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Now is the Right Time for Marketing

From a previous blog you may have read how Adobe are not having a booth at Macworld this year. It seems that they have started a trend. AppleInsider has reported that other big names like Belkin and Seagate are also not having a booth. You can read the article here.

My favourite bit in the article is where it says that smaller booths who had previously been placed out in the low traffic areas are being moved much closer to the Apple stands and the majority of the traffic.

This principle applies not only in Trade Shows but in marketing in general. Many business are taking on the mind set that business will be tough so I will cut marketing expense. This can lead to a decrease in customer awareness which in turn, leads to decreased sales which will guarantee you tough economic times!!

I am not saying “Spend like you have never spent before!!!” (That seems to be the Government line at the moment.) What I am saying is now is the time to continue working your marketing strategy. If Trade Shows are part of it, continue doing them. Continue your normal marketing as well. Some of your competitors will get scared of economic times and so will cease their marketing work, this means you have less competition for your message. If big players drop out of the marketing space (like at MacWorld) you can now get a real boost to your message.

Stick to the strategy and take advantage of the economic times. They won’t last forever and when everything picks up again, you will be in a stronger position than when they started. How cool is that!!

Enjoy

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
www.warwickmerry.com
www.getmoreblog.com
www.getmoreshowsuccess.com

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Get Closer by Moving Away

Web 2.0 amazes me. I mean, not like a magician making your Aunt levitate but in its appeal to the masses. In one way it is drawing us closer together but in another it seems we are moving further and further apart. We are getting closer by moving away.

Let me explain.

As a country lad (that’s why I speak slowly!), I grew up in a town of about 2,000 people. We didn’t have many people to speak to so you spoke to everyone. Everyone knew what everyone else was doing. There was even the local paper (that came out once a week) which updated you if you didn’t know. The Australian comedian Hughsey recently gave a rant about the town.

Things are different in the city. You are surrounded by people and are always alone. People don’t talk to their neighbours. We rarely acknowledge passers by. Technology has made it even worse. Protected by the cocoon of our iPod or MP3 player we blissfully ignore the rest of the world. We sit behind our computers or play our video games minimising human contact.

In fact, we have disconnected so much that we are challenged in communicating difficult news. We end a relationship via Text, resign from our job via email, have sick days via text or leave voice mail messages so we don’t have to face the person we are talking to.

Along comes Web 2.0.

All this time we are alone builds our desire to genuinely connect – but we can’t handle the rejection if it doesn’t work. The technology can act as a great barrier and we can connect without risk. You can Twitter someone on the other side of the world, have a couple of short 140 character jokes and all is good. You can post things on Facebook, MySpace and you Blog to let the world know what you think (hey I have two blogs!! This one and the Trade Show one – double the nerd!) You can link with people on FaceBook and Linked in. You may even have thousands of connections, friends, affiliates, followers without realising it is more than the population of my home town!! You may even break out of the 140 character restriction and email your new friend.

Want to surprise someone? Offer to meet them in person! If they agree to meet, you will find one thing. To be more precise, I found one thing. People will be more open via technology then face to face. We don’t like putting ourselves at risk. We can’t delete the post, change the blog content or take back what we said.

My challenge and one that I issue you is to be authentic. Just be you. People will love it and will love (or at least like a lot) you for doing it. The other challenge is to talk to your neighbours. Tweet them in real life. Chat to the people on the train. People down the street. You don’t have to be deep and meaningful but while technology is great, NOTHING beats human connection!

Enjoy.

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
www.warwickmerry.com
www.getmoreshowsuccess.com
getmoreblog.blogspot.com

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How to be a No Show

It is always the big question. Should you exhibit at a trade show or not? Especially if you are a bigger player in the market where people will be expecting you there. If you decide not to show you have to take action on it.

As and example, Adobe have decided not to show at Macworld this year.

What would have been disastrous would be if they just didn’t show, or worse if show organisers said they were going to be there so Adobe would have to go on the defensive. Now I am sure Macworld wouldn’t do that, but other less scrupulous event organisers may try and “bully” or “influence” a significant player to exhibit at their

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show. What Adobe did was communicate via the media that they were not exhibiting. You can read the article here.

You will notice that although they are not exhibiting, they will still have a presence at the show. Some are saying that, along with a large number of layoffs, Adobe are feeling the pinch of the current financial crisis. Whatever their reason, their approach to managing their “No Show” has been well done.

