TSMI's Trade Show Marketing Report

Derailed

It's been almost a month since I posted on the SCAA's use of blogs and live video blogging at their most recent conference.   I was hoping to be able to discuss that in more detail, including some metrics.

Looks like that's not going to happen.  Although I was told, "Sure Rich.  No problem.  Let me know what you need," by one of the association's directors, nothing more has been forthcoming.

Which is a shame as I thought sharing that info would have been helpful to other associations.

And this from an association that's recently suffered through an embarrassing financial scandal and has pledged greater transparency. 

Actions, not words, folks.

We'll ford on.  I've been learning about some new stuff from an aging boomer who happens to be the most knowledgeable guy on social networking apps in all of Mt. Lebanon, PA.  Helps that he's a customer of the shop.  We've been talking a bit... so I'll share some of that instead in the coming weeks.

Somebody Please Send a Copy of Permission Marketing to Infolink Technologies

I have a small pile of faxes in my office from Infolink.

They call themselves, "Pioneers of new marketing technology" on their website.

Unfortunately, the marketing technology they're talking about has to do with machines, not people.  Totally unrelated to social networking - which represents the real "new marketing".

It goes without saying that I've never given Infolink permission to fax me.  They don't even know my name (hint: it's not "Dear Conference/Event Co-ordinator").

What's really annoying is that my wife was expecting a spreadsheet from her broker.  When it came through it was unreadable - the fax was out of ink because there were a dozen prior faxes that used big black reverse text boxes that sucked all the ink out of our machine.

Why is it so hard for some companies to get it? 

I know if I'm looking for a fax marketing partner, it won't be them.   And what are their customers thinking?  I don't recall giving permission to anyone to fax anything.  Ever.

A Belated Happy New Year. Our Resolution: Get Relevant Again

Before I get started, wanted to thank those of you who took the time to vote and/or forward the ballot for Best Coffeehouse in Pittsburgh on AOL CityGuide.  We finished second (actually we won according to the rules, but AOL changed the rules... however, that's another story for another blog.)

I had planned on revisiting the TSMR blog and re-thinking it for the new market dynamic of smaller, more targeted events.  I've been slowly rebuilding my marketing business, taking a bit more time off from the coffeehouse to do so.  Been looking for copy work while I bone up on numerous applications I plan on working with later this year in an effort to provide a reasonable copy/design alternative for small conferences.

The "new' TSMR will be a work in progress in that regard as I try to shed a lot of my "big show" baggage in order to focus on noteworthy smaller events and marketing tactics they use.  Hopefully the result will be something any bootstrapper can look at and apply on their own event(s).

It's been a very rough two months going without my own computer.  My trusty ThinkPad (purchased December 2002) bit the big one, thanks to being picked up by the screen, which partly separated from the body and somehow resulted in its inability to take a charge (after just spending $190 back in Sept. for a new battery, too). 

Given it was going to take about $650 to repair the ThinkPad and Vista was on the verge of being released, I decided to hold off purchasing a new laptop while waiting until the new Vista machines were released.  Meantime, I read a large number of reviews of Vista and the various laptops that would run it.

All that Vista research resulted in my buying a MacBook this evening (the black one with 120GB, to which I added an extra 1g of RAM).  By this time next week I'll be back online every day.  And much cooler, too, from what I hear.

In the meantime, I missed out on a story I really wanted to get into.  The most fun thing each New Year is knowing that out of the gate you get to report on CES.  There's never been a mega-event that's had it more together than CES. 

But this year was different.  The big news at CES wasn't in Las Vegas.  The big news that week was in San Francisco.  It was emanating from MacWorld - the iPhone.  Yet everyone in Vegas was talking about it.

And despite any protestations that might be spewed from Dallas, what Steve Jobs did during the week of MacWorld/CES is exactly what's right with the world.

That MacWorld has run across virtually the same dates as CES for so long has always seemed to me to be one part rebellious/one part opportunistic/one part dumb.  Mac junkies always ferreted out news from the show, but for the rest of the electronics-consuming public, the noise from CES Vegas drowned out everything else. 

Not so with the iPhone.  It was big enough to be carried on every network news show.  Investors took notice.  It was a big BIG deal even though every analyst cautioned that Apple would never have more than a miniscule share of the market for phones.

But what of CES?  Certainly things must have been announced there that are earthshaking, no?  That's where the big trends in electronics are every year, right?

OK, then.  Name one thing announced at CES of similar impact.  No fair Googling.

