How often do you hear that from colleagues?

But surely, it’s what you do before an exhibition or event that counts?

Now doesn’t that sound like the most obvious statement ever?

And yet how little do companies ever think about it clearly.

Isn’t everyone in marketing talking about nurture campaigns? Where we put out some interesting (and relevant) stuff to our prospect audiences to capture their attention.

We’re not flogging the product right from the get-go. We’re building up to it… putting it in context… providing insights and proof points on the nature of the business issue first… laying the ground…

And most important of all, these nurture campaigns offer value before asking for the business. So, if a recipient is not in the buying phase, they still get something useful, or interesting. That means good will is preserved… and there’s an ongoing series of useful and/or interesting things to consume until each recipient IS ready to buy.

Pretty sophisticated stuff, eh?

So why is it that the same marketing department, who can put together super-smart nurture campaigns, nevertheless then drops into the trope of talking about ‘launching’ this and that at an exhibition or conference?

What an utter waste of resources!!!

This rant is inspired by several dear client colleagues who really understand how to leverage events, exhibitions and conferences.

Let me tell you some of the things they do.

First, they plan a schedule of contact with the people they want to see at the exhibition… usually about 8 weeks in advance. Most exhibitors will be given a method of communicating with registered delegates. But even if that data isn’t forthcoming, you can compose a target list of likely visitors and talk to them through LinkedIn.

They then find a bunch of eye-catching stuff they can send to the target audience – interesting stats, re-sends of their blogs, reference to interesting/published commentators, case studies, all sorts…

That then means that their send-outs to the target audience PRIOR to the show gets the requisite eyeballs. It means awareness of my friends’ presence at the exhibition is built in the run-up to the show.

The result is the right people come to them. They get on people’s visit agendas. It means there’s something to talk about over and above the hard-core sales proposition. It means they are already warmed-up. It means that more actual business conversations take place.

So, anyone in marketing who’s hearing colleagues say ‘let’s launch that at the show’ – stop them in their tracks. Explain slowly, clearly, using simple words, that this is in fact the worst idea in the world.

In fact, explain that there needs to be a whole pre-show campaign that tells prospects about this ‘new thing’, how it works, why it’s great, how it can benefit….

…so that by the time prospects turn up at the show, they’re ready not for opening conversations… but for closing business

I hope you find these bulletins entertaining. I’m happy to discuss all relevant engagements – from customer community creation, to directorial mentoring, to strategy development, to thought-leadership content development, to full campaign structuring and management, and more.

Do get in touch!