A brand is a red highlighter in your brain.

A brand is a red highlighter in your brain.

Jan 19, 2018 | Branding, Marketing

Brands have a number of useful commercial purposes. They can build margins, gain distribution, provide a base for expansion, and a whole lot more, but that is all from the perspective of the brand owner.

From the opposite perspective, that of the customer, and potential customer, a brand also has a whole lot of purposes, none of which have anything at all to do directly with your prosperity.

A brand is the end result of all the impressions and emotions individuals have experienced while coming into contact with the thing to which the ‘brand’ is attached.

Our individual responses will be marginally different, but as a group, we label those collective experiences  a ‘brand’

Our brains are just massively complex parallel computers, something the boffins in Silicon Valley are trying valiantly to replicate.  In effect, we absorb and process all sorts of things at the one time, mashing them all up to something that gets ‘remembered’ and which our brains can retrieve automatically when presented with the ‘trigger’

This is a combination of rational and emotional inputs that has its roots in evolutionary biology.  It enables all the things going on around us to be sorted quickly and efficiently without resorting to consciously making a series of choices. This applies as much to the choice of yogurt on the supermarket shelf as it does to the rustle in the bushes that last time resulted in your sidekick caveman being a tigers breakfast. You do not forget that, but at the critical point, when you hear the rustle again, your brain registers the rustle, and auto responses kicks in, and you get the hell out of Dodge.

There is a lot of bullshit and hyperbole around the notion of ‘brand’. However, like many things in life, we complicate it past the point of common sense. The challenge then is to dig sufficiently deeply to understand and articulate the trigger/response mechanism in the minds of those we most want to influence.

It sounds a bit creepy, but is just the way we respond to our environment.

 

 

 

 

Your network is the second most valuable asset you have

Your network is the second most valuable asset you have

Jan 17, 2018 | Collaboration, Marketing

Networking in this modern age has been digitised, so it is made easier, but is it more effective?

Probably not, when most of the time the so called Networking’ is little more than an opportunity for a sales pitch.

Over my time, the most value that has evolved has come not from those I know well, but from those I know not so well, or at all, but who are in the networks of those in my networks.

When I first left corporate, one morning after another barney with the MD (never a career enhancing move) 23 years ago, the first thing I did the following morning, after processing the fact that I had a young family, with heavy commitments, and suddenly no income, was to write down the name of everyone I knew  with the intention of ringing each of them to let them know I was now looking for a job.

The really surprising fact was that the greatest level of support came from those I did not know well, but with whom I had interacted in some way. They not only offered me the support I had assumed would come from my closest connections, but they were the most valuable source of new connections. With hindsight, it is obvious, those I knew well were less likely to be able to offer valuable new connections, as I already knew them all.

The networks of your networks are of enormous value, if you treat them with respect. The weak ties they deliver are more likely to create the unexpected than those you know well.

Over the years I have discovered a few things about networking, which is the source of 100% of my activity, as it has always been  since the first consulting gig came 22 years ago. This came from a vague acquaintance to whom I had offered some insights in the course of a general conversation I did not remember,  but he did.

It is not about selling, it is about trust.

When an approach is with the objective of selling, most can smell it a mile way, and run for the hills, we hate to be sold to. Networking is about being valuable to others, which builds trust, which eventually leads to a transaction, in a tiny percentage of cases. You always need to give a bit before you can expect to get anything of value back.

Networking is highly personal.

Human beings are social animals, but having said that, we like to be social with others who are ‘like us’. There has to be some human connection before we will allow somebody new into our personal circles. This is where most of the digital platforms fall down. A ‘Like’ on Facebook is utterly meaningless, except to Facebook as a track along which to send more ads. A generic ‘let’s connect’ message on LinkedIn is much less likely to attract a positive response than one that is personalised, and the more personalised the better. After all you are more likely to trust someone who has taken the trouble to do some basic research and sent a personalised note, than a random generic connection request which you know in most  cases will be followed by a sales pitch.