Two things happened that week in January:
1) MacWorld proved once and for all it isn't just for Mac nerds anymore. 
2) CES lost its place on the pedestal after a half dozen years as the logical successor to Comdex.  It's not going to just disappear like Comdex did, but Jobs saw to it that CES is just a little less relevant (sorry Dan).

If you don't believe me on this, check back next year.

The Difference Between Compromising and Being a Great Garde Manger

Part of the reason I participate infrequently in the marketing blogosphere is because of the lemmings who will gladly follow any of the marketing blogging gurus off the cliff without critical thinking.

Today I came across a post from Seth Godin that at first pissed me off because of what I considered a poor example of the point he was trying to make.  But upon re-reading the "$15 for breakfast" line in said post, I agreed he was (partly) right for being pissed off at the thought process of the hotel's kitchen and service standards.

Then I got pissed off all over again reading the references to his post.  If the people who cited Seth's post really believe what they're saying and are indeed in charge of marketing for their organizations, I'd be watching things very, very carefully as CFO of those companies.  Everyone seems ready and willing to jump on some "no compromise" bandwagon, screw the costs.

And for most businesses that's just plain dumb.  There has to be compromise.  It's just done in intelligent, clearly thought out ways that doesn't feel like compromise. 

It's possible to have both compromise and excellent service.

Seeing as Seth made a point of noting that his post was not about breakfast I'll make my reply not about food.

What's the best restaurant in the US?  Most would say the French Laundry.  Chef Thomas Keller is a genius with food and presentation.  Taking into account his nightly five course, eight course and tasting menus, plus amuse bouche for his VIP tables, his kitchen might be cooking up four to six dozen different finished dishes on an average night, most of which don't share ingredients except herbs and stocks.

You'd expect to pay top dollar, especially considering its Napa Valley location.  And some would say it is expensive.  But most familiar with food preparation would consider the French Laundry's prices extremely reasonable given the lack of overlap of ingredients and the sheer number of different dishes that pass through the kitchen. 

Needless to say, Friday and Saturday night reservations are booked months out.   

Then consider Lola Bistro in Cleveland.  It is a highly acclaimed restaurant where in the late 90s early 00s, Chef Michael Symon carved out a reputation for putting out stellar entrees with nothing over $20 (prices are now higher, but still, the most expensive entree is only $32 and both the mean & median entree prices are under $25.)  In other words, dining out at the acclaimed Lola's will cost you about the same or less than at national chains like McCormick & Schmick's or Ruth's Chris. 

Chef Symon is an expert at keeping his costs down.  But he doesn't compromise.  He only uses excellent ingredients.  The thing is, you'll find these ingredients used in several dishes on his menu, just in different ways.

Chef Symon has figured out how to both appeal to the budget constaints of a blue-collar Midwestern city while also serving food the equal of the top dozen restaurants in the US.

Needless to say, Friday and Saturday night reservations are booked months out.   

Consumers might want every restaurant to be like Keller's.  But that's simply an unreasonable request.  Somebody's got to be top dog and everyone else is less than that.

However, it's not unreasonable for every kitchen to have a mentality of a top garde manger to make sure that every ingredient is used as completely as possible and that any scraps are put to use in creative ways.  The "compromise" is not substituting a canned shelf-stable roasted red pepper for a couple of slices of fresh red pepper to accompany one omelette on a Tuesday. 

The "compromise" is selling the customer on cauliflower instead because that's what you have.  But it's damned good cauliflower.

Now, Seth has a great point on the omelette.  Per his example, for a kitchen at a major hotel to not be able to accommodate a request for a white omelette is ridiculous (this doesn't apply to your local diner).  There are hundreds of brilliant ways to use the yolks.  And if the kitchen doesn't know how to separate the two (or uses one of those yellow egg mixes), then it's time to get a new chef or close the kitchen.

So to respond to Seth's "not about breakfast" thoughts, here's what I'd do in my hotel kitchen:

Seth:  Can you use a cast iron skillet?
Us:  Yes, we have a couple of skillets we use for charring meat and fish dishes. 

Seth:  Can you cook this in a skillet that's never touched animal flesh?
Us:  No, we can't.  Sorry.  Are you staying at the hotel?  Excellent. May I suggest a vegan place two miles from here.  We'll take you over by shuttle.  Just call us a few minutes before you're ready to leave and we'll pick you up.

Seth:  Are you going to use a real stove to make this?
Us: Um, yeah.  (Aside to nobody in particular: Where does this guy eat that the kitchen staff suggests propane burners?)

Seth:  Will you be using fresh herbs?
Us:  We have locally-grown organic rosemary, basil, cilantro, Italian parsley, thyme and mint at all times as we base our menu on market availability of fresh herbs.  But if you'd like another herb, it will likely be dried, although we also dry many herbs here. 

