders.

9 Have your trade show booth manned at all times.
Someone has to be there to greet browsers engage them in conversation and take their questions. If you can’t be there every minute the trade show is open you’ll need to have at least one other person help man your booth.

10 Actively engage trade booth visitors.
Give people who approach your trade show display a friendly welcome and let them welcome their questions. Be sure your body language is friendly; don’t stand there with your arms crossed over your chest for instance. “Chat” with booth visitors and find out what aspect of your business they’re most interested in. Be prepared to offer specific solutions to their questions. The trick is to draw them in without intimidating or overwhelming them.

11 Follow up promptly.
Send out email regular mail or make the phone calls to follow up on the contacts and leads you made during the trade show as soon as possible. The faster you send them out the more your business will stand out from the rest.

Trade shows can be incredible sources of contacts and customers for your business if you choose your trade show venue carefully and plan in advance then you will have a successful trade show experience.

About the writer:  Kishor Nayak is a Business Consultant working with International clients. Did you find this information useful? You can learn a lot more about how trade”>http://www.modulardisplaysystems.com.au”>trade show display solutions can help you

The Bastards Among Us

Have you ever taken a picture of your clients sweaty ass crack?

I havent but I know someone who did. Ive seen the photo. And yes it was quite frightening but not for the reason you might imagine.

As the story was related to me the agency once had a client who was a large dude. Like 6foot1 350 pounds. A lumbering stumbling man. That frame coupled with his perceived lack of marketing knowledge earned him the nickname Fat Bastard around the agency.

Well Fat Bastard had to attend a TV shoot in Orlando. Outdoors. In July. This recipe for perspiration caught up with the man so much that the dripping sweat was visibly apparent through the rear of his khaki shorts. Thus an embarrassing moment turned into a Kodak moment for an agency lackey with a camera.

This clients reputation for heft and sweat was the subject of frequent agency coffee klatches. Whats more the agency staff was egged on by the agency CEO and Creative Director who not only tolerated but also encouraged the mocking. And Fat Bastard never had a clue what was being said about him. Whats more with his trusting nature he thought so highly of this agency and its people that he continued to give the agency marketing projects even when he switched jobs.

This agency is still in business trying to woo more clients and develop a reputation for great ideas and superior client servicedespite a corporate culture that openly disparages the personal appearances of others including the very clients who pay their bills.

Ill bet a lot of agencies function with this kind of culture. Yet we wonder why the advertising industry doesnt get more respect.

So what kind of behavior is out of bounds? How can some of our dealings with coworkers and clients be deemed professional when at other times we act so unprofessional?

Ive worked in agencies where routinely Ive heard comments that would make for readymade harassment and discrimination lawsuits in any other corporate environment. Ive always accepted that an almost anythinggoes environment is a part of the Faustian bargain one makes in order to work in a comparatively freewheeling industry.

We work in a business of ideas and thoughts where bad taste is often celebrated even financially rewarded. We cross the line whatever that is with glee. But crossing the line as the ad industry sees it doesnt just apply to ads and concepts. Its part of daily agency office life isnt it?

Were always going to have coworkers and clients who get on our nerves. Since advertising depends on a high degree of interpersonal collaboration friction is inevitable. Add time crunches and lessthanideal clients to the mix and youve got a recipe for an environment of petty squabbling subtle backstabbing and frequent bitching. It seems like a primal rule of agency politics that you have to tear someone else down in order to build yourself up.

Everybody is susceptible to these base instincts. And if the future of advertising is socalled branded entertainmenti.e. The intersection of Madison and Vine well be pretending like the ad business is more Hollywood that it really is. Well be taking more of our behavioral cues from Swimming With Sharks. Thats not a future Im looking forward to. Are you?

Whats it gonna take for us to curb this behavior? Were all guilty of it at one time or another. Me all I can say is Im working on it. Trying to stay positive whenever I can.

What about you and the people you work with? So your ass isnt sweaty today. Doesnt matter. Perhaps someone right now is calling you Skinny Bastard. Or Bald Bastard. Or Gay Bastard. Or Jew Bastard. Or Irish Bastard.