Networker or connector?

Being a networker implies that it is all about you, who you know, and what you can make happen as a result. A better outcome is to be a connector, someone who ‘knows who knows,’ and in this way can add value to two other parties, which will build trust, and the likelihood that both of the connected parties will remember and return the favour, usually in spades.

Networks work as clusters.

Because we are pack animals, who tend to stick together, once we are in a cluster, we can ‘work’ the cluster, but there are always a few who have connections beyond the cluster, the ‘connectors’ referred to above.  Being the connector between these tight clusters is a position of great influence. The more diverse the connections you have access to, the greater the potential for that the one piece that completes the puzzle is likely to be in there somewhere.

And, your most valuable asset: your health of course.

11 trends that will influence success in 2018

11 trends that will influence success in 2018

Jan 15, 2018 | Governance, Leadership, Strategy

This is not really a set of predictions, those are around at this time of the year aplenty. Rather it is a mix of the things I am thinking about, the trends I see underlaying the performance of both the public and private sectors, and the performance of marketing and strategy in these changing contexts.

It is pretty easy to make predictions, get a few right, and you become seen as a ‘guru’ but few remember the many you got wrong, so I am not going to try this year.

Are monopolies OK?

Facebook and Google between them control 75% of the global digital ad spend, not a monopoly, but certainly a global duopoly.  Currently around 40% of advertising spending is digital,(depending on whose numbers you use)  and the lack of transparency and accountability is huge. The rock was kicked over by Procter & Gambles  Mark Pritchard in a presentation to the IAB in January 2017, and the roaches are still scuttling from the light. There has been movement for the better as Colgate, and several other major advertisers followed the lead of P&G and slashed their digital ad budgets until their suppliers could/would supply data that supported their claims. However, advertising is only a slice of the cake.

Facebook as a ‘community’ holds unprecedented power, with the attendant opportunity for morally challenging situations to arise, something Mark Zuckerberg  acknowledged in his 2018 letter, and  needs to be addressed.

Amazon continues its march to world retail dominance, (so long as you ignore Ali Baba which is more an exchange platform rather than a retailer) and the retailers we are all familiar with are racing to the wall. Amazon bought Whole Foods for $13.7billion, cash, on August 28  and the next day, the Amazon share price jumped $15.6 billion. In other words, Amazon got paid $1.9 billion to buy Whole Foods and got a distribution base into the bargain as well as a whole swag of quality relationships with produce suppliers, and a great brand. At the same time, the share prices of Walmart, Target and other major retailers took a bath in the wake of the purchase.  On top of Amazon as a retailer, we have Amazon providing an unprecedented breadth of services from Amazon Web Services, to a vast array of web tools, to space exploration, to demonstrating newspapers can still work with the turnaround of the Washington Post. 

Google copped a €2.4 Billion fine in June 2017 for anti-competitive behaviour as it used its dominant position in search to give itself the edge in price comparisons, from which it may take a cut when the product has been advertised  using AdWords. While Google is disputing the ruling, the evidence seems pretty clear, and in any event, the fine is only a few weeks profit, so is easily afforded.

As a new year resolution, Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to clean up Facebook. This guy is really smart, he has built the biggest communication platform in history, and in the process made billions for himself and a relatively few others, but I cannot help wondering if the juggernaut can be turned around by anything other than regulatory intervention, without which there is  no incentive to turn the tap off. History would suggest differently, and perhaps the impending IPO of Snapchat will put a dent in the flow of Facebooks  ‘automatic’ ad revenue. By automatic I mean hands off, they give you the tools to micro focus on segments, a great capability easily manipulated as demonstrated by both the Trump campaign and the Russians.

The apparent lack of ‘moral governance’, of the new digital behemoths that are now 5 of the 10 biggest companies in the world, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Tencent (still unknown to many) and Alibaba, all of which were just start-ups in 2000, will encourage regulators to try and throw a rope around their activities. However, if history repeats itself, they will be replaced at the top of the pile by companies we have not yet heard of inside 25 years. The corporate life of a major enterprise seems to be reversing Moore’s law, and increasingly diminishing every couple of years. This reality creates great challenges, as well as opportunities.

