Tradeshows  can consume a considerable amount of money.  Firstly you must buy the floor space and furnish it, then there’s the marketing costs to attract  customers to your stand, and last but not least, there’s the travel and hotel costs.  Given these costs, the decision to attend a tradeshow should be given a lot of thought.

Before you confirm your attendance at any event, you should ensure it supports your marketing objectives. Consider the reasons why your company wants to attend. Are they consistent with your overall marketing strategy and objectives, and is the event the most appropriate and cost-effective channel to meet those objectives?

Here are 7 reasons why companies typically attend a conference or exhibition and ways in which you can ensure these objectives are met.   It is of course possible for one event to fulfil all of these objectives:

1. Thought leadership: Can you get one of your management team on the conference programme?  Conference producers are always looking for good speakers.  There may also be opportunities to run a workshop the day before, after or even during the event.
2. Increase your profile: What are the sponsorship options? There will be a huge number of opportunities to get your brand in front of exhibition visitors limited only by your budget.
3. Attract new customers: What is the exhibition visitor profile in terms of job title, industry, geography and purchasing responsibility?  Ensure it matches your target customer.
4. Meet existing customers: Do your existing customers plan to attend and can you get them complimentary exhibition passes?  If you have an international customer base, whilst your team and customers are in the same city, it’s the perfect opportunity to organise a special event.
5. Launch a new product: Will your product launch get the attention it deserves?   Remember, the largest players in your industry will be almost definitely launching new products which may dominate press attention. If you are a launching a niche product, what can you do to stand out from the crowd and to get the attention you deserve?
6. Keep up with competitors: Are they going this year?  Don’t assume that because they attended last year, they’ll be there the following year.  If this is your only reason for attending, you should question your decision.
7. Meet the press: Which journalists are going? Can you get the press list in advance and arrange meetings? It’s the perfect opportunity to build personal relationships with industry journalists and to secure coverage in the months after the event has finished.

So you know the event is the right one for you.  The next step is to book your exhibition space.   In a future blog, I’ll provide you with a checklist to help you chose the best exhibition space for you.

I was particularly inspired on the 6 mile run I did earlier today in what is still a very cold and icy London.  I managed to stay on my feet and came up with the following 6 marketing ideas:

For a client who has just started using Twitter:

1. To build a quality following, send an email to all clients and prospects.  Ask them to follow you and in return offer a 5 – 10% discount on their next order.  This should improve both the current number of followers and the longer term effectiveness of  Twitter, as my client will have the opportunity to  engage with customers and prospects on a day to day basis, and therefore increase the revenue-generating potential of Twitter.  In addition, the discount provides an extra incentive to make a repeat purchase or place a new order.

2. Ensure that the twitter name has been added to the website, email signature and will be added to business cards on the next print run.  Basically use every opportunity to promote Twitter name.

For both a prospective client and two former colleagues who operate in the same industry

3. Introduce them – their knowledge base and contacts could potentially assist marketing and business development for all three parties (I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before!)

For me

4. Build my blog content by blogging about the ideas I come up with whilst running.  This will support my “blogging jogging marketer” campaign and will help me to come up with new content on a regular basis.

5. Consider the value of creating a twitter hashtag: #marketingideaswhilstrunning or similar.  Are there other business people who are inspired whilst running?  What ideas can we share?

6.  For an upcoming network meeting, set an objective of what I want to achieve from the meeting.  Produce a leaflet with a special offer specifically for that group to increase the effectiveness of my marketing effort.

So there we have it, 6 miles, 6 ideas!  I usually judge the quality of my runs in minutes – perhaps now I’ll start judging the quality of my runs by the number of ideas generated.

In addition to my family and friends, I currently have two major passions in my life – one is  The Marketing Lady. The Marketing Lady was borne as a result of the recession last May when I made an unexpected departure from my role as the Marketing Manager of a small software company in London.  I’ve never been one to rest on my laurels and quickly decided to take control of my future and establish my own small business marketing company, and so The Marketing Lady came to be.

… jogging marketeer

My second passion is running, which is a great surprise to the aforementioned family and friends.  The photos which adorn the walls of my parent’s home are testiment to the fact that I was not a sporty child. I began partaking in some much needed exercise in my mid-20s running the first ever Race for Life, a 5km race in aid of Cancer Research UK.  Over the years I’ve progressed from 5km to 10km races and for the past 6 years I set myself an objective to run one half marathon a year to give my running a purpose, which I achieved.   I am now preparing for the largest challenge of my life, the Virgin London Marathon.   I’ve wanted to run it for a number of years and now that it’s here I am both excited and terrified.

