The blogosphere provides some tasty solder fodder for the Marshall-Yard to report on…
A client that we’ve enjoyed working with over the years had some very gracious things to say via their company blog - the B2b Marcom Blog. Check out Rick Short’s blurb, which also includes a very good explanation of our rental capabilities. Check it out…
I’d say more, but it would spoil the ending.
The Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Association hosted their annual meeting this past week - June 13-16 in Tampa, Florida. This year’s focus was on budgeting, marketing trends, and healthcare industry codes. Catalyst’s exhibit featured new display tables, and our revamped 10×20 custom exhibit.
As the industry deals with the challenges posed by the current recession, we’ve found a niche in a custom rental marketplace that is underserved, and growing in its ranks. We look forward to many exciting opportunities with Healthcare Exhibitors in the years to come.
This year’s show was highlighted by our European and International representative, who helped tie together our capabilities beyond domestic tradeshows - offering exhibitors the confidence that they can not only exhibit in Chicago, Orlando, and Las Vegas; but also Shanghai, and Dubai. Having a partner to help us facilitate those needs has proven essential in the flat world of 2009.
Is your company planning to purchase a new exhibit booth sometime in 2009 or 2010? The more and more I speak with trade show coordinators and marketing guru’s who have been charged with this responsibility, the more resolute I am as an ALL-OUT ADVOCATE for renting exhibit booths. Some companies go to 20 shows a year, some 12, some 5, and others 1 or 2. Heck, if you’re going to NPE this year, you might even go to a show once every 3 years! The rationale for each trade show exhibit program decision may be different, but here are a few “variations.”
There is a sort of “conventional wisdom” that I often hear:
As I mentioned earlier - I am not quick to back off of my convictions that renting is just flat-out smarter. Display booths are not meant to be stale marketing pieces that you begrudgingly pull off of the shelf for your next show. They should not embarass you with outdated styling or graphics, poor refurbishing work, or damaged exhibit pieces.
Part 1 of 3 means I have more to say on this topic… Still think it makes sense to buy your exhibit booth? Please let me know why!
In the 1990’s and early-to-mid 2000’s, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler survived based on the unbridled success of the Sport Utility Vehicle. Heck, Chrysler acquired AMC, who built the first “SUV,” the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, which then became the Jeep Cherokee. And the Tahoe/Suburban and Ford Explorer are still synonymous with our concept of what an SUV “is.” What’s my point?
SUV’s have been a largely successful enterprise. They captured the rugged individualism that many American’s espouse, and made it into the “BIGGEST” automotive fad ever. The big 3 were successful in developing, producing, marketing, and selling their SUV products to consumers. They may have suceeded in spite of themselves, but one can’t deny the stated premise.
The SUV wasn’t the sole cause for the peril that Ford, GM and Chrysler are exhibiting- there’s the economic slowdown, and greater challenges that I wont get into here - but the continued reliance on SUV and light truck sales, amidst competitive and market forces that demanded a new strategy, contributed to their present woes. SUV’s shouldn’t have been their “bread & butter” product in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. $4 gas, remember?
So what on earth does this have to do with Trade Show Flexibility?
Let’s suppose that you find the perfect design for this year’s BIG SHOW. Should you try to sell the same SUV at next year’s show? What if all of your competitors come to next year’s show with a copy-cat booth? (it happens!) What if your business changes and you radically change how you’d like to approach the show? Important questions.
Here’s one: What if you make a big impression with show attendees - they’ll be looking for you at next year’s show. Do you want to DO SOMETHING with all that attention? Or bore them with “oh, they did that last year… What’s new?”
Are you sure you want to build another SUV?
This week, the buzz around the office is all about the RSNA show (the Radialogical Society of North America’s annual meeting & expo). We have a multitude of outstanding clients at the RSNA’s. They range from Imaging on Call, who has a 20 ft. x 20 ft. custom rental booth, to the other extreme, Siemens, with a whopping 110 ft. x 220 ft. exhibit. Building a miniature “village” of different structures in a matter of a few days is fun to watch.
