Marshall Yard:

Everyone knows that the colors involved in a marketing campaign are of immense importance. Imagine a Coca-Cola or Marlboro ad that lacked the color red! Sometimes, however, it’s not only the COLOR that matters, it’s the exact shade or hue that a company depends on for a consistent campaign.

If your company uses a special “blue” that separates itself from the menagerie of garden variety “blues” in the marketplace, then this can present an immense challenge when working through a sophisticated marketing campaign. While this isn’t news for companies that are seasoned in working with their branding properties, it can become a major obstacle for newly unveiled marketing initiatives. There’s a simple solution which might not get mentioned by your ad company - but it matters for your exhibit company! (more…)

Exhibitor Report published this week (care of Flagg Management) an article about economizing on exhibiting. Interesting - and sad, really - but unfavorable for us.

What’s bothersome is that while they suggest getting the same size space (smart, as something smaller would indicate financial disrupt), they also suggest modular/portable exhibits. These ARE more cost-effective and they DO require less maintenance…but they have very little impact on the show floor. That said, I think going from a custom (or rental) exhibit to a portable would foster the same financial perceptions as would a smaller space. So, perhaps the alternative (lesser of two evils, even) would be to reduce your space and retain your exhibit.

As a mansion with no furniture would be lackluster, so would a huge exhibit space without quality materials to fill it.

Marketing is the first to be sacrificed in a flailing economy. I wonder, though, will making that move perpetuate brand loyalty and advance sales when the economy rights itself? Once upon a time, a certain department store (rhymes with “tears”) stopped marketing and, instead, relied on brand loyalty to maintain sales. The once Largest Retailer in the Nation carried more than 350 brands but most folks didn’t know it…because they stopped marketing.

Now they’re walking on economic eggshells. They were acquired by another retailer and have, quite unfortunately, been struggling to re-establish themselves ever since. Fancy logos and hip new slogans won’t mean squat if you don’t have the sales to pay for them. And how do you make sales? By being a certainty in a time of uncertainty.

Coordinator =  liason between departments

With the vast amount of trade shows in all the various industries, the primary focus is to draw attention to your service & product. 

A well designed custom rental exhibit will give you the framework necessary to interact with potential clients.   Forming an allegiance with a full service exhibit house can give you that Coordinator - liason between departments.   Helping boost those trade show results and enhance your trade show experience. 

The arena is full of competition, your exhibit space needs careful attention to detail,  it is important to achieve continuity for your product & services within your exhibit space.  Your products and services need to tell a streamlined story with emphasis on each chapter.  

An experienced exhibit house can help you with your 3D Marketing Strategies and coordinate between your companies departments to that the continiuty and the message you are trying to invoke is clear and precise. 

Thank you Brad Trnasvsky of Sales Management 2.0 for hosting this weeks carnival

Several of the pieces that were included I have to strongly agree with.   Jim Logan of Accelerate Business Group, LLC   discusses Customer Loyalty.

With the following statement:

 ”I believe the foundation of customer loyalty is trust, predictability, and dependable quality”

Adding to those, I believe with innovation, efficicency, growth & quality, customer loyalty can become the solid foundation of any business plan. 

If you are planning on a business venture there is some smart advice about the marketing scheme of your business name that can be found over at Yes to Me.  I enjoyed this article because of the fact that we are in an “instant” society, with everything right in front of us for quick action. 

This made alot of sense in planning and strategy for marketing.  The best laid out plans seem to have the largest impact when it comes to exhibiting, we feel the time line for a successful exhibit as well should be well thought out so this article struck a cord with me. 

I have to agree with the post from Changeologists as well, being ready and being prepared for change.  That falls into my growth part of a business plan, if you have ever been in a company that is stagnent, you will agree with this article as well.  Change is inevitable, the only constant in life.  Being able to hurdle over several of the obstacles to expand, is a business challenge, and does need to have attention to detail. 

Thinking back about ten years ago, I recall doing mass mailings and postcard campaigns to prospective clients.  Running to the post office and trying to get everything out by your deadline.  Marketing has taken a completely different turn in the last few years, by way of social networking.  Where do we go to look for information? How many times a day do we tend to run to our computers to look something up? Even when we are interested in finding the best trade shows for our product and services, we head to the internet. 

