As a business owner and marketing professional I recognize the need to stay informed and educated about industry trends. Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the local New Mexico American Marketing Association’s Lunch N’Learn Program with special guest Lucas Conley, author of the book titled Obsessive Branding Disorder. The event was taped by KNME for their popular weekly affairs program “New Mexico in Focus” and co-hosted by Gene Grant.

I found author Conley to be very interesting with his insight into the branding-obsessed society we all live in. His insights led to a compelling call to action for every business to return to a course of innovation, authenticity and quality in branding, marketing and overall corporate culture.

Over the past 10 years I have seen brands and consumer needs spread wide apart from the company’s message to delivery and the perception from the consumer. With multigenerational consumers and everyone watching how they spend their dollars, branding will need to align with consumer needs to be effective. What are you doing to answer a consumer need or identify with your customer to meet that need?

If you have a competitor that has like products or services, it is time to really identify your own branding style and persona and market those differences, no matter how small. Consumers are smart and can recognize whether you and your company are compassionate and able to meet their needs. Today’s consumer is also smart enough to know when you are copying your competition or branding yourself to be someone you are not. Companies no longer can usurp the consumer’s knowledge and experience with false branding or pretending their business can provide something they cannot. Today’s educated consumer ensures that companies with integrity, morals and values will end up on top while the companies who copy or put on a false persona will not.

Have you ever heard of religious selling proposition? This is a way for businesses to identify with consumers by using logical extensions and morals and incorporate those with civic values through their own branding. Today’s consumer needs to feel connected to your product or service and if they do not, then it does not matter what brand you have to identify with your product or service.

The current economic climate demands that marketers stay on top of their game. Veteran marketing gurus recognize the need to review basic promotion principles while implementing current trends toward technology and social media. In our efforts to provide exceptional service and develop community relationships, EXHIB-IT!, provides free marketing seminars, in addition to a “Tradeshow Network” that allows companies to sign up to find out information about upcoming shows in their industry that they may want to attend or exhibit in. It’s just one way we implement innovation and genuine concern for our clients while distinguishing our company from the competitors.

Understanding your customer’s needs in an ever changing market is critical in today’s economy. I attended Nomadic Display’s training in Washington, DC on Selling Larger Exhibits this week and I was elated to hear them stress the importance of listening to and understanding your customer’s vision, strategies, corporate branding, and marketing needs before discussing how your products or services can solve any problems they may be experiencing. This is the same philosophy I have built our company on for the past nine years and in my 16 years experience in the trade show industry.

Many times I see sales people so focused on selling a product or brand their company represents that they lose sight of the customer’s needs and do not listen to their customer. When someone expresses interest in your company and has established a need you may be able to solve, the worst thing you can do is delve into how using your product or service is a way to solve that need.

Try asking questions like, “What five adjectives best describe your company?” or even better, try asking “Can you tell me about your company using 140 characters or less?” This is a way to get your client to focus on their marketing message and tell their story in a direct and unique way without too much detail. It also allows you to hear any underlying needs the customer may not be expressing.

Marketing should be the forefront of business interaction before selling a product or service. Establishing credibility, in addition to being perceived as the authority and getting the client to know, to like and to trust you, should be your priority and the rest will fall into place.

So you may ask, what is your point? My point is that today’s sales person needs to be more than a sales person. Become a partner with their customer in identifying and understanding their market needs, strategies, corporate culture and persona before solving a problem with a product or service. This is truly relationship building and lets you become a strategic partner with your customer. Today’s customer is busy and overcommitted — so take the time to relate and relationship build first.

Remember, today’s customer receives over 3,000 touch point messages a day through many different mediums so setting yourself apart from your competition is important. How are you different from your competitor? What are you doing to differentiate yourself from your competition? I can tell you I know we are different from our competition and our customers also can see this. The next time you are preparing for that sales presentation, be sure to research your customer and go in ready to listen before trying to immediately solve a problem.

How to thrive in a downturn economy?  This is what I am constantly hearing from many business owners as a main concern.  After the past two weeks with the media talk on economic outlooks and the stock market declines, I thought this would be a great subject to broach.  We, at EXHIB-IT!, do not take this lightly and have focused our strategies around an economy that may appear weak but, in fact, has made our business grow strong over the past several months.

With the recent bank sell offs, the DOW decreasing, and the media talking for months about possible recession, we are focusing on what could be the outcome of a good bounce in the economy with the money the Fed, US and World governments are putting back into the economy.  What effect that will have – nobody knows for sure but it will do something.  At least we shouldn’t see prices of almost every asset class continue to come down.  So, rest assured everything should work out OK and business will go on. There are opportunities all around – let’s seize the moment!