 

We will figure out how to use data

We are awash with data, the vast majority of it currently unused. Consider the opportunities to use the data currently around, in all sorts of applications from SME’s collecting and leveraging data on their customers to Governments digitising medical records, activity, and diagnoses to improve the productivity of the investments they are making by reducing waste, and improving the  delivery of health outcomes for patients. On top of that we have the emergence of ‘Blockchain’ technologies, with the attendant hype and bubble. However, it seems to me that the applications of this technology are both wide and deep, but require a wholesale change in the manner in which our private and public institutions work, and that will not happen in a hurry. Or will it?

There are some pretty scary implications in all this, as well as the benefits to be gained.

 

The final frontier: Attention.

The greatest challenge in marketing is the fight for attention, and it is becoming a more challenging, expensive, and bitter fight by the day.

The so called panacea, ‘Inbound marketing’ can and does work, but needs to be built on a solid foundation of marketing strategies directed at specific customers who will value what you have to offer above all else. Otherwise, the leads you to spend money to generate via inbound campaigns are going to be largely useless, as the conversion rate will be low. The name of the game is to get to those whose attention is valuable to you, and generally, these people at the top of the corporate food chain are very selective about to whom and when they give their attention. I think we are almost at a tipping point  where the personal contacts of yesteryear are becoming as important as any inbound activity, with the caveat that the digital stuff out there offers fantastic resources to do research to select out those who may be of value to you and then find them in a highly personalised way, if not in person.

Account based blather.

So called ‘Account Based Marketing’ became a buzzword over the last year or two, with all sorts of automated solutions vendors breathlessly declaring it the saviour. This will become recognised as the bullshit that it is, a tactic to flog software, not a solution to the basic challenge of marketing, to find, engage, service and retain customers.  It is not new, it is as old as selling, but those with a ‘shiny new tool’ to sell act as if they had discovered the holy grail. Define your target customer as closely as possible, ensure the exact alignment with your value proposition, research their company as well as the individuals as much as possible, and turn the on-paper prospect into a warm lead. It has always been so, and slowly marketers will come to realise that software is no substitute for creative and informed thinking and strategy development.

Brand building will again be seen as the key to sustainable success.

In a commoditised and connected world where information is freely available, brands are struggling to maintain their role as an assurance of value, just as consumers need it the most.

Building a brand has always been challenging, time consuming, risky, and expensive, but the return was there when  successful. In a world of sameness, the return is still there when successful, but the task of building a brand has become geometrically harder. This will not go away, but  there is light in the tunnel. The tools available enable very tight marketing, customer and value source definition to be done, enabling brands to be built that are relevant to a very specific group of people, and  therefore able to deliver value to them that is sufficiently unique to act as insulation from the general competitive milieu. Niche brands will become the go. In truth they always were, even the biggest brands occupied some sort of segment rather than the whole breadth of any market.  Even Microsoft, as the US Department of Justice was seeking to break it up to destroy the ‘Monopoly’ position it was seen to hold, was not the only option at the time.

The brand building skills of the ‘old guard’ will come back into fashion, simply because they are more relevant and effective than ever when armed with the digital tools. The generations of so called marketers who can use only the tools without understanding the principals behind their use, will struggle.

Given brands can be targeted, the message must necessarily be unambiguous and specifically relevant to the receiver. It makes it necessary for marketers to make very clear choices about who they will target, and with what, as generic offers have no weight. The greater the degree of personalisation and specification the more likely it will be received favourably, by the few who really want it.

Marketing in the boardroom

Increasingly marketing will be seen as a profession, requiring not just the creative and collaborative skills of the past, but also deep  technical and management skills.

