TSMI's Trade Show Marketing Report

Product Placement in the Hospitality Industry - Are Trade Shows Next?

I suppose this trend began a couple of years ago when Westin started selling its "Heavenly Bed" mattresses.  Today I received an email from Kimpton about shopping on their "Kimpton Style" site.

I have to admit, the stuff they're selling there is tres cool (although not inexpensive). 

As they're selling all this stuff online, one might imagine a point in time when upon walking into your hotel room, you find yourself essentially entering a department store.  Everything you see can be bought.  The bed, the towels, the lamps, the mirrors.  Maybe every item in your room will have a price tag.  Maybe the bartender will try to upsell you on buying some glassware and the waiter will ask if you want the tablecloth.

This also begs the inevitable question - what about trade shows as online merchants? 

Who's Thinking About Us?

Take a close look at the tag cloud on this page from Squidoo.

This is the page for marketing lenses.  The tag cloud measures the number of times different keywords and tags are used across all related marketing lenses.  There are more than 165 different marketing-related words and phrases used.

Among these 165+ words, do you see exhibits mentioned?  Expo?  Conference?  Seminar?

Nope, nope, nope and nope.

There's a lot of talk on marketing on Squidoo and nobody is talking about us.

What does that tell you about what we do and how people see our industry?

Do You Have a Tip Jar?

The retail environment of a coffeehouse is a far different world from the office culture associated with tradeshows. 

Upon learning I co-owned a coffeehouse, a CEO at one of my clients admitted to me that, "I would never take a job where I had to deal directly with customers."

Makes you wonder how customers of that company are actually treated.

I'm usually only at the coffeehouse three hours a day, and those are mostly spent in the kitchen.  When I interact with customers its in front of the counter, not behind it taking orders.  It's important for me as a co-owner to work the "front of the house" - to establish rapport, make sure everyone's happy, and get instantaneous feedback.

But my motivation for ensuring terrific customer service for everyone is not the same as my baristas'.  They operate on a different principle - satisfying one customer at a time during their shift.

When they do that well, they often get compensated for it.  Not be me or my wife.  By the customer.  Through the tip jar.

I'm wondering how the "tip jar" concept might be applied in a corporate or association environment.

OT: Pandora = Brilliant

Those of you old enough to remember PointCast and the headaches it caused your sysop, it's time again for some more serious bandwidth-eating in your cubicle.

Pandora.

This may be the most wonderful app ever created for music.  If you like music and are interested in finding more music you might like, you will absolutely become addicted to Pandora.  I'm listening to some great songs from bands I've never heard of and probably never would hear of without Pandora.

Start your own radio station - or 100 - today.  It's free.

Thanks to Kevin for posting about it.

LATER... OK, now I'm really impressed, it gave me a Be Bop Deluxe channel.  Thank you Music Genome Project for your obsession.

Opinionated, Cranky, Brilliant... I'll Take It

For ASAE's "Ten Cool" project, Kevin Holland put together a list of fifteen "cool blogs" for association executives - ten done by/for associations, and five "bonus" blogs on related subjects.

TSMR made the bonus blog list, as did Sue.

I'll take Kevin's editorial on my blog as a compliment.  My wife says the same thing.  Only she doesn't get to read me on Bloglines for two minutes a day.  She's stuck with me full time.  That puts her as #1 on my personal "cool list".

GQ Used to Mean Gentleman's Quarterly

This goes in the WTF file...

Real Men Exfoliate (source: Mimegasite)

I enjoy a massage as much as anyone.  My glasses have designer frames.  I own an Armani sportcoat and a two tuxes.  I've been know to match my ties and socks. I try to look a good as a paunchy, bald, almost-50 year-old can.  I even use an electric nose hair clipper. 

But for the life of me, I don't get why the press is trying to push all this frilly fashion crap down men's throats.  Call me a dinosaur.  I used to read GQ a couple of times a year just to ensure I was on top of things.  But now that venerable magazine is full of photos from male runway shows.  What gives?  I'd take those ridiculously posed shots where the guy in Hart Schafner & Marx was casually looking at his watch over a photos of ridiculous men strutting a runway in a feather-trimmed peacoat any day.

I know when I run across people who are too groomed (and that encompasses a range from Jude Law to Tom DeLay - as well as lots of women), I get the sense that it's all about them.   More huckster than gentleman.  And I really don't have time for those kinds of people.  I'd prefer to be with people of substance.  There's only so much time in a day, you know?

