Here’s why: anybody +everyone = nobody

If you cannot give me an example of the perfect person to refer to you, then I am unable to mentally search the roster of 2000+contacts I have to find a great potential client for you. If you the business owner cannot narrow your focus, how can I the colleague that wants to help you out, do it either?

So try a few suggestions that will help you to not only craft the perfect 30-second commercial, but also better enable me the faithful referr-er to send you gobs of business leads:

1. Pick 1 or 2 “sample customers” to talk about. Maybe one is a really “successful business” example, and the other is less so (if you walk around telling everyone your ideal client is pathetic, who would want to admit they need you?).

2. Think of 1 or 2 of your best clients from recent years. What did you do for them that was so spectacular and how did it make their lives better for working with you? The happy ending stories are what people want to hear – doom and gloom marketing doesn’t make people want to hang out with you.

3. Pick 1 or 2 companies that you want as your client and ask everyone you know to introduce you to them. Even if the room your talking to doesn’t have that referral, they will think of a company just like your sample and want to help you with a connection. trust me.

4. Don’t be afraid to focus. A little focus will go a long way in building meaningful relationships. On a business management level, focus in a particular industry or market segment can help you to measure results, and then you can have an educated understanding of whether or not the selected industry or market segment can work for you. I’ve worked with dozens of people who thought their ideal client was xyz, but discovered they had the best working relationships with abc… but they didn’t know either way until they focused on each segment and measured the results.

5. You are forgettable. So am I. If we don’t make an impact and give our audience(s) something to associate with us as business, as a business owner, or as an individual, we will be forgotton. Focusing on 1 or 2 examples gives a cornerstone for people to remember you by. This is why taglines are so useful. Try a few out and see what people respond to. I’m the marketing maven because someone teased me once and called me a maven, I used it a couple of times and people remembered me, and so now it sticks. I didn’t pick it, but it helps people remember me, so I’m sticking with it regardless.

Now that you know these tips and tricks – please share them! Let’s kill the “anybody” and “everyone” schpeal, for everyone’s sake!

-pun intended-

R

Walking the Show Floor

In addition to checking out the competition, walking the floor is a great practice for a multitude of reasons. Booth Setup. No matter how many years or how much money you spent in developing the perfect booth,  times change. Cruising the aisles is a great way to stay current. What booths are the busiest? How does the layout encourage people to hang out in the booth? What colors and styles are showing up more and more? Many people forget to also look for what doesn’t work. It never hurts to keep an eye out for the items in a booth setup (or in the way the staffers are interacting with patrons) looking for where people get bored and walk away. You don’t do that, ok? Learning from others both positively & negatively is the way to go.

Meet your Neighbors. You never know what new product/brand will be the next overnight success, just because you do or don’t like it, doesn’t mean the whole world agrees with you. Meeting your neighbors (aka networking) can give you buddies for future shows, tips on new shows to attend, and even connections for growing your business. The newer your product or service is, the more proactive you should be in getting around and meeting the neighbors.

Before The Show

Many people totally miss the boat on this one. The organizers of your show have a myriad of resources you can take advantage of. I’ve never attended (or even heard of) a show that didn’t do press release distribution to the press pre-event. Many shows even have online tools that allow you to go through and search attendees and exhibitors to setup meetings and events. I’m a big fan of downloading the Exhibitor list in advance and highlight the ones I want to visit at the show (colleagues call it the disneyland map – my show floor map with booths I want to visit highlighted). More often shows are even putting together cocktail parties or other networking events, these can be fantastic opportunities to meet attendees, exhibitors, and members of the press – without the ’sales’ setting of the show floor. NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO please for the love of all business hopes everywhere, PUT YOUR PRESS KIT IN THE PRESS ROOM. Some shows these days are going digital – so you don’t even have to print this stuff out. Should a press person happen to stop at your booth – GIVE THEM SAMPLES – treat them like the avenues to advantage that they are. I’ve seen soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many exhibitors completely blow it here. If keeping your samples at your booth just in case someone wants to place an order is more important to you than 20,000 people reading about your product – your business is in MUCH MORE trouble than a couple of orders can cure.

Post Event

Call the people you said you were going to call. Send thank you notes to the folks that let you borrow their ladder during setup, or shared their power hookup with you. Email the visitors you collected cards for. Send a note to your connection at the show. Debrief your show team about how the event went and what you want to do about it next year – write it down, put it on the calendar, and get it done…. before you get back to the office if possible. You spent all this time and money getting ready for the show, you ought to be just as diligent when wrapping it up.

Hopefully some of these tips make it through to the folks I see at every show complaining about how slow it is (while one row over is hopping – because their staff isn’t so busy complaining they can’t pay attention to the visitors), and some of the folks I see that are almost-famous can get that edge they were looking for. Trade Shows are a valuable part of the marketing plan for 95% of the business world, it just takes the right show with the right setup for all the elements of success to fall into place.

Cheers,

Rebekah King

I know many business that are struggling right now. I know many industries that are challenged by this economy, by the market, by the time of year. Yet I also know some businesses that are thriving, even in more “impacted” industries.

What’s the secret? The heading on this article may have given it away, but yes – visibility is key. But what’s that mean? What’s visibility anyway?

Visibility is being seen some people think this is being seen anywhere, but for the folks that don’t have 10 million to spend on a dozen billboards, visibility should be focused on the groups and environments in which your clients and prospects thrive.

Being visible is as easy as showing up to the networking events in your area, it’s as easy as asking your best clients what associations they participate in, and then asking them if you can come along. Visibility is a complete LinkedIN profile, or a website with your correct contact information on it.

Sometimes people give me a hard time when I talk about visibility. They say things like “I don’t have the time for a boring association meeting” or “I don’t have the money for a $45 lunch” … but if your clients have enough money to hire you, don’t you think they might have enough for a $45 lunch?

This is why my #1 recommendation your business new year’s resolution is to SHOW UP at least once a week in 2009. Check your local chamber, go to meetingsandmixers.com visit rbn or bni chapters… just GET OUT THERE!

What makes social media so special is it’s two main applications: social media optimization and social media marketing. Social media optimization is the trick/expertise/pure luck of creating social media in a way that will encourage it’s spread (aka. viral) across the web. This is where rules like no videos over 2 minutes come in to play – 2 min is a very viral-able time block. Social media marketing is focused more on the pr, content, and collaborative aspects of social media – this isn’t too far off from traditional marketing and pr… just add tech and a strong narrowing of topics/audience (there’s blogs for people who love radishes for goodness sakes!)

Great info, but why should you care?

If your business is ever impacted by referrals (meaning you ever get referrals or want to get referrals) or your reputation matters at all (people talk you know), then you might want to make sure that you have an “ear to the ground” in the areas that your clients are talking. Even if you aren’t’ advertising, or spending any real marketing dollars in social media – because your clients are there… they are on Facebook telling their girlfriends and coworkers and random friends about how their back doesn’t ache any more thanks to the chiropractor Aunt Jemima referred them to. Tourist Sally is posting reviews of the restaurants she ate at while on vacation in San Diego. Lesley the promo products lady is writing recommendations of her favorite colleagues that EVERYONE’s friends can see.

I was talking with a restaurateur friend of mine last week that said he didn’t want to work on the internet – people say bad things and you can’t do anything about it (which isn’t true – you can – it’s what I do for a living) – and he’s not sure he wants to get involved. I understand what he means.. don’t you? If people “run their mouths” illegitimately in real-life, imagine what they could do with a veil of anonymity via online reviewing services!!

But wouldn’t you rather know?

in the next episode we’ll talk about how you can keep track of your reputation (and build referrals) online… stay tuned!

(From out front)

Like a good little attendee, I went on the tour of the facility:
(from the soccer field)

The event was hosted up there (great view, lemme tell you!) overlooking 27,000 seats.

The Chapter seems very robust, and while I only knew one person walking in, I did get to meet quite a few people. I had forgotten how inclusive the restaurant industry can be – and what it feels like to be the “new girl” in a group. On a high note, I had missed those same things – what a tightly knit group restaurateurs are, and how familial. This is what I fell in love with about the industry back in high school when I decided to go to UNLV in the first place.

All in all, I liked the event, and the people I met. Blair Salsbury was great, so much that I went up and said hello at the end of the event. He is an engaging public speaker and was so nice to keep checking in with me for the event – I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone more, and attending more events in the future.