Investment in marketing technology is accelerating at a huge rate, driven by the competitive pressures that come from the increasing productivity coming from marketing automation. Therefore the marketing personnel will increasingly be responsible for huge IT investments that determine the effectiveness of the strategic choices that are made. Marketers need to be qualified to make those choices, and more importantly, need to have the credibility in the boardroom necessary to gain the support for the allocation of the limited resources available, and to prepare the business case underpinning the choices. Those businesses without marketing in the boardroom will fall progressively behind their competitors.

The time for marketers to step into the top jobs has never been better, the ability to focus an enterprise on customer outcomes which are then reflected in the financial results will become the mark of successful leaders who shape enterprises for commercial sustainability.

Time frames will continue to compress.

Time frames for everything from long term R&D as in the pharma industry to the local start-up and political actions are being radically compressed, and this will not change, just get faster. If you are unable to keep up by changing at least as quickly as a those around you, the abyss is just down the road.

20th Century institutions are not able to cope.

Anyone can now start a business with a laptop and a few dollars, and physical location is becoming increasingly irrelevant. This is leading to a whole new structure of internationalised competition and governance,  self and part time employment, multiple jobs and career paths. Our institutions were simply not designed to accommodate the pace and breadth of change, no matter how much we may not like that reality.

The future of creativity in an increasingly automated world

What is the future of creativity, which takes time, energy, imagination, and does cost, in an increasingly automated and short term world?  Does the volume of ordinary ideas required to keep the ‘content machines’  turning outweigh the few big ideas? This is not just marketing, our lives are increasingly programmed, often without us realising, e.g. the Facebook algorithms that deliver to our feeds the ads, and stuff that the algorithms ‘think’ we might respond to, this is just telling us more of what we already think, removing the need and urge to think, to make leaps of logic, and see a different perspective.

It seems to me that we are pretty good at seeing what is coming from within our narrow domain, but very poor at seeing what is coming from outside, which is where most change comes from, and where creativity has the opportunity to deliver real leverage. Most of the great blunders thrown around reflect this reality, while the companies concerned continued to be successful within their own boundaries. Edison’s failure to recognise the benefits of AC over his baby of DC, Thomas Watsons declaration that there is a market for only 5 computers, Bill Gates initially missing the internet (then, remarkably turning Microsoft on a dime) Steve Ballmer dismissing the first iPhone, IBM missing the shift to personal computers, Xerox not commercialising any of the stuff they invented in PARC, (except laser printers which were right in their playground of document reproduction), that now underpin much of the tech we use every day, and many others. These are obvious with hindsight, but when you think about the context of the missed opportunities, each came from outside the essential expertise that had delivered initial success. The lesson is that creativity is more essential than ever, it is the source of innovation and change but usually only obvious with the benefit of hindsight.

The public vs private world

We are demanding more of our public sector, schools, hospitals, teachers, and all the services we take for granted, but we are also demanding we pay less. Partly this is a response to the waste we all see in the public sector, but there is a longer term trend at play that will focus attention on the really challenging problems associated with the revenue side of public budgets, rather than just the expenditure. Large corporations with an international footprint can select their tax domicile to minimise tax, and the releases of the ‘Panama Papers‘ and the more recent Paradise Papers have at least lifted the rock a bit so we can see a few of the roaches running for cover, but it is the tip of the iceberg.  With the US corporate tax rate dropping to 21%, we (in Australia) will have to adjust to changed flows of US capital, one of the underpinnings of the Australian economy, potentially drying up while politicians argue about our corporate tax rates, and how reducing them is giving back to the rich at the expense of the poor. The reality is that the pie is getting smaller. Then we have the movement in the economy from  PAYE employees to contractors and small businesses with the attendant tax benefits. The  impacts of all this will be an increase in the heat of the political debate, with a geometric increase in the bullshit that  gets served up, when what we really need is some genuine leadership that is prepared and able  to articulate the core issues driving these trends, and execute sensible strategies to start the process of addressing them.

Are we at the tipping point?

