Blog:

The Competitive Advantage

March 3, 2015

Best booth giveaway ever?

In last week’s post, I wrote about several things NOT to do in a booth when exhibiting. And one of those was giving away cheesy “merch.” I believe that things like pens, mini-frisbees and logo’d post-it notes just don’t deliver lot of value for the exhibitor.

However, I did see one exhibitor at the CASRO Digital Conference a couple of weeks ago with what may have been the best booth giveaway ever… and for a couple of reasons.

February 28, 2015

The Most Important Part of Exhibiting

lead-follow-up The calendar year isn’t event three months old… and already it’s been a busy conference season. February saw events like the inaugural Quirk’s Event, the CASRO Digital Conference and IIeX (in Europe). March has the PMRG and ARF conferences among many others. It’s a “target rich” environment for exhibitors.

But it doesn’t always work out like you hope.

I’ll bet you’ve seen this kind of scenario play out at your own firm… you return from exhibiting at a conference with a pocketful of business cards from prospects that stopped by your booth. It’s an impressive group of people. Then the phone rings. And you get called into a couple of meetings. A client’s project implodes and you have to jump in to help… and before you know it, it’s a couple of weeks later and that pile of business cards representing all those ‘warm’ leads now has a thin layer of frost on it. The opportunity (and the urgency) has passed.

February 26, 2015

5 Basic Guidelines for Exhibiting

We exhibited at the CASRO Digital Conference a couple of weeks ago. It happened to be in my back yard, right here in Nashville. A really nice event.

The ‘exhibit hall’ was fairly small… it was actually a ballroom that held 12-15 exhibitors. And even in this microcosm of the exhibiting world, it was amazing to see just how bad most firms are at exhibiting. Here are five basic guidelines for exhibiting that I saw broken again and again…

February 17, 2015

Business Leaders: Don’t be Afraid to Ask for Help

As I write this, I’m at about 30,000 feet – somewhere in the air between Oakland and Denver – on my way back to Nashville. I’ve just spent the last 3 days at MRA’s CEO Summit in Napa Valley. What a great event… kudos to the MRA staff (David, Amy, Jenn & Jess) and hosts like Merrill Dubrow and Steve Schlesinger.

I think what made it a great event for me – besides taking place in Napa! – was the overriding theme that business leaders need to learn to “ask for help… and be willing to accept it.”

February 3, 2015

7 Reasons Why Conferences Should be Part of your 2015 Plan

It looks like February is becoming the new October in our industry… a month full of conferences. In fact, we’ll be at two of them this year – MRA’s CEO Summit in Napa Valley and the CASRO Digital Conference in Nashville. February also includes Qual 360 and IIeX (both in Europe), the premier of the new Quirk’s Event and more.

Too many? Maybe… but by and large, I am a big fan of these kinds of events. In fact, I’ve got seven reasons why you might want to put more of them on your calendar for 2015.

January 30, 2015

Content marketing isn’t a one-time thing… it’s an all-the-time thing.

reading1 I got an email the other day from a client who wanted to share some ideas for topics for his content marketing… but was concerned he wouldn’t have enough for an on-going program. And he was right. A dozen article ideas does not a content marketing program make.

Which, sadly, is why so few firms actually have a consistent, structured content initiative. (Well… that, and many people thinking they’re lousy writers – which is often true!).

So, how do you create a content program that will resonate in the marketplace and, more importantly, that you’ll be able to deliver on for a long time to come? The answer is in how you think about content.

January 28, 2015

Are you a partner… or just a vendor?

Not all clients are created equal.

To some, you’re a good vendor providing a valuable service. And that’s great.

But to others, you are a valued partner whose relationship goes beyond providing the service… you are an integral part of their organization. They rely on you not just for the work you do, but also for your counsel, advice and opinions.

January 20, 2015