How is EXHIB-IT! handling this?  We have focused our attention on how we can service the small or medium business that has downsized with cut backs and cannot afford a full time marketing person.  We have taken on the load of handling many companies with marketing campaign strategy needs on an “as needed” basis or on a “planning stage” basis.  Since doing this, our business has grown 38.9%.  We have found a growing need filled by providing a full turn-key business that works with clients to develop marketing strategies to gain the attention and exposure they need to grow.  In addition we offer the services of three full time on staff designers that design logos, create branding strategies, rebranding strategies, brochures and all the collateral materials companies need to survive during tough times.  Now is when it is most important to continue marketing efforts for companies to survive during tough times.  However, companies tend to cut back and cut their marketing dollars when it is most important to continue their marketing efforts.  Do you remember after the 911 incidents and companies were cutting back?  EXHIB-IT! did not and we continued to market in an unsure market and yet we grew 122% over a two and a half year period.

Our graphic production department has been steadily producing graphics on the fly for large events and shows and when the dust settles, we will stand up, wipe ourselves off and continue focus on the needs of our clients – like we do best.

I wish each of your businesses a thriving year end and a successful planning year for 2009.

Many of my friends and fellow business associates know that when I put on an event, I do it to bring people together in the spirit of accelerating business in the community. My own company’s grand opening was no different. In preparation for our Grand Opening to celebrate our new location, I rallied support and participation from nearly every major networking organization in Albuquerque and neighboring cities.
EXHIB-IT! had made a name for itself by actively contributing to numerous organizations that are focused on building our community socially and economically. When it came time to plan for our Grand Opening event I wanted people to see what can happen when all these great organizations get together under one roof. EXHIB-IT’s success is due in part to the company’s involvement in organizations that support growing business opportunity in Albuquerque and in the state of New Mexico. The Grand Opening Event paid tribute to these organizations. The grand opening was more than just a celebration about our company and our company’s growth. It was really about what each organization in attendance has done to facilitate growth and synergy for every business.
My staff and I worked together to bring over 400 guests together for our June 12, 2008 Grand Opening Event. Guest speakers included two state senators and five political offices followed by ribbon cuttings by three Chambers of Commerce. I am very proud of my staff, our company’s growth history and our clients who have supported us through our progress and growth to truly be more than just an ordinary exhibit house!

We’ve been in our new place for a little over a month now and my staff and I are all enjoying the nice amenities that the new building provides us.  During our first move-in week, we had over 12 new walk-in clients, which tells us that this move was the right choice!  We’ve got more work space, a great view of the mountains in addition to being accessible from both the Pan American Freeway (Southbound) and Jefferson Street behind our building complex.  The building upgrades, I believe, are what have put my staff in a perpetual state of happiness that our customers have noticed.  My staff and I have always enjoyed our work enough that our relationships between each other and our relationships with clients often times yield true long lasting friendships.  But recently we heard from a client, a holistic doctor of medicine, something that made me laugh.  The doctor said it seems to him that our entire staff is on “happy juice.”  He said that after his display was produced and completed he was a little bit sad that the process was over and he no longer had a reason to stop by and be around such happy people.  That was the most original compliment I’ve heard in a long time.  I feel my staff has earned this new building and new surroundings because they really do extend their kindness in a way that touches people who do business with us.  The comfortable amenities are much deserved and they manage to bring out even more of our company’s most admirable qualities- energy and passion to our clients’ success.