I recently spent several days reading and catching up on all the events that happened at CES 2008, the largest consumer electronic trade shows. Spending several hours reading and keeping in touch with the upcoming trends can be a time consuming task.  With all of the new sites that pop up each and every day online that can give you an avenue for your marketing strategies, it is something that we should all be considering, and that manpower is needed for all the facets of social marketing.

Viral Marketing is defined as marketing that propagates itself, this type of marketing is at full throttle around all of us, it is quite an interesting but simple concept and trying to explain it to anyone that is not familiar with it becomes a rough and often times lonely road.  When you begin the process of this type of marketing, you will feel as if you are beginning to swim all over again.  There are several groups and forums to join and read, and this is where the masses of the internet marketers, search engine marketing & search engine optimization experts all hang out. 

Some take this to extremes and solely rely on cyberspace campaigns for marketing these days, is that smart, if you are in that business it is, if you know a lot of the heavy hitters among the forums and boards and top social sites, you can reach far more people than anyone that has just ventured into this type of marketing.  I believe that with most marketing campaigns a bit of balance is needed – continue with your print advertisement, exhibiting at trade shows, mass mailings and viral marketing.  All of these elements can get exposure and introduce you to prospects that may have been overlooked.

Viral Marketing is a tough campaign to sell to anyone that is from the old school, and relying solely on what they are familiar with.  Start out small, show the effects, keep logs of your success and failures, if this becomes a passion and you are enthralled at the outcome and the social contacts that are to be had, continue to push forward.  

Grab your bags, Kevin wanted to go shopping! If you are new to Marshall Yard - The Trade Show Blog - Kevin is our resident Mascot and is a Mississippi Map Turtle.   Often times he journeys with me from trade show to trade show.  

Global Shop is returning to Chicago, March 18th - 20th, 2008, in the new West Hall at McCormick Place.   With over 8,000 new products being showcased, and 900 exhibitors, this is the largest annual retail design event in the United States.   There will be several conferences from scent marketing to woman’s retail rituals.

I wonder how exhibits are perceived from the view points of men and woman?  Is one exhibit booth more aesthetically pleasing than another because of our gender?  Have you ever bought something for the opposite sex that you thought was stunning, and yet they looked at it as if you picked it out of the trash can?  A perfume or cologne you love on a spouse, that they can not stand?

I really think the perception of anything visual does have some sort of gender boundry. 

I belive it takes a diverse team of marketing specialist to create and integrate idea’s and plans for a full impact trade show display.  Constant communication during design and brainstorm sessions can bring alot more clarity and balance to any project.  

Voice your opinion.. 

Thanks to Small Business Essentials for hosting this weeks Carnival of the Captitalists, with some interesting information on Word of Mouth Marketing , I agree with this article and I do think it is a necessity in any market, I also have to say it is not easy and it is time consuming. 

If a customer is happy and satisfied, there is no better advertisement, agreeing with the following statement from Word of Mouth Marketing,  I also feel that this is relevant to  social media and blogging:

The problem with word of mouth marketing is the breadth of buzz needed in order to see an increase in business–and the passive nature of the method itself. 

Blogging does not have to be passive, but blogging to drive business to your website is an on going process, it takes time and it takes readers to make it a success.  Offering your readers something to remember you by and something that they will begin to rely on you for.  But getting the word out can be a challenge.

PR Marketing Trends is another article that caught my attention, we don’t want to admit it, but things could slow down economically and often times, it is the marketing department that suffers.  I really liked the simplified tips that were written at Business and Blogging - simple, direct and to the point.

Words we didn’t hear 15 years ago, Squidoo, Flickr, Digg, Del.icio.us, text messages, Spinn and try this on for size, Blogengage?  Squidoo could have been something that we would have looked for while deep sea diving.  Flickr is something you did with those boogies that you had on your finger in first grade reading class.  Digg is something your mother did in the garden, and often times made you help.  I would have thought that something I picked up at the local Tastee Freeze was absolutely Del.icio.us.  Text messages where something that you got as a telegram, and had to drive to pick up.  Spinn was something that happened when you drank too much in college.  Then there is Blogengage, some folks find it hard just to get engaged these days.      

How much time a day does the average college student spend on social networking sites? Not wanting to spend a fortune to run an expensive study on this, just looking at a few of the students I know, I am going to throw out there three hours a day.  As these students have networked for four years during college, with people that share similar interest or don’t share anything at all other than cramming for exams.  