While I am still of the belief that now, more than ever, exhibiting at a trade show is a great thing to do, if you are going to be a No Show, you need to manage it well. You may not have the bucks that Adobe’s PR department does so lets learn from them!

Enjoy!

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
www.warwickmerry.com
getmoreblog.blogspot.com
www.getmoreshowsuccess.com


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How are your Speed Dating Skills?

To me, trade shows are just like speed dating. Let me explain.

Normal shopping or purchasing is not focussed. You may be there to buy what you want or you may be hanging around the shopping centre with friends. Maybe you are just spending time with your partner.

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Booth Location

Over the weekend, I spent time at the Mind, Body and Spirit expo in Melbourne. I was there to work with a client of mine and also to check what others were doing at the Trade Show.

I was chatting with a booth holder who had a large corner booth right near the food area (which was next to the toilets). They took that booth because it was at the far end of the room away from the exits. They learnt last year that too close to the exit/entrance means that people rush past you in the excitement to get in or the desire to get out.

What they were finding this year was rather than the access to the crowds that were dining that they expected, that they got ignored completely! They thought it was just like being near the entrance. People either were in a rush to go to the toilet or were having a rest and something to eat so had zoned out of the show completely. They just wanted to sit and rest.

So based on their experience and one what I have found over time, here are a few tips on booth location:

  • Not next the toliet/dining area
  • Not next to the entrance/exit
  • Be wary of aisle ends – while they have two sides, people are sometimes so focussed on getting to the next aisle that they miss you
  • Try to get 1/3 to 1/2 aisle away from the entrance, by the time the patron gets to you they will be ready to buy/ask questions. They first 1/3 to 1/2 is just “getting the feel”.

Because you are investing significant time, effort and resources into your Trade Show, you want to get the best location you can!

Enjoy!

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
www.warwickmerry.com
getmoreblog.blogspot.com
www.getmoreshowsuccess.com

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Freebies – do you need them?

Have you seen the freebie trolls?

You know the ones I am talking about, they walk around the trade show or expo taking freebies from every booth they pass. They are sort of like the anti-Santa. They just keep filling their sack with all of the treats available.

It is enough to make you ask the question, do you need freebies on your booth? I mean what’s the point if it is just the trolls who are going to take them all?

It is a good question, do you need the freebies or promotional item. A better question would be whats the value of having a promotional item? With your trade booth, you want to always consider what is the value. With your promotional item there are several things to be considered:

Cost per impression – Don’t just consider the cost of the item but think about how often you get a chance to lock in your branding. This is why t-shirts and coffee cups can be effective items versus a disposable toy or golf tee.

Relevance – To strengthen your brand and your message, go for items that match your theme, organisation and message.

Streamed – Consider streaming your promotional items so that only qualified prospects get the higher valued promotional items and having something of lesser value for unqualified prospects and freebie trolls.

While these are not the only things to consider for your promotional items, they will definitely aid you in Getting More value from them.

Enjoy

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
www.getmoreshowsuccess.com
www.warwickmerry.com

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Check Your Facts

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get all fired up about what I think and not what I know. Let me explain.

Out the front of our house are about 10 large pine trees. The previous owner planted them about 15 years ago thinking they would be a nice 1.2 metre (4 foot) hedge. Being trees rather than shrubs, they grew (and grew and grew and grew and…) and now they are about 6 metres (20 feet) high and skillfully blocking all of the sunshine that could be shining into our house.

When discussing getting them cut down my wife and guessed it was going to cost about $5,000 – $10,000 based on an old quote from a few years ago. Being a little financially conservative, naturally I allowed more for the $10,000 than the $5,000. So we didn’t worry about them. They are not a priority and we could get them cut down at a later date.

For some reason last week, I had the feeling to find out how much it would cost to get them removed. There was a firm who I had seen around a bit and I knew them to be reputable and will full insurance coverage. I rang and booked for a quote (and then promptly forgot about it!)

When they came around today, I was pleased to find out it was on $2,500 to get all the trees and stumps removed. We will still probably defer it as it is not a priority, but it is good to know the facts.

How many times have you or your company made decisions without the readily and easily available facts? Guesses, ideas, feelings, vibes, intuition and plucking it out of the air can not compete with facts. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes these things are good enough or even essential, but sometimes it is the facts that make the difference.

