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Here's Why You Should Keep Exhibiting at B2B Trade Shows

Posted: 18 Mar 2019 10:00 AM PDT

If you have colleagues who look at seemingly old-school trade shows and think, "Why should we continue to exhibit?", the answer is because trade shows continue to provide so much value to B2B marketers -- value that may be surprising at first glance.

So, in case you or someone from your team is feeling reluctant to pack their bags for a bustling three-day trade show, here are six reasons why trade shows bring unique value to your company.

Editor's note: Looking for help with a trade show display for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.

 

1. Digital marketing is no picnic

As a B2B marketer, you have a wide palette of digital marketing tools to employ. But access to tools doesn't mean success is guaranteed. For example, many marketers have found social media to be hard to do for more than build awareness, lacking success at generating plentiful sales leads.  And social media is no longer free media – it's now pay-to-play, and increasingly more and more pay. 

That other digital marketing darling, Content Marketing, requires far greater effort to stand out. For example, the 500-word blog post is so last season. Successful blog posts tend to be comprehensive, well-researched articles running 1,500 to 2,000 words or more, rather than short posts outlining the basics.

Search marketing also keeps getting more difficult. Google keeps tightening the reins on their search algorithm, changing previously allowable "white hat" SEO practices into "black hat" methods that Google will ignore, or worse, penalize you for. Companies dependent on SEO for leads dread hearing about the latest algo change that may drop them off the front page of search results and drive a stake into their business.

Email can still be a successful marketing method (especially with clients and already active leads), but broad email marketing is done for thanks to email fatigue and more sophisticated spam filters.

Exhibiting at trade shows isn't a walk in the park, either. Doing trade shows right takes more effort than many realize. But getting to the promised land of digital marketing nirvana is even harder.

2. Tech is now infused into trade shows

Trade shows are no longer just halls filled with people, furniture, and temporary structures. They have evolved to be hotbeds of technology. Exhibits now often include interactive booth activities that help attract, engage, and retain booth visitors, and let exhibitors better wow crowds and persuade individual prospects.

For example, exhibitors can use large touch screens for tailored, highly personalized presentations to a team of buyers.  Exhibitors