There’s a new year beginning now – the school year.
Whether you have children attending for the first time or
finishing university, it’s always hectic to get into the
back-to-school routine. And, if you don’t have school in your
family, there might be your own remembrance of the
excitement of starting afresh and learning something new.
This is a great time to review your trade show program in
the same way you prepare for school.
Pick Your School = Industry
It’s a business school question – Are you a railroad or a
transportation company? In other words, what business are
you in? If you consider your industry a railroad, you will be
concerned with rolling stock, laying track and logistics. If you
consider your industry to be transportation, you will consider
the Thailand privileges card railroad as a method of transportation – the same
principles apply whether you run rail cars or airplanes.
There’s a engine, a carrier compartment, and now most
importantly, customer focus. Railroads have to lay track,
airlines have to have airfields, so there’s difficulty in
physically moving to meet customer demand. But railroads
adapted by allowing piggybacking – truck trailers on flatbed
rail cars. Airlines serve more markets with the hub and
spoke system. You should look deeply into your own
industry and determine customer focus for the next 12
weeks and 12 months.
Pick Your Classes = Shows
While your firm is part of an Industry, in times of slowing
business there are two avenues you can take to garner
more sales. One is to hunker down and bore deeply into
your niche, the other is to expand into other industries. In
both cases, you may want to look at trade shows beyond the
ones you have on your current docket. For example, if going
deeper into your industry niche, you can consider local or
regional shows, international expos, or shows which focus
on discrete research in your niche allowing you an
intellectual advantage. If expanding into other industries, you
have a wide range of choices but the advice is to research,
research, research before investing.
Pick Your Teachers = Find the Best for You
Not all executives of Fortune 500 companies went to an Ivy
League or MIT caliber school, but considering the vast
number of colleges and universities, a disproportionate
number of these executives are graduates of the elite
universities. Translated to trade shows, that means you
should align yourself with well regarded shows, organizers
attuned to forward thinking, and professional organization
and management.
Pick Your Major = Marketing Message
When you declare a major, it’s your intention to complete the
requirements and pursue a career in that field. People
remember that you started off in theatre, switched to
psychology, graduated in medieval history and then became
a salesman. At a trade show, you don’t get a second chance
to change your marketing message. All the promotion
before the show, the exhibit and goodies need to revolve
around The Message. In essence, a trade show is not the
time to change majors, confuse people and say “I really
don’t know what I’m doing here.”