So for this week, my challenge to you is to channel your inner Joe Friday (from Dragnet) and ask for “Just the Facts”.

I guarantee it will make your decisions a lot more clear cut.

Enjoy


Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
http://www.warwickmerry.com/
http://www.getmoreshowsuccess.com/

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Back to Booth Basics

I am never surprised at how un-common common sense is. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the business arena.

I was just working with one of my Trade Show clients who was getting ready for next weekends Mind, Body and Spirit Festival and he couldn’t believe the biggest issue in having a successful trade show. Rather simply it is defining what success is. The simple question of “What do you want to get out of the trade show?”

The simple concept of what gets measured gets improved HAS to be applied to trade shows. This all becomes part of defining your Return of Investment. I am not saying they always have to pay for themselves (the first couple probably won’t) but you need to know whether it has or not.

So what do you want from your next trade show?

  • Increased brand awareness
  • Increased sales (and what figure would that be?)
  • Qualified sales leads
  • A stack of business cards (from the fishbowl lucky dip)
  • Intelligence on your competition (you will be looking at their booth won’t you?)
  • An opportunity to present to the conference

Now that you know what you want from the show, make sure that everyone working in your booth knows too!!

Good luck with your next show.

Warwick
The Get More Guy
www.warwickmerry.com
www.getmoreshowsuccess.com

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Some Imponderables!

I was sent this by a friend and thought that some are worth the time to ponder!!

  • If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?
  • If people from Poland
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    are called Poles, why aren’t people from Holland called Holes?

  • Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
  • If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
  • If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
  • Why is it that the man who invests all your money is called a broker?
  • When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
  • Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person who drives a racing car not called a racist?
  • Why are a wise man and a wise guy … opposites?
  • Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
  • Why isn’t the number 11 pronounced onety one?
  • “I am” is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that “I do” is the longest sentence?
  • If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn’t it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?
  • What hair colour do they put on the driver’s licenses of bald men?
  • I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks so I wondered what Chinese mothers use. Toothpicks?
  • Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do, write to them? Why don’t they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the postmen can look for them while they deliver the mail?
  • You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
  • No one ever says, “It’s only a game” when their team is winning.
  • Ever wonder about those people who spend $2.50 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backwards: NAIVE
  • Isn’t making a smoking section in a restaurant like making a peeing section in a swimming
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    pool?

  • If 4 out of 5 people suffer from diaorrhea, does that mean that one enjoys it?

What is it that has you pondering today?

Enjoy

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
www.warwickmerry.com

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Become the Hub

Have you ever noticed at a trade show how certain stands become THE place to be? Sort of the hub of activity. Naturally you want your stand to be that hub.

Don’t forget that the crowd is fickle. It is not always clear on what it will take for your stand to be the hub, but there are a few things you want to do:

Draw a crowd

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Happy Anniversary

It is a month of anniversaries!

Today my lovely wife, Sam (see the picture for her loveliness), and I celebrate our first wedding anniversary. That 12 months has gone soooo fast yet also it has taken ages. During that time we have had many experiences and achieved some great things.

Later this month her parents celebrate 40 years of marriage!! Crikey!! That is something to aim for.

To celebrate our first wedding anniversary, we went out to a lovely little Mexican restaurant, had some yummy food and considered the last 12 months. What were the highlights, what were the key learnings and what were our favourite moments. We then looked at the 12 months ahead. What sort of things did we want to achieve, where did we see ourselves in 12 months, how would life be for us. Granted it wasn’t totally “romantic” but it was fun creating plans and ideas together.


When did you last do a review? May be it is time for one now.

Luckily I have an out line for you – sort of, here’s one we prepared earlier!! Visit my website and on the resources pages you will see the regular results review. Download this and follow the instructions. You will be surprised at how much you have achieved and what you are capable of.

Consider it my anniversary gift to you!

Enjoy!
Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy

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Get out of your road!!

I have been Twittering with @AlohaArleen and @TheDailyBlonde about the the joys of Australia. They are both from the USA and said they would love to visit one day.

It got me thinking.

So many people get in their own roads for doing things. Rather than focusing on reasons while they can do something, they look for reasons why they

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can’t:

  • It’s too far
  • I don’t know anyone there
  • What would I do
  • Where would I stay
  • They speak funny
  • I don’t think I can afford it
  • I don’t want to go by myself
  • What if I need to get back in a hurry
  • I don’t like flying

… the list goes on!