Word on the street (perception) is that trade shows will have fewer exhibitors in 2009, taking up less convention hall space, and with smaller exhibits, as the broader economy heads into recession. I think that’s true, by and large, but there are individual companies that are exceptions to this rule. Which side of the coin is your company on?
Tails:
Revenue is declining, profits are tighter (or in the red), and the marketing budget has a large “blip” that is “Trade Shows/Events.” In order to survive, your company decides to cut back everything, and the exposure and opportunity that a well executed trade show can offer gets thrown out with the “bathwater.” Hopefully these companies do not own their trade show exhibits - else they are wasting big marketing dollars that were invested when the economy was more favorable. In addition, there is a continuing expense of storing their exhibit property. This is a reality many companies are facing. Either scale down, or kill the program entirely.
Heads:
Your company has continued gobbling up market share, or may even be consuming competitors’ businesses via acquisition or attrition. I have a number of clients who are in this position: They are GROWING their tradeshow presence in order to undertake some major corporate agendie- Rebranding, launching new products (perhaps integrating their new acquisitions’ product line), or merely establishing their role as industry leaders. Sometimes they’re doing preventive work on potential misconceptions of who is struggling, and who is surviving, in the new economy. An effective trade show exhibit can allow a company to accomplish all of these goals in one space. A custom rental booth can be designed for each individual trade show, to ensure that the message that is conveyed is timely and precise for todays trade show audience, not last year’s.
Heads or tails, it seems like the company that rents their exhibit is better off. If you can’t afford to exhibit, you can cross off that expense for FY09. If you can afford to exhibit, you can do exactly what you want for 2009’s exhibition (e.g. - Siemens and Imaging On Call can build totally different designs for every show). It depends on what the reality is for your company, but at least you get to decide on how you’ll be perceived.
A new Costco opened near my house this past weekend. Imagine how surprised I was that humongous bags of rice are for sale in unlimited quantities. I remember hysterical stories about the famines we should expect due to big box stores rationing such food staples earlier in ‘08. Since popular opinion has it that the sky is falling, I should have piled as many bags as would fit in my sedan, and crawled into my nifty nuclear bunker. Instead I bought socks - shades of olive, green, and brown.
For the past year or so, writing about “marketing in a recession” was all the rage. Everyone agrees that we’re in a recession, except for the rule of thumb on recessions. The rule of thumb guy is still giving me a thumbs up. Not enthusiastically, but still… I don’t know if I trust that guy anymore.
So what are people writing about now? In the ever changing one-upmanship that is online news, the hip search term for your business article is now “marketing in a DEPRESSION.” To be more precise, marketers are strategizing over marketing in a “pre-depression” (this is the beginning of the beginning of a depression). Hopefully, when this depression sets in, your company will be a-ok, and all due to your wise marketing department decisions. Depression becomes a career-advancer, and your true character will shine through (due to your having read a “snarky” blog post about it…). You’ll be the new CEO once this whole mess blows over. Sure you will.
Marketing in a depression seems to be a tough burden to undertake. My guess is, your company either has enough cash reserves, or it doesn’t. If they have the reserves, your job will be intact, and your task of conveying the company’s message in a competitive, rapidly evolving marketplace will continue. The market changes, but the task remains constant. But guessing whether this is a recession or a depression is probably NOT a part of your job. It isn’t mine, I’m pretty sure. What are your real options?
Option A: You guess depression, you advocate that the marketing budget gets gutted, BUT the economy goes all “fast and loose” on us. Then you will play catch up during the coming expansion, as competitors gobbled up your market share. Option B: If you guess depression and it’s a depression, you might be vindicated, but you will essentially be doing what you’re always supposed to do: Making wise decisions with your marketing dollars. What the heck were you doing before this looming recession or depression?
If you think it’s a prudent time to stock up on rice, while all the fools buy socks and wide-screens, that’s fine. But bursting into your boss’s office telling him or her about the expected course of the business cycle - is that really a good idea? Understanding how to market in a different business cycle is important, but being the first to yell fire is something you’d be well served to avoid.