These are the people that will soon be sharing cubicles with us in the near future, when they are asked to research something, they will start with what they know and what they are comfortable with.  Submitting articles to various social networking sites, and being able to see your information come up organically in searches is what we are all striving for as we blog, flick and digg our way through our online marketing techniques. 

Blogengage is a site where you can submit your blog articles and have people engage them, similar in fashion to Digg, but strictly allowing blog  submissions, where the writing is a little more free flowing and less conforming to the large newswires. 

It is these sites that our decision makers of the future will be using, I see it similar to a consumer’s reports of the future.  Harnessing the potentia l places that your articles can reach with this type social media should be a no brainer.  I’ve only been at this for awhile, and think sometimes, what have I gotten into, but the more you read, the more time you can spend trying to wrap your arms around it, the easier it becomes.  Keep blogging and keep participating.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, ask for help! I have found creative answers from many people at Bloggeries Forum  as well as the Small Business Brief Forum.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions, it is the best way to learn and its amazing the people you will run into. 

When you are exhibiting at Trade Shows, it is as well a social networking atmosphere, you are there to extend your network of sources and clients.   Let them know about your blog, and your networking sites, encourge potential clients to visit and comment.  It is their opinion of your service and product that matters.  Spreading the word and getting feedback will help you make your trade show marketing more of a success.    Make sure that you are blogging about what trade show you will be at next, and always include your booth number. 

As the busiest season is just upon us, there are many tips and ideas for your upcoming trade show success.

When you start to plan for your upcoming exhibit, finding a marketing partner that will consider your message is the beginning steps of a successful outcome.  By knowing what it is you are trying to accomplish will make it much easier for the exhibit house to understand the avenues in which to take you; to get you across that finish line with the first place ribbon.

Time is always of the essence when it comes to adding value to your marketing strategy and plans for success.  We all know that there are last minute opportunites that come up and sometimes we may not know that we will be at a particular show until the it presents itself.

Establishing a time line for an exhibit whether it is a , 10’ x 10’s trade show booth or 10’ x 20’ trade show booth, should be approximately eight weeks before the trade show event opens.   If you are planning on larger exhibits the time line should increase slightly.  The last thing you want is to get strapped with rush fee’s for deliveries – which are staggering with the price of transportation and gas.  

Printing time increases as well for graphic banners and turnaround times can become more delayed and leave little time for last minute changes.  With custom trade show display rentals, you have many more options and a lot more flexibility. 

The benefits of trade shows:

Maintaining relationships

Transmitting messages to key accounts

Remedying service problems

Stimulating add on sales

Determine needs

Transmitting messages and

Committing prospects to a callback or sale

Plan early!

Plan smart!

By: Susie Kleiner 

I recently pulled up Make your Business Stand Out  and I found some profound statements written.  Brand Awareness continues to be at the fore-front of many marketers minds as it should be in the competative arena for any business.  Award winning trade booth design has always been the approach that has worked in our industry.

Being Different as stated in the article written by Nikole Gibbs in the marketing section caught my attention, because if you leave an impression and give your potential clients, something different, they will not only become repeat clients, but they will become loyal clients. 

When you give your clients solutions they will remember the product and service that you have provided.  3D marketing can speak to an turn your company into a trade show superhero.    

One of our clients was questioned, in a pre-show survey, and stated they thought that just 26 percent of attendees considered the company a market leader. But after the CEO was in the booth at the exhibition talking about the industry, and the research and development staffers were talking about new products during the show, 96 percent of those surveyed post-event perceived the company as a market leader.

Rule number one in any marketing plan should be questioning your clients and gathering feedback from potential and current clients.  People in general love to hear themselves speak, and they also love to hear that their opinion is wanted.  Without information, and in the information age, if you don’t..shame on you. 

If for a moment you forget that on the other end of the phone, email, conference call or contract is a human being, you could have lost a potential project.   27 Exhibiting Do’s and Dont’s by Susan Friedmann has some very valid points, and I enjoyed #10-Don’t” “throw up” on attendee’s, it made me laugh, but it validates my point, ask them questions, let them talk.  They are going to be the one’s using your product or services.  Do not tell them constantly what you can do for them, let them tell you what they need done, and collectively come up with a solutions.

Designing exhibits for upcoming trade shows, can be a challenging task, listening to our clients, and understanding what they are trying to convey in their industry can only be learned by hearing what the client has to say.  

