As a student of marketing, I’m fascinating by promotion strategies and what motivates people to take action or buy.
In January we have two significant trade shows in the east and the west. As is the case every year, flurries of e-mails come from suppliers asking that we visit their booths at these shows. The question I ask is why? Why should I take my time to visit these booths?
Some things haven’t changed much in the years I have been in this industry. I have addressed the question before of why I go to trade shows in the first place. And this is the next question… why go to certain suppliers’ booths? Are you motivated to visit a supplier by these e-mails?
In a business environment that changes rapidly, it seems that the communication strategies are pretty much the same. I wonder how effective the commonly used pre-trade show marketing really is? As a marketing madman who embraces creativity, most of these e-mails don’t motivate me. If you blast out 50,000 e-mails asking people to visit your booth, it is likely a few will take note and show up. But the effective communication (in any form) is to tell us why we should come see their booth. How will a supplier’s products provide effective branding solutions for our clients?
When I started publishing FreePromoTips back in 2005, I had a vision to share information that would help people have a successful business. Our tag line is: A Business Building Resource for Promotional Marketing Professionals. It’s a novel concept that was birthed out of my personal experience of people helping me in my journey in the promotional marketing industry.
I couldn’t do this on my own. I’m simply an entrepreneurial spirit working to improve my business like everyone else. I don’t know it all and even the brightest business minds don’t know it all. Successful people continue to earn from others. Content for FreePromoTips through the years has come from a variety of industry leaders, business trainers and a few savvy suppliers who have the ability to educate distributors on how to be effective selling their products. Content is everything in effective communication.
This brings me back to the point of this Rant. Why should I visit a supplier’s booth? If I make the investment of time and money to attend a trade show it would be mutually beneficial for suppliers to consider how they can help me be more effective selling their products.
Suppliers send these emails to generate interest and make me want to stop by their booth. Some of them do this very effectively. Others do nothing to make me want to connect with them.
The ones that catch my eye give me information. If you are a supplier I don’t know, what are you doing to entice me? Beyond a name and booth number, what is your hook to lure me in? A new product line? A new set of features? Do you have a new imprint process? A new “green” way of doing something? Is there something I can touch, feel, see in person that would give me information I wouldn’t get from the catalog or website? Will you be able to provide me with helpful information I can use to sell your product?
It is worth repeating: Content is everything in effective communication. Successful people learn from each other. That’s the FreePromoTips model and the concept is powerful. A supplier who understand that and can tell me something that will increase my sales, is a supplier I do want to meet with.
I look forward to seeing many of my supplier friends and distributor colleagues at coming trade shows!
Jeff Solomon, MAS is affiliated with a Top 10 distributor company. The FreePromoTips.com website and e-newsletters he publishes are packed with beneficial information and exclusive FREE offers from a few forward-thinking supplier companies. Don’t miss out on what’s happening! Opt in to receive their e-newsletters! LIKE their page on Facebook and follow them on twitter.