I have a lot of friends in the Albuquerque business scene because I’ve always been very active in community organizatioins after I founded EXHIB-IT!® in February of 2000. My trade show marketing company is well known because it continually earns national awards and remains on a steady growth plan despite ups and downs in the economy - when a marketing budget is usually the first to go. Most recently Enterprising Woman Magazine named me a 2008 Enterprising Woman of the Year, an award given the nation’s top 20 woman Entrepreneurs. The award is presented each year by Enterprising Women Magazine, a publication for women business owners. I will accept the award at an awards banquet held February 29th in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Winning this most recent award has caused more of my friends and business associates to ask me how my business keeps growing, especially through all the fluctuations in the economy. This is practically all we talk about at networking organization meetings while we share lunch and presentation time.I try to explain to my business associates that we are in the business of making sure that our clients’ stay innovative, unique and creative in their tradeshow marketing presentation. These qualities are important for achieving long lasting success in the marketplace, even when marketing budgets are tight. I explain to everyone who doesn’t know that trade shows statistically bring a higher rate of return than any other marketing tools combined, which counts for a lot when people don’t have much to spend on marketing. Our services become more important if you’re trying to use trade shows as a way to get more bang for your buck because it’s crucial that you show up prepared to set yourself apart. When I can effectively communicate this to my clients, I have successfully turned a lemon (a small marketing budget) into lemonade (a sale that is lucrative on both ends). Here’s my theory on how the process works-I’ve always carried with me an entrepreneurial spirit. I’m not afraid to take calculated risks. When clients sit down with me or my staff, I believe they begin to feel this spirit and begin to tap into their own entrepreneurial mind. They go ahead and take a calculated risk and then we make sure they succeed. At EXHIB-IT!® we are always putting our entrepreneurial drive into looking for new ways to help our clients shine. Our company thrives on our ability to provide clients with new ways of presenting their message that sets their company apart and drives traffic to their booth when they exhibit at a show. We carry that drive with us on every project and we simply won’t let them fail. One way we make sure they don’t fail is we send our clients through our Education StationTM which is a division completely dedicated to teaching trade show goers and exhibitors how to get the highest return on their tradeshow investment and it has produced a number of trade show experts after our own heart. Winning the Enterprising Woman Award certainly put us in the national spotlight recognizing what we do best. I might have won the award based on the way I grew my business, but my business continues to be successful because other people’s businesses grew once they began a relationship with EXHIB-IT! That, to me, is the ultimate reward.

We are in the process of moving offices this month and although we’re only going a couple of blocks north, my staff and I have had additional responsibilities in accordance with our packing and moving schedule.  I watched as desks were taken out of offices one by one and were replaced with folding card tables for the few weeks remaining.  I am very proud of my staff for still caring on the tip top customer service and quick response to clients’ needs in these temporarily uncomfortable working conditions.   

There’s no doubt we are all looking forward to being fully settled in our much larger building where we’ll be able to set up the “hidden” custom displays that we’ve never had the room to show off in our old showroom.   We’re also looking forward to using our large conference room for Booth Camp Training and Marketing Seminars.  Maybe you read my last blog that told of our seminar attendance numbers.  Each seminar continues to bring in more and more attendees.  We’ll have plenty of room in our new building to house larger crowds.  

The atmosphere in our new place will be more representative of who we are as a company.  In our old building, we were limited with arrangements and décor because we shared the building with another business.  Our new building is totally ours and had been completely designed from the bare skeleton to completion with the heart of our business in mind.  We’ve designed the showroom to be open and inviting with warm welcoming accent walls and comfortable seating. 

It will be a wonderful welcoming experience for customers coming in to consult with the EXHIB-IT! Team.  The hassle of moving will be over soon and March will be the best Spring ever!    

EXHIB-IT! considers itself to be the leader in tradeshow displays, services, education and design.  We look forward to this move and what all we will be able to provide for our clients.

This past Thursday, January 10th EXHIB-IT! opened our doors to over 95 people who attended our training seminar we call, “Booth Camp.”  If you aren’t already aware, EXHIB-IT! partners with show managers to help them put on fantastic shows with great attendance and polished exhibitors.  One of the ways we help is by holding training sessions specifically for all the exhibitors in a particular show.  We find that it’s a great time for all the exhibitors to meet, get excited about the show and learn some tips on how to get the best return on their investment. 

This was the largest undertaking we’ve done in our current facility and I wasn’t sure we could fit everyone comfortably.  Not to mention the issue of parking!  I consider myself to be well organized and always prepared for any and all events we host.  But we were a bit surprised when Wednesday morning came around and we got over fifty more RSVP’s for the next day’s event!   The fact of the matter is, we did not expect so many people to see the value in attending.  (or to RSVP the day before the event!) 
Of course, we know that going into a trade show prepared is worth twice the amount you spend to get there, so we would never turn anyone away who wants to learn.  We had to make a few adjustments to accommodate all the guests.  For instance, my staff parked several blocks away and shuttled to work that morning to free up parking spaces and we opened another time slot and taught the same seminar to an evening crowd.  We partnered with Advanced Presentation to obtain a one hundred inch projector screen and two large tripod mounted speakers so everyone could hear clearly at the crowded seminar. 
When the day was over, I was pretty tired and so was my marketing manager, who helped coordinate the event.  But we have never been so pleased and so happy knowing that we were able to help over 95 people and 50 companies succeed at their upcoming show. The word is getting out about the fact that we do so much more than design and produce tradeshow graphics and hardware.  We’re also absolutely committed to doing everything we can to help exhibitors be their very best and we are making plans to accommodate crows of one hundred plus for future in-house seminars.