That doesn't mean guys should be slobs.  That's a whole other set of disorders.  But one of the great things about being a guy was that we could keep things relatively simple.  A wardrobe of jackets, shirts, belts, ties, socks and shoes that was for the most part, interchangeable.  Which is why we were always dressed and ready to go out well before our wives or girlfriends.  We never had the burden of having to master our universe and look oh-so-perfect doing it.  Looking professional was enough.

And why do we even want that burden?

If I go to a show in the near future and find that those ubiquitous massage chairs in the registration lobby have been replaced by a steam facial and eyebrow-plucking service, I'll know it's time to pack it in from this business and take a job in aisle 5 at Home Depot.

Those orange aprons don't go with anything.  And that's just fine with me.

We're a Hit with Conservatives

TSMR just got the Hugh Hewitt treatment, resulting in a huge traffic spike. 

It's another example of how word spreads in the blogosphere.  Once you're "out there" in the blogosphere, you can't really control distribution - and why would you try?  Chances are you'll find many surprises at who reads your posts, any of which may turn into a lead.

As for Mr. Hewitt, we're not exactly sure why he chose the "Small Bites" post to link, but with his being a leading conversative voice, we're hoping his recognition of TSMR bolsters our contention that trade shows are about the most pure form of capitalistic marketing there is.  And what good conservative could be against that?

Missed Opportunity

One final thought on having to cancel my panelist gig at The Blogging Enterprise - I missed a great opportunity to get Aldo Coffee Co. further mentions in the blogging mainstream.

By choice, I don't really put much emphasis on getting this blog noticed outside of the trade show and marketing industry.  But getting Aldo Coffee mentioned in the blogosphere by some of the best-read blogs would have a substantial trickle-down effect which could lead to more out-of-towner visits as well as a higher local profile.  We've seen large bumps in online traffic from mentions in Business Week's Blogspotting and other coverage we've received.  Some of which has led to purchases.

Which brings up an interesting point.  Do you encouarge your conference managers and/or show managers (assuming they're knowledgeable on their subjects) to speak at conferences in your industry?   If they know their industry well, they can be valuable speaking resources.  They know trends - most importantly, what educational topics people are paying for. 

And if your show is blogging, why not try for speaking spots at blogging, PR and marketing conferences that discuss blogs.  There are dozens of them, soon to be hundreds.

Doing so will give your experts - and your event - more credibility, more coverage and more search engine visibility.  Why not go for it?

We Get Fans of All Types

For the life of me I can't explain this, but I'm on the blogroll of Pro Hip Hop.

Maybe they found out I often listen to Eminem and Gorillaz on my drives to Alexandria.

UPDATE:  Seems my glibness had some unintended consequences.  Thankfully, Clyde over at ProHipHop understood my confusion.  I spent some time over there and it's actually a very interesting niche marketing blog on a business I can't pretend to fully understand.  I imagine Clyde would make an extremely compelling speaker at any of the upcoming blog conferences.  Hopefully someone will invite him soon.

Sometimes Just Being Heard Is What Counts

Like most of you who travel frequently, I have received hundreds of "customer satistfaction" surveys via email.  If I have something to say, whether positive or negative, I'll take the time to click the link and fill them out.  Since I'm involved with a lot of survey work, I figure it's part of the quid pro quo equation.

Today something unusual happened.  The hotel wrote back.

I was at the Hotel Helix in DC last week.  I enjoyed the hotel except for two things.  One problem was that the bed frames were low and extended well beyond the mattress - and I banged my shins on them several times. 

The bigger problem was that I had selected the hotel specifically because it offered free wireless.  And my fifth floor corner room was just out of range of the signal.  Even a booster was little help in establishing a steady connection.

So I returned my survey and noted my issues.  Not the first time I've done that.  But this was the first time I heard back.  And not from corporate customer service - the reply was a detailed, personal note that came from the actual hotel front desk manager, Holly Clymer.

Holly didn't give me anything - no free night, no coupon, nothing other than saying that she and Hotel Helix heard me and would address my specific issues.  And you know what?  That's enough for me in this situation.  You don't always have to go overboard in making amends.

Had they not responded, I might not give a positive review of what I liked about the hotel.  I'd probably only say that the wireless doesn't work and watch out for the bed frames.  But now I can say that I had some issues but Holly let me know they're working on them - so it's worth a reservation.

Good for you Hotel Helix.