And unless we all change the public perception will always be that the ad business is nothing but a bunch of bastards.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Branding. Religion. Censorship. Office politics. Global politics. Sexual politics. And getting drunk during a job interview.
Since 2002 Danny G. a.k.a. Dan Goldgeier has been writing the most provocative advertising columns ever published. They’re all witty thoughtful and probing and a must read for those who want a perspective rarely seen in traditional industry publications.
An Atlantabased copywriter and ad school graduate Dan has worked at shops big and small. He reads incessantly about advertising and is a whiz at rock roll trivia. Learn more about him by visiting his copywriting website or AdColumnist.com the View From The Cheap Seats Archive website. You may also find articles by Danny G at TalentZoo.com.

Essence Of A Well-positioned Brand: Lessons For Corporate Nigeria

ESSENCE OF A WELLPOSITIONED BRAND: LESSONS FOR CORPORATE NIGERIA

The word branding is not a relatively new business concept. More than three decades ago marketing expert Michael J Baker wrote an introductory text on the importance of brands and branding. What is new is the degree of attention and sophistication it has gotten the world over in recent years.

Maybe this has to do with the increased mental clutter in our lives and in the marketplace which makes it difficult for companies to get across their messages.

Brands are quickly becoming the basis for most critical business decisions an observer noted. Branding is the sum total of whatever a company or an idea represents. For most part of it branding is as simple as doing the right thing consistently and clearly.

Today as expected Nigeria parades herself with her most celebrated brands of all time her super brands! Indeed for a few of them branding is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition but it is about getting your prospects to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problems.

While a brand is the uniqueness a customer perceives of an organization or idea; theres a connection between a brand name identity brand image perception and brand reputation respect.

All strong brands depend on more than anything else its reputation. In as much as corporate executives try to build a good brand they ought to be mindful of corporate reputation also. In essence a good reputation accounts for a good brand.

However for obvious reasons Nigerian entrepreneurs are quick at building strong brands to their advantage only to allow them crumble in no distant time for lack of brand management skill.

I have to admit I used to buy UACs Gala Sausage until Leventis Meaty came along. The experience was always positive and I always had the feeling of that tasty snack with pure beef filling. But where did Gala go wrong? Gala lost its unique positioning in the heat of competition. Apart from the sudden change of wrap which I think I dont like so much the sausage in it has become so lean.

UAC failed to realize that branding is more than just putting on new clothes.

The problem with many of these great brands is that they dont usually realize the repercussion of their actions and inactions until well after the time and money have been invested or after it is too late.

How many times have you pulled into a companys parking spot and saw a sign that read Parking reserved for xxxx customers only. All others will be tolled or Cars are parked at owners risk? Have you ever met a lousy school proprietor raining indecent words on parents? Or how many times have you had to queue for long hours somewhere only to be disappointed at the way a customer service officer treated you?

These are all negative branding and reputation at work. We experience it everyday. It affects the way customers perceive us.

Corporate bodies should pay great attention to their messages spoken or written.

Words do the talking for our business so its worth investing in the best copy we can afford. Unprofessionally written communications and marketing materials can actively work against us telling potential customers things we didnt mean to say.

Instead of the stereotyped Cars are parked at owners risk why not try something like While we ensure your vehicles are safe we dont accept any risk? Long but its full of great impact.

Our dear economy has suffered from a breakdown resulting from her choice of words. They cost money but words efficiently applied produce great wealth.

So lets begin to take a good look at everything we do: our message; our corporate identity; our approach to communicating with clients; our demeanour; our products; our packaging; our advertising and our staff.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Ayokunle Bankole is the founder and CEO of Loud Media Company Lagos Nigeria. We offer services in brand positioning proposal writing web content writing speech writing house journal advert copywriting direct mailing sales letter writing and copy editing. Our vision is to be a leading publicity and promotions firm balancing passion with creativity and being dynamic in operations while ensuring that everyday clients get maximum satisfaction from our services.
Email: loudmediacompanygmail.com Tel. 2348055981421 07090187484