Joe Greeley here, with Nimlok Minnesota
Here’s what’s on my mind – Attraction
Now, when I hear the word attraction, I think of two things – two things pop into my head. First is my wife, naturally, because I’m attracted to my wife. Secondly though, I think of mosquitos, because mosquitos are attracted to me. Weird, I know, an odd combination. Now I’m pretty sure that two completely different things pop into your head when you hear those words. Well, let’s at least hope so.
However, the other thing that pops into my head when I hear the word attraction is trade shows – trade show exhibits. You’re thinking, why? That’s because I’m in the trade show industry – I’m wired that way. However the big part of attraction and trade show exhibits that pops into my head, is how do we attract more people, or how do we attract the right people?
I think of all of the things that have been tried and attempted over the years with poor to marginal success at best and then the reasons why. Too often the tricks, the gimmicks, the giveaways, the activities, and the themes that we’ve attempted don’t tie to our brand or our product, or any type of messaging that we even have. They’re just tied to trying to get more people to the exhibit. Not necessarily the right people, just more people.
So let’s do this today. Let’s look at a made-up example, but something that might illustrate my point just a little bit. So your company builds…let’s say…cat condos. And furniture. You’re going to the Pets-R-Us Show in Las Vegas. You specifically are looking for people that buy cat stuff. Cat condos and furniture, right? You’re going to sell to humane societies, pet stores, and veterinarians…places like that, right? So that’s our target.
Then you start to think, let’s start planning the show – let’s do a theme, right? We’re in Las Vegas – let’s do a Las Vegas theme! You’re in Las Vegas. You leave your booth, the theme’s right there. I think it’s going to get lost. We can do better than that. C’mon, let’s challenge ourselves a little here, right? So let’s do some sort of give-away. Or, better yet, let’s register for something and we’ll give away an iPad once a day, or at the end of the show – whatever it might be. Or better yet, let’s give away cash! People like cash, right? You bet they do! They love iPads and they love cash.
There is one flaw to that. Everybody does. You know who loves iPads, or better yet cash? Everyone. Meaning dog lovers. Kangaroo lovers. Flamingo lovers. You get my point. You’re going to get a lot of people that have absolutely no interest in what you sell and what you do at all to come to your exhibit. They’re going to clog up your exhibit because they want these things. We need to be more specific. We need to come up with something different. Something that is relevant to our audience, but also relevant to our brand, and our product.
Here may be a silly example, but what if we put a photographer in the booth? Or a photo booth. Something along those lines, and it took a photo with your favorite cat….maybe Morris…from Meow Mix. And it got emailed to you and then you could share it socially or put it on your desk. I know, I know, silly example but you get the point. It’s something that ties more to your cat condos, or your furniture, or your company or the theme that it’s all about cats versus just trying to get a lot of people to your exhibit. Trust me, you can do things to get a lot of people, but let’s get the right people, and let’s do something too, that’s memorable and connects with your actual audience.
So, there’s a quote out there that I really, really, like, and forgive me because I have no idea who said it. It was not me; I’m not that original and can’t come up with it, but it was great. It basically said this: (I’ll try to get it really close) “A brand is worthless if it doesn’t connect with your audience in a relevant way.” I couldn’t agree more.
In this case, if we just do activities for activities’ sake, they won’t remember it – it’ll just be an activity and hopefully I win something.
Anyway. That’s the challenge for the day, and that’s what was on my mind.
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Thanks!
