Nov
8
Written by:
Glenn Diehl
11/8/2011 11:10 AM
Smooshed! That’s the sound you hear as the face-to-face marketing worlds and the virtual universe collide! Maybe it’s also akin to the new “Big Bang” as the entire world is re-created into a new form of living, working, loving, communicating. Anything really. Very cool! Very exciting! And full of new opportunities!
Last week I attended Event Marketer Magazine’s Countdown Workshop in New York City. As always, I left with my head spinning and feeling a bit “dinosauresque.” But I took comfort in realizing that few people in the room (if any) knew much about what was presented. Most of us had the “deer-in-the-headlight” look by the end of the first session about entering the digital age for event marketers. The takeaways for this session, however, were well worth the time spent.
Whether it’s B-to-C marketing or B-To-B marketing, the thrust is to initiate and continue the conversation with your prospects, customers and employees. How do marketing professionals communicate virtually in such a way to create motivation for a face-to-face experience? And once the attendee arrives at our trade show booth, how do we deliver such a memorable, immersive experience that they can’t wait to hear from us again either online or at another in-person venue? Sounds a lot like dating doesn’t it?
The tools for accomplishing our marketing goals get more tech-based every day. That’s a good thing. Just walk down the street and count the number of people mesmerized by their smart phones and you’ll see why. Face it…anyone with a smart phone is officially hooked on the technology. If not they would have stayed with a basic phone for making calls. So, as technophiles, how do we arrest the attention of our target audience and keep them engaged with our brand and messaging? In short we need to deliver some quotient of value. This might mean pure entertainment (see any Angry Birds addict), content-laden education or simply a cool factor. Whatever it is, we as event marketers need to accept the realities of having to adjust our approach to include all the available platforms and figuring out for ourselves how they best fit into our business model. Whoever figures that out first, and continues to figure it out as things evolve, will win. Ignoring the new way of the world is not an option. At Skyline Genesis, we will be investigating tech marketing solutions for our trade show exhibit clients. Will you step into the virtual universe?
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