Seth: Can I get a whole wheat tortilla instead of toast?
Us:  Might I suggest a couple slices of our Mt. Athos Fire Bread, which is a whole-grain artisan loaf baked locally by a guy who was personally trained by one of France's greatest master bakers?  Would you like to try a piece?  If you don't like that, we can make some tortillas from scratch if you don't mind waiting a few minutes.

Seth:  I'd like only egg whites in my omelette.  But I'd like my omelet to be just as big as everyone else's.
Us:  Certainly sir.  Our white omelettes are made with five eggs.  (Note to self: have Johnny save the yolks and we'll do something with hollandaise tomorrow).

Seth:  I'd like fresh veggies as a garnish, not hash browns.
Us:  This morning I can offer you locally-grown organic carrots or zucchini as julienne, or we'll mix both if you prefer.  However, before you choose, I'd like to add that our hash browns recently won the US Hash Brown championship.  They are made only of organically grown local Ohio Red potatoes along with sweet onions and red and yellow peppers from a farmer here in Lawrence.  We use an organic grapeseed oil and grey sea salt to pull it all together.  Are you certain you'd like the carrot or zucchini?

Us: Very well.  Would you like coffee with that?  Today we have a Cup of Excellence winner from the recent Panama auctions which we can brew by press pot or as an Americano.  You'd like tea?  Green, black, white or red?  Very well.  Thank you for your order sir. 

I'll note that Seth is a vegetarian, not a vegan.  I just exaggerated the point on the pan to indicate what I think an appropriate response would be to a customer who is a real PITA vegan. 

Point of this exercise is to note that in the food business, it's irresponsible to keep extra quantities of things around "just in case" somebody wants to order.  Margins in this business are threadbare thin.  If someone wants to give stuff away to keep one customer in a hundred happy, go right ahead.  See you in bankruptcy court next Spring.

But, creative use of existing resources and solid knowledge of your product offerings enables most out-of-the-ordinary customer interactions to be handled without promoting irresponsible financial behavior or screwing up cost-effective established processes.

And getting management and staff together on that page is, IMO, pretty exceptional.

Guest Blogging Next Week

I'll be over at the MiGurus section of Mimegasite (a name that still sounds to me like an obscure vitamin you find at GNC or an alternative Australian vegetable spread).

The theme for the week will be "Aligning Marketing with Markets."  What I'm hoping to do is show how marketing for most shows is not working for under-30s, why this is happening, and what to do about it without losing core buying groups of over-30s.

As it's only Thursday and the first piece isn't running until Monday, I have no idea exactly what I'll be talking about.  Guess I'll start thinking about it after Italy v. France.

Meantime, those of you in Chicago, DC, LA, Portland (OR) and Vancouver (and of course Pittsburgh if you really hurry) - if you have a chance to visit a coffeehouse that's serving Hacienda la Esmeralda Jaramillo Gesha, by all means, buy a cup. Even if it costs you $5 or more.  It's worth it.  You've never had coffee this good.

For the Record - TypePad's Spotlight, July 1 = Aldo Coffee

Just wanted to remind anyone who's interested in doing a blog for their event that there's one person out there who actually has had success doing blogs for non-tech businesses...

July 1 Featured Blog.

So don't settle for the b.s. that so-called "blog experts" are going to throw at you. 

-Blogging to market a product or service (other than blogging) is hard work.

-Blogging is time consuming.

-Blogging requires passion, energy, authenticity and transparency.

If you're not up to all that, don't bother starting a blog.  But if you are, by all means drop a line and I'd be happy to talk with you, even if it's for free advice.

End of Trackbacks

Had to stop trackbacks - in past couple of weeks have been getting an inordinate number of spams, 90-150/day.  Typepad allows "approval" before publishing, but all that means is my email box gets clogged with crap from these cretins who obviously were never taught right from wrong by their parents.

Anyway, we still take comments.

I Want This Job

Yeah, I know.  I've already quit doing trade shows.  So why would I want to get involved with something like the High Point International Home Furnishings Market?

Because it's more than just a show.  It's a community.  And for all intents and purposes, it's a way of life.

In some regards, it's kinda like coffee.  People are invested in High Point.  There's tradition.  There's "origin".  There's craft.  And there's some "old" ways of doing things that probably need to change.

And that's what would make being VP marketing for such an enterprise an interesting job.  At least a lot more interesting than running yet another show clone.

Long time readers of this blog will recall I've posted more than once (Nov 04, Oct 04, June 04, about the upstart Las Vegas Furniture Mart (one reason to hate them - their annoying Flash site) and how the Vegas startup has complicated life for the folks in High Point.  It's an interesting story and I think the Vegas guys were onto something when they started their new venture. 