To end with, this is a question that will continue to bother me, as the implications to the management of both private and public institutions, and the rules to which they are supposedly accountable, are profound:

Are we reaching a tipping point in a range of tech enabled areas? Artificial intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Autonomous everything,  new generations of quantum and neuromorphic computing, and most particularly renewable energy.  All are being rapidly developed, or already being incorporated into our daily lives without us really seeing it, after 100 years of science fiction. It seems to me that the revolution that took place 100 years ago as electricity revolutionised our lives, is about to be repeated, but from a different direction. we will be confronted by the change from disruption to collaboration,  and I do not think most of us are ready for it.

Ray Kurzweils observation (I think it was Ray) that ‘The future comes very slowly, then all at once‘, seems to be coming true.

What do you think?

 

 

Einstein’s formula to calculate business value

Einstein’s formula to calculate business value

Jan 11, 2018 | Change, Governance, Strategy

Our world is being broken into bits, powered by algorithms, few things appear to be immune to the pervasive intrusion. One that has been largely immune is strategy development, a subjective hold-out in a world of programmatic automation.

Einstein told us that ‘defining the problem is the greatest challenge, the rest is just maths’. This applies as much to strategy as it does to any sort of problem, and it seems even possible to adapt Einstein’s simple beauty of E=MC2 to the creation of business value, albeit there may be some ‘stretching’ involved.

Back in 1937 as a graduate student at MIT, Claude Shannon demonstrated that complex problems could be broken into a series of minute, sequential steps with a binary answer that delivered an outcome. This break-through created the foundation of all modern computers. Shannon then went on to demonstrate in 1948 that digital systems could not only perform logic, but also enabled transmission of information. Another technical challenge addressed that can be reasonably translated to most strategic challenges.

The problem with strategy development is not the creation of strategies,  as much as the definition of the problems to be solved, as Einstein so aptly observed.

When you have the problem defined, it is suddenly easier to break it into its constituent parts, to see the granular detail, and at least partially quantify the cause and effect chains that exist to enable informed  testing, followed by adjustments based on the outcomes.

This is starting to look like Game theory: ‘if this, then that‘ mixed in with a dose of options theory, ‘do not commit to an option amongst all those available, until you absolutely have to‘.

I think it is only right to finish where this thought started, with Albert.

His theories of relativity that famous formula we all know, but have no idea what it means, explains the workings of the universe. Perhaps it can also give us an insight into the value we can add to an enterprise, which is after all, what we are setting out to do by strategic planning.

The internet has changed everything about the business models that will be successful in the future, because of the transparency and connectivity it delivers. Therefore we need to find a way to recognise the power of digital access and the compounding that is possible by leveraging networks in our planning processes.

I like E=MC2 as a strategic metaphor, because it can explicitly compound the value of our digital networks, something not done in any model I have seen.

Here is how it works.

E is the enterprise value.   This is not the stock market valuation, which is only a financial calculation based on expected future earnings, but the total value that is created by the enterprise, which has many forms. Value can be time, services, transparency, design, everyone sees value as being different, and is subject to the context in  which it is seen. The obvious challenge is to put a number on these usually subjective items, which evolves from the other side of  the equation.

M is the mass of the enterprise.  This is the sum of the physical assets and processes of the business, the stuff that enables the work to be done.

C is Capital of the enterprise.  It includes financial capital, but the greater part is the capital contributed  by  the people who populate the place, those who are in the value chains, including existing and potential customers, and the context in which the business competes.  This comes in many forms:

  • Intellectual capital, what is between peoples ears, what they know, and how they extract and leverage that knowledge
  • Relational capital of the individuals in the enterprise, as well as those assets, both tangible and intangible, the enterprise owns such as brands, patents, and defensible market assets such as franchises.
  • Cultural capital, the way in which there is collaboration and alignment of activity towards the creation of value by the enterprise throughout the value chain, and the manner in which the enterprise, which is just a collection of people, conducts itself, both internally and externally.
  • The competitive, strategic and regulatory environment in which the enterprise competes.

This number is squared, simply because of the geometric nature of relationships, and the network effect, the more you have the greater the sum of the value that can be created.