That is not just for a frivolous trip half way around the world. I have also heard:

  • What about the economic crisis
  • I’ve never done that before
  • I have other responsibilities
  • You can’t be spiritual and rich at the same time
  • People wouldn’t understand
  • It’s too hot
  • It’s too cold
  • It’s too hard
  • It’s too easy
  • I could never do that
  • People will laugh
  • What will my husband/wife/kids/parents/friends/counsellor/postman think

… and the list goes on.

Get out of your own road!! If you really want it, go for it. Go for it with everything you have. Don’t let what you can’t do get in the road of what you can do.

So what are the reasons you WILL be doing what you have always dreamed of?

Enjoy

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
www.warwickmerry.com

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The Bane of Booth Babes

You have seen them at nearly every trade show you go to. Attractive women (and men) handing out brochures. If you start asking them some questions about the product or service, they almost deflate in front of you! I have seen them pick up their script, refer to the cheat sheet, check with their colleage and even refer me to the store outside the trade show!!!

Like all things in you booth, you have to ask the question, “does it add value?”

If it add’s real value to have a booth babe, great do it! More often than not, one of your employees is more knowledgable, more enthusiastic, more interested and more clothed than the booth babe.

If you decide you do want a booth babe, at the very least make sure they have the confidence and knowledge to actively engage a prospect or customer and get the correct details for a followup. Good looks may get people to your booth but real service will keep them there for the sale.

Enjoy!

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
www.warwickmerry.com

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How to Get Up when you’re feeling down

Ever had those moments?

Everything seems to be cruising along nicely. Relationship is good (if not getting better and better), friends are good (still get invites to go out), hobbies are good (love cruising on the motorbike or doing what you do), health is good (could always do more exercise and eat less but on the whole it’s good), work is good (love what you do and do what you love), weather is good (sunny day after a bit of rain) so basically, life is good!!

Then it hits! Wham! You feel like crap!

It has no obvious source or reason, you just feel bad. Self doubt kicks in, your self esteem crumbles little by little. Arrrrrggghhhh!!!

Ever had one of those moments?

We all do. They will pass. The secret is to look at ways to help them pass faster. Here are a few that my clients have found very successful:
Music – play music that works for you, something that makes you feel more powerful
Exercise – any form of exercise will help endorphins start flowing and give you some of natures “happy juice”
Location – change your physical location. It could be just going outside, it maybe going to the beach, something that gives you different perspective
Talk – chat with a friend or colleague about what is happening for you and more importantly, what is happening for them. It takes the obsession off ourselves and turns it into caring for others
Write – ink what you think. This will get the never-ending tape out of your

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head and on to paper. By the way, typing doesn’t count, the physical act of writing is required

There are plenty of other ways to get a sense of reality and move through the downer. Work out what is best for you and have it on standby for when these times hit.

If nothing else, follow the words of the late great James Brown.
“Get Up, get on up!”

Enjoy!

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy

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What is Success?

As with all things in life, you cannot measure what you cannot define.

Famously, Ralph Waldo Emerson had this to say about success:

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To give of one’s self;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived

This is to have succeeded.

But what about for our Trade Show?

The first questions must always be, what do you want out of the Trade Show? Is it sales, leads, exposure, contacts? Only by asking what you want can you measure the shows success.

At a recent trade show I was speaking with a clothing wholesaler who was interested in getting retailers for his product. It seemed peculiar to me. The attendees were all consumers, they may have had a clothes retailer business but there would not be coming to the show in that context, they would be coming to buy. The wholesaler did not have a large supply of product so when people stopped to ask to buy from them he actually said, “I’m sorry these are not for sale”. Only on Day 3 (of a 3 day Trade Show) did he start recording client details to email them sales opportunities.

His mission was to find a retailer. Yet at no time did he leave the booth to go and speak to other retailers who had booths at the trade show.

I don’t know if he measure the show as a success. From my observations, it did not appear to give the return I would demand from a trade show like that one. While he knew what he was after (new retailers) he did not consider the primary audience at the show or how he could maximise the benefit from them.

What about you?

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What do you want from your next trade show? How will you measure if you have achieved it or not? How will you know if the Trade Show was worthwhile?

Until next time, I wish you much Trade Show Success.

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
www.getmore.com.au

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