December 3rd Edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists has hit the online community.  Hosted by One-Man Band with some fantastic information in regards to Analytics, Small Business, Commodities, Economy, Management, Marketing and Productivity. 

With Christmas looming not to far away, yet how could we tell that in the Windy City with all the rain that fell this weekend.  I loved the post under management in regards to the Office Christmas Parties written by Wayne Hurlbert at the Blog Business World  he couldn’t be more accurate in saying that you are still at work.  I think we have all been tempted to tip back another, but remember your surroundings, and remember the consequences.  Which, so often now a-days, we do not do, and we do not want to take responsibility for our actions. 

Another great post that was included in the Carnival of the Capitlists is a post from The Money Walks Blog regarding negociating your salary and benefits packages, I loved this piece because this just happened to me over the weekend regarding a piece of artwork that I did.  I listened to my husband, and shot high, and low and behold.. I got it! Never under-sell yourself, it only hurts you.  And as stated in the Money Walks Blog, it cant hurt to ask!

I have been thrust into the portal of my cubicle which is now a nice private little suite, thinking and learning different areas of marketing.   In the past few months, I have learned about blogging, social media, digg, bloggingzoom and just recently Blog Engage, this is similar to the other sites, but I for one have found it easy to use, and to understand. 

Within a short time after I engaged, I got comment back on one of my posts from the master engager! Thank you too for that.   I write here about the smart marketing for trade shows and trade show exhibits, trying to give clients that are searching an inside look with a personal touch about the people at Catalyst Exhibits.   Blog Engage has an easy feel to it, I have seen some of the faces and names throughout some of the forums and other sites. 

I look at myself as a novice blogger, learning, and I truly didn’t realize I had the writing skills in me, but it has been a fun process, and thanks to good folks like major engager Brian at Blog Engage, I have another tool that will help me get my name and my blog out there.  The more I read, the more I learn, what a great community out there in the blog world!

Have success at trade shows and beat the challenges. When trade show marketing is approaced early, you develop a formula for success, but the race does not stop there for winning that potential client.  Turning your leads into clients, is one of the largest goals and challenges of trade show marketing. 

Don’t let that lead fall into the post trade show marketing cracks.  Be active, and be smart.  Continuous follow up will put your name and your brand in front of a potential buyer. 

Keep careful notes on the trade show floor, often times, when a conversation ensues on the trade show floor, you can pick up pieces of personal information on your prospects, and that can help lead into a successful conversation post show.  

Trade show attendees will often see hundreds of exhibitors at large trade shows, make sure you give them something to remember you by, whether it is in a post show follow up call or even a short hand written note thanking them for their time.

Found a great little piece that shows the difference visually on marketing and advertising.  Neil Patel at Quick Sprout

I love to reuse old things, I’ve been succesful at selling original artwork on ebay all from recycled material.  It is quite a joy when my husband comes home with an old piece of furniture or a tattered old window from a schoolhouse. My wheels begin to turn, I take pride that, these items are no longer ending up in the landfills and are going to be something people can find joy in. 

 When you purchase an exhibit, it is yours, what happens to that material when you are finished with it? Most likely, it gets tossed.   Designs change, graphics change and your products will most likely change and grow with your company.

Rental exhibits give you flexibility, cost-effectiveness, a direct write off on taxes and versatility.   If your company undergoes a variety of marketing strategies, rental exhibits can be quite beneficial.    Plus each and component of a rental exhibit can be reused and recycled!

For those of you who don’t know Kevin - he is our Exhibit House Mascot - he helped me this weekend with the leaves, and we began our conversations about rakes and outdoor lawn equipment.

Well, after we got all done, we hit the internet and came across Orgill’s Dealer Market Trade Show.  What an interesting trade show this must be.  Anyone in the hardline industry that attended the Orgill Dealer Market Trade Show in the past, had rave reviews. 

Orgill’s Dealer Market Trade Show will be held in Orlando in February of 2008 - 2/21-23rd.  From Farm & Ranch, Workwear, Lawn & Garden and seasonal items.  The possibilities of meeting new vendors and learning from the latest and greatest new programs from Orgill are phenominal.  Some of the heavy hitters that attend are Black & Decker, Dewalt, Valspar and Stanley, just to name a few. 

No matter what it is you are trying to acheive, in any business, you can learn from so many sources.  Educate yourself from the industry proffessionals, and take away what works for you and design your business structure with a solid foundation.  

