Feature article—
"Future of
Trade Show Marketing? You Decide."
From the
dentist's chair I listen as my doctor-cum-marketer explains how
marketing as we know it will be gone in a decade. Gone. And, knowing my
life as a recovering exhibit manager, he adds: "I'm afraid that means
trade shows, too."
I can't say
anything.
Dr. X isn't
alone in his belief. Truth be told, he's in the majority. And the ugly
truth be told, an arresting number of people in our exhibition industry
believe so, too. I expect such proclamations from the computer-obsessed.
Corporate America always has been susceptible to the latest notions to
solve every business problem imaginable. But our own brothers and
sisters of the show floor? Heretics!
In my
opinion, this stems from two things. First, these folks must view all
marketing tactics as interchangeable commodities. Second, they do not
understand the trade show business. How could they?
Let's review
the facts.
No other
medium affords the seller more control and buyer accountability than a
customer interaction on the floor of a trade show. Other media — e-mail,
VoiceMail, direct mail — the marketer puts the time and content of
response completely in the recipients' hands. Forget the PR spin and ask
yourself, "Is that really what you want?"
On the show
floor, you see who and what you are dealing with. All of your senses are
available for deployment. You can probe until you get the feedback you
want and need to cinch the deal. Ask any good sales person: The close
comes from quickly and accurately reading needs that the customer may
not know how to communicate, or, worse, may want to hide.
Trade shows
create an excitement and time pressure that motivates action. Opening
and closing days are dates certain. Decisions have to be made. No one
wants to be left out. When the exhibitor says, "Offer ends Friday," it
has real meaning. Pressure is good for sales! These are seller
advantages you can leverage — and you won't find them in the
perpetuating ether of cyberspace.
The exhibit
hall creates a world of "immersion diversion." Complete, uncompromised
attention to the important business attendees come to conduct. No
disruptions. This is not only healthy, it's attractive. The average
person receives 178 messages each day in an information barrage that
interrupts him three or more times an hour. This is the electronic age.
So said the Wall Street Journal, citing a study by the Institute for the
Future/Gallup Organization. "Critical thinking and analysis get lost" in
this environment. (Incidentally, the study also found that e-mail is not
replacing other kinds of messaging; it is simply "layered over existing
methods, increasing the communication message load.")
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