As noted earlier, there may be some ‘stretching’ involved to apply Einstein’s formula, but on the other hand, the logic is there. This thought process came about as a result of an acquaintance seeking to sell his business.  The business brokers and accountants he spoke to all had variations of a similar formula which focussed on multiples of profitability that would be applicable, with only passing attention given to many of the intangible assets he had built up over a 30 year period. Knowing his business quite well, it was my view that the profitability multiples method substantially undervalued the business, so we set about putting numbers to some of the intangibles as a means to increase the sale price, by demonstrating that the profitability was not just robust in a challenging environment, but would be increasing over time.

The eventual sale price convinced me that Albert may have been onto something, and it just cemented my view that he was in reality, the most under-valued strategic guru in history, as well as being a pretty smart physicist.

 

 

18 ways to make the most of your large investment in trade shows.

18 ways to make the most of your large investment in trade shows.

Jan 9, 2018 | Customers, Management, Marketing

Years ago as GM Marketing of the Dairy Farmers Co-Op, I had a significant chunk of my marketing budgets taken by the involvement Dairy Farmers had in the Sydney Royal Easter Show, and associated conference sessions.  This was an institutional investment, beyond the control of my marketing programs, as a Co-Op, the board was committed to it beyond any debate.  After a couple of years of whingeing, I took it on as a challenge to generate a return from the investment, that I would rather not have made.

In more recent years, I have attended many industry conferences, organised a few, and spoken at several, so have had plenty of opportunity to see what works and what does not.

Following are some of the lessons, the things you should have sorted out before you make the significant commitment to exhibit.

 

Have a clear objective.

Build brand awareness, find new distributors, generate leads, position yourself as the industry expert, whatever it is, without an objective you may as well save your money. Your objective will drive the manner in which the investment is made, the size, type and the way you manage it.

Be strategically consistent.

Ensure the show activities and presence at the show itself is aligned with the rest of your marketing activities and programs. Doing a one-off industry show because everyone else seems to be doing it is a basic error to make. It is almost always harder to say ‘no’ than to just go along with the crowd.

Market your presence in the show.

Use the investment in the show as a reason to contact all your networks, inviting them to the stand, to the functions you have organised, or to the sessions of the conference that you think may be of interest and value to them. Trade shows are really just very expensive and expansive networking opportunities, so the greater the awareness amongst current and potential customers that you will be there, available ready to talk, and even ‘do a deal’ the better.

Follow up, follow up, follow up.

Persistence pays off, although you do need to have a ‘tyre-kicker’ identifier in place, as you can spend a lot of time following up people with little real intent of a commercial relationship and transaction. Similarly, following up your competitors neighbour, or committed customer is just a waste of your resources. However, this is no different to the normal situation,  every business needs some sort of lead scoring system. It is just that at a trade show, the numbers can become overwhelming very quickly, and it is easy to lose focus and waste resources.

Automate the contact collection process.

Most conferences these days have entrance tags that enable direct input of a visitors details in your CRM/lead management systems. Use them, it makes little sense having people copying out business cards after the day has finished, or getting visitors to fill in a form. Simple automation improves productivity enormously, freeing you up to engage with visitors without interruption.  Trade shows are great opportunities to build your contact data base, and as the old saying goes,’the money is in the list’.

Relationships are crucial.

Trade shows are wonderful opportunities to strengthen existing relationships and forge new ones. It is a huge networking opportunity, all those interested people coming to you, rather than you having to trawl through LinkedIn one by one, spend advertising funds. The opportunity to forge relationships with a wider group than you would normally interact with, particularly with businesses with complementary services to yours can be gold.

Learn about the innovations in your and complementary areas.

Exhibitors typically show off their latest and greatest, so it is a great opportunity to see what is evolving in areas that may impact you, and that you might be able to pass on to your customers, building on your position as a trusted advisor, rather than just a supplier.

Learn about the problems current & potential customers have.