In the moments when I am not thinking about The Marketing Lady, I am thinking about the London Marathon so when I began developing my blog, which at its heart is a personal account of my thoughts and opinions, it seemed appropriate to combine the two activities that dominate my waking hours.

How running supports my business

Training for the London Marathon has proved to be a godsend to my business.  As a small business owner, I’m sure many of you can appreciate that it can be difficult to leave your desk.  My training programme gives me a reason to step away from my laptop and take a much needed break.  It always gives me thinking space and helps me come up with new marketing ideas both for me and my clients.  I mentally wrote my first blog on a run and the inspiration for my business name came on a run when I ran past The TechGuys!

So at times my worlds will collide and I may post up articles which are more about running than small business marketing. I will keep them categorised so that you can just read the posts which are relevant to you.  On that note, I plan to publish this post, close down and go to bed as my Sunday began with an 11 mile run in icy conditions and I am now feeling the effects.  I wish I’d taken a photo so I could publish it here as it really was beautiful outside, albeit a little crisp.

I’d be interested in your thoughts as to whether you feel it’s appropriate to combine a business blog with one which may ultimately diarise my efforts to reach the finishing line of the London Marathon.

You don’t have the time …

The biggest challenge for all small business owners is time. Time is something that is within our control and if you really want something, you will always find the time.  Let’s face it, if you are a busy small business owner with a passion for Formula 1 and an opportunity to spend a day at Silverstone with Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton presented itself, you’d find the time, wouldn’t you?

To overcome the time issue, you should set out your blogging strategy and develop a plan.  By doing this, you make it clear to yourself and others that this is an important activity that will help your business grow.   You should identify in advance what your blog is aiming to achieve and the topics it will cover, and you should also allocate a specific time in your schedule to write it and block this time out of your diary.  Social Media Coach Jay Baer has published a very useful blogging template which you can use to help you to structure your blog – and again, speed up the time it takes you to write it.

You have nothing different to say …

We all have something different to say.   We are all unique and experience and perceive situations in different ways.  You may feel that you have nothing different to say than other experts in your field, but we’re all in the business of telling stories and whilst you may be telling the same story, the way you tell it will be different because your experiences and perception will be slightly different – and importantly, your story will resonant better with some of your target market because of who you are.  And remember, you are not writing a masterpiece here – you should keep your blog short, simple and personal.  Your aim should be to grab the reader’s attention, to educate and to encourage them to act on your message – by linking to your website, commenting and/or forwarding a link to your blog to their connections.

Remember you are not writing a masterpiece

You don’t know how to blog …

There’s only one way to find out how to do something and that’s simply by getting on and doing it. If you don’t know where to start, a web search on “how to blog” will quickly provide you with all of the education you need – you’ll find copious amounts of free information including ebooks and videos to take you through the hows and whys of blogging – you’ll even find people who will set up your blog for you and write it too.   One great resource I came across was The Better Business Blogging website, written by blogging consultant, Mark White.  This website should provide you with pretty much all of the information you need to know.

You don’t see the point …

If you haven’t noticed, the world of marketing has changed dramatically.  Marketing is no longer just about you telling your target customer about your products and services.  It’s more about your customers telling your target customers about your product and services, and it’s about you engaging online with your target audience by freely sharing information of value with them.  They in turn will share it with others who will share it with others and so it goes on.

In the old world of marketing you typically sent out a letter; if you were very lucky it was read and acted on, but usually it was thrown in the bin.   In the new world of marketing, your promotion is done online where it remains visible indefinitely and it becomes viral driving people to your website – a couple of hours spent writing your blog and telling people it exists can have an exponential effect on the number of people who have heard about you and your business.  And the great news is, if you decide to implement your blog yourself, it hasn’t cost your business a penny!

So there you have it – my first blog discussing why some of the reasons you may be currently using not to start blogging to grow your business are not reasons at all.   Can you identify with these?  What other reasons do you use? Will 2010 be the year that you get your blog started? If you need assistance in the development of your blog strategy and plan, I can help you. Contact me at katrina@themarketinglady.co.uk