In the broad scheme of things, competition is good.  We know that intrinsically.

But you know what, Las Vegas can't have EVERYTHING.  That's bad.

Personally, I'm tired of going out there just because every show wants to be in Las Vegas.   It's hot, it's plastic and these days, it's even expensive.  You can get me for CES and maybe even Surfaces and SEMA, but not for furniture.  Enough is enough.

Besides, Brian Casey is now involved with High Point as their president.  I've talked with Brian a few times over the past couple of years about doing something together and I think I'd bring some assets to the table that would be very complimentary to his skills, particularly in the non-traditional and social marketing arenas.

So if you happen to see Brian or anyone else associated with High Point, let 'em know I'm interested.

OT: Scoble Celebrates Birthday with Nightcap at Aldo Coffee

This falls under the category, "You gotta be in it to win it," as in some things only happen because we blog.

Robert Scoble is in town for a couple of days.  And through some sleight of hand pulled off by one of our frequent customers, he got shanghaied to our coffeehouse.

We kept the shop open after hours for an impromptu discussion of intellectual property and other interesting topics.  It was a fun and interesting evening.

I knew it was Scoble's birthday last night because of the big cake he got at the local blogger event I'd just attended.  But it just dawned on me 10 minutes ago that I must be the worst host in the world because when he arrived at the shop last night we made him pay for his cocoa -on his birthday.

Then again, I can rationalize that he's not a regular.  Regulars do get free birthday drinks.

Still, he liked us enough to include a testimonial in a post today.  Which will be seen by, oh, a million or so people.

See, this blogging thing works.  What it has to do with tradeshows I have no idea.  But because a lot of TSMR readers have your own blogs that you may/may not want to keep banging away on, just thought I'd pass it along.  Interesting things happen just by being here.

Btw, bonus for me... learned that I was included in the acknowledgements section of Scoble's book "Naked Conversations".  Then again, probability is a lot of you are as well.  Venky seemed more excited about that than I was, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. 

So now that I've finally met Mr. Scoble - who's a really nice down-to-earth guy, btw - am now hoping someone figures out how to get Hugh out here to Pittsburgh with some of that Stormhoek he's been hawking.

My 2006 Resolution: Say Less, Do More

In other words, quit wasting time.  Especially as it regards blogging.

In 2006, you'll likely see fewer posts over here.  More often than not I'll only post when there's something to say that I really believe in.  Less fluff, less mentions of obscure shows, less talk on blogging itself, and less ranting about things that aren't likely to change in this industry in the near term.

Which is not to say I don't believe in blogging.  I do.  Very much.  The coffeehouse blog has almost as many pageviews as this one and I've only been at that for one year.  It's been a huge asset for us.

And I'm doing blogs for other people to promote their businesses (and shows).

But as far as blogging about the show industry, the market for the type of content I've enjoyed publishing is still not very strong.   TSMR has a core audience of a handful of folks who publish other marketing blogs and a couple hundred or so show pros and exhibitors who've been with me for awhile and are part of our "choir". 

But of the 50,000 page views we did last year, the 300 or so "regulars" accounted for about half of them.  The other 25,000 page views were mostly one-offs from "drive-by" visitors who came here from links on blogs often unrelated to shows and conferences, or from search engine listings.

Much as I like hearing myself, I don't like it enough to continue the volume of posts I've been doing over here at the expense of everything else I could be doing with that time.  I suppose I'm going to rationalize this by saying that when you do see TSMR posts come along, you'll be more inclined to read them because they'll be more like "surprises" than daily obligations.

We are going to continue covering key industry events and trends.  This year I've been invited to ECEF for the first time, and I'm looking forward to that.  I also intend to be at SISO and IAEM and will cover those events.  Perhaps some others too.  Those posts generate tons of readership.  People like talking about other people and about their industry events.  That's why print pubs have regular sections on industry gossip, hirings and staff changes.

The unfortunately fact about blogging is that with the exception of people who have blog networks for consumer products (or politics) or create blog software, nobody is making money by blogging, unless your name is Hugh McLeod.

I'll qualify this by adding that I'm hoping to become more involved with a start-up in the weeks to come.  This company marries a whole lot of the marketing tech stuff we've been talking about ad nauseum.  Should that happen, then you will be hearing a lot about what I intend to do with those technologies and why they're important.

It could be a beautiful friendship. 

But if that doesn't happen, you might want to just redefine our TSMR acronym to mean Trade Show Marketing Recluse.