It is casual, ‘non-salesy’ conversations that often uncover the problems that are the sources of value you can add,  and opportunities to be followed up. Have as many of these conversations as possible, always seeking to understand the problems others have, rather than flogging the features of whatever it is you sell.

Ensure the elevator pitch is clear, and delivered by all in the same way.

Having a clear, well tested elevator pitch is crucial at all times, but never more important than at a trade show, when it  will need to be delivered many times, and by different people manning your stand. Not only do you want to grab the attention of those to whom you can add value, and the elevator pitch is a terrific filtering device, you want those who hear it to remember the salient points so they can relate it to others in their networks. Trade shows are meeting places, and nobody attends without meeting up with someone they have not seen for a while, ex colleagues, customers, old friends, and having them able to recite your pitch acts as a strong referral.

In addition, ensure that your elevator pitch is reflected in the exhibitor listings, so the scanner who may be your ideal customer can see clearly the value you deliver. Flick though any exhibitor listing, and you remain in the dark about what half of them actually do, and very few make the listing sufficiently compelling so  that you file it away as a ‘must visit’ stand.

Collateral material.

Ensure the collateral material, be it analogue or digital is in order, and created thoughtfully, and differentiates you from your competition, rather than putting some generic stuff together as a last minute rush.

Provide a next step for everyone who engages towards a relationship.

Successful B2B selling is a process, rarely a once-off interaction. It makes sense therefore to be very clear about the next step towards a transaction that may arise during the show, from more detailed information available on the stand, to follow up visits, availability of engineering resources, referrals to existing customers who will support your claims, and many others.

Make your stand compelling.

It does not have to be the biggest, or most lavish,  but it has to stand out, and particularly be attractive to  your ideal customers. Having a clear definition of your value proposition and ideal customer profile, then spending a few dollars on designing the stand to be particularly attractive to that group will pay big dividends.

Leverage your relationships

Sharing your relationships with other exhibitors, is a powerful strategy to position yourself as an expert. Take opportunities to speak at the conference sessions, which further positions you as an expert, and make sure you do a lot of preparation to make the presentation a good one

Keep metrics of follow up and conversion success.

Understanding the dynamics of your conversion funnel is vital at all times, but never more than when you are following up a large number of potential leads generated in a short time, where the opportunity to waste time on tyre-kickers is geometrically increased. A significant change in your numbers may be an indication that your lead scoring systems are in need of review.

Measure the ROI of the show,

Apply the measures over a long period to allow sales conversion and retention to be a part of the equation. Sales is a process, and depending on your product, can have long gestation periods, so ensure to accommodate the average gestation in your calculations.

Plan everything,

Leaving organisation of the detail to the last moment will not work. Spend time up front planning, not just your presence, but who else is going, decide who you want to connect with.  Too many times I have seen last minute printing errors, poor editing leaving spelling and contact detail errors, wasteful premiums, redundant material, and obvious absences from stands, just because nobody thought it important enough to do the detailed planning, and allocate responsibility to get the job done in plenty of time. Sensible planning also increases the productivity of your investment, as last minute rush jobs always cost more, and are never as good as when real consideration is applied. Be prudent, but be prepared to spend that bit extra to leverage the investment already made.

Be early for everything.

Often that is when the best casual conversations happen, when there is few pressures of time and other people.

Have a senior management presence.

Often I have seen stands at trade shows manned by bored sales people who would rather be elsewhere, or casual staff who know very little, and have no authority to do anything. Success comes from commitment, and the presence of senior management is a sign of commitment, to everyone. Besides, most bosses spend way too much time closeted in their offices and meetings, when they need to get ‘out of the building’ and talk to real people, those who do not see things as they do, and who have no institutional pressure to agree.

The costs of trade shows are significant, not just the stand, and material, but in the costs of planning, manning, travel and accommodation, and following up. The investment can be easily wasted, or alternatively, it can just as easily be turned into a marketing goldmine with a little thought and planning.

Photo credit: Joe Flood via Flikr