In the business of exhibiting, we take the key four elements we feel will bring you the most impact and present to you a custom exhibit rental solution.   If you are planning on exhibiting at the Orgill Dealer Market Trade Show, you want to make sure not only your product’s make a statement but your entire exhibit will draw in the attention and the sales you are hoping to acquire in this market arena, following some of the basic trade show tips you can increase your performance on the trade show floor.   I read that the orders written at the last trade show, was up 11% from the previous year.   Defining your marketing objectives in advance, can as well help drive up your return on investment, and you will be well ahead of the competition and well ahead of your goals.

AWARENESS             

By: Susie Kleiner

Awareness is your perception & cognitive reaction to a circumstance, condition or an event.  You can be aware of emotions, actions, gossip and your surroundings.  Sometimes not even realizing exactly what it is you are aware of.Awareness provides us the substance from which we develop “Qualia”.  (This term was unfamiliar to me, its meaning; the way things seem to us.  By defining a company’s products and services, this creates brand-awareness.  Setting that company apart from their competition, by building trust in your business relationships, with your particular branding  efforts, you reach a higher level of credibility.

Consumers for your products or in the B2B market place, when people make purchase or decisions they rely on their associates or contacts that they themselves have built trustful relationships on to give them advice or steer them to a reputable company for such products or services.  With the ever growing market places throughout any industry that attends or exhibits at tradeshows, a clear focus needs to be to separate themselves from the competitors.  

Reading an online article discussing the branding of cattle, the author noted, that  each rancher would have their own specific brand and allow their cattle to graze in the pastures with the other ranchers cattle, because they could clearly identify their own cattle.  Well, in the ever growing world of competition, the fences on that one have gone up. 

When people speak of branding, you can realize your success when your name comes out for your product category, when you think of tissue, what comes to mind.. Kleenex. Trademarked & Branded.  This is called Top-of Mind Awareness, reaching this type of brand-awareness does not come over night, unless you designed the pet rock. It takes diligence and self-awareness.

Giving clients quality and constant communication is an integral part of this equation.  No matter what situation you find yourself in with a client, if you are aware of it, it will make them more at ease.  Any project will encounter the so-called bumps in the road at any given time.  If a client approaches you in an irate situation, do yourself a favor and don’t put your defense mechanism in fifth gear.  Calmly inform them you appreciate them making you aware of the situation, and let them know you are going to continually keep them up dated.They will become aware that you are there as a partner, seeking out solutions on their behalf. 

In one of the first newsletters, I spoke of client personalities; once again, this fall’s into a category of “awareness”, this is the awareness of emotions and from there, there can be actions taken.  Often times, these actions are not best suited at this point and time, because they are coming from an emotional level.  When we find ourselves in the middle of deadlines, meetings and endless emails back and forth, our emotions run high.These emotions are stored, and we can often react because of them.  Are they stored in our brains? If so, we could just concentrate and make them go away.  That’s not the case.  We feel and store emotional energy and it emanates out of us like a “vibe”. 

ADR = Alternative Dispute Resolution is used by the US Navy, they strongly advice cooperative effort and building bridges through communication.

I ran across the Ten Trade Show Exhibit Best Practices on About.com - I agree with the many of the points that Darrell Zahorksy points out in this line-up. Stressing in a few of the articles I have written I firmly belive that the “create a buzz” that he speaks of is one that should be at the top of this list. By spending time informing potential clients of your appearance at an upcoming trade show helps them plan accordingly.

Also pointed out in the article is training your trade show team, trade show floors can be like downtown Chicago on Christmas Eve at Macy’s..yes, Macy’s, no more Marshall Fields. The aisles of the convention center are often times packed with prospective clients, not only with buying power but alot of heavy hitters and decision makers. If you don’t educate your booth team and give them the proper mental equipment for proper boothmanship the outcome can be detrimental in a final decision for a prospective client.

Susan Ward says to plan your exhibit in terms of your audience, another statement that I highly agree with in terms of amazing trade show displays and results there from. In order to draw in your potential clients, you must understand what it is they are looking for, and why it is they are attending.

Steve Woodruff from Small Business Branding wrote: Above all differentiate, you are competing for limited time and memory. That simple statement of eleven words gives you a base to build upon when you are entering the ever growing industry of trade show marketing.