3 posts tagged “marketing”
I attended the Canadian Food and Beverage show a the Direct Energy Centre over weekend. Great show!
Exhibiting at a trade show is an excellent way to create awareness for product or service at a reasonable cost. Like any other marketing effort companies need to be strategic about it.
However, I am always surprised how many companies fail to address all the different components to ensure a certain level of return on investment. Where many companies fall short is in the staffing area. The people staffing your booth are arguably the most important aspect of your exhibition.
Here is what Skyline Toronto, a company that specializes in trade show has to say:
“Most important, be sure to train your staffers how your company has segmented its market, how to recognize which segment attendees fit into, and what benefits matter most to each segment. And if you can, once you choose shows based on market segments, try to pick staffers that have a similar demographic as the show's attendees. For example, let's say you've been selling to the building and construction industry. You will likely have more success if you pick your staffers based on their match up with those audiences -- more artsy for the architects, more analytical for the engineers, and more business-oriented for the general contractors.”
Marketing guru and the inventor of the of the 4ps (Product, Place, Promotion, Price) Phip Kotler maintains that the two most important things that marketers should be doing today is:
1. Getting to know your customer better and to get closer to them
2. Differentiating your product through branding
Getting to know the customer is exactly what Lou Gesner did when he transformed IBM from a hardware focused company to a solutions based company.
Between 1991 and 1993 IBM was bleeding cash, it reported losses of $16 Billion. The market research IBM conducted showed that customers cared less about computer parts and where more concerned about solving IT related problems. As a result Gesner created IBM Global Services, and today arguably IBM is the third most recognized brand behind Coke and Microsoft. Listening and getting closer to the customer has paid off great dividends for IBM.
It is easy to create a package for your product or service,
by having a nifty logo, and catchy slogan.
But this does not represent a brand.
A brand is a promise by your company to your customer. It entails everything a company does from
manufacturing to the way a retail person greets a customer at a store. Any violation of your promise erodes any
brand equity you might have built up.
So how does a company build a solid brand? The brand is direct reflection of the company’s mission, vision and values. In other words the company brand is a reflection of the company’s leadership. If a company has great leadership it can create a brand that will provide it with the opportunity to differentiate itself in the market place. A great brand lives vividly in a customer’s mind and provides a competitive advantage.
Can Canadian companies compete in a global economy?
This will easily be another story that could be part of the new book "Why Mexicans don't drink Molson". Essentially, the book criticizes Canadian companies for having a domestic mentality and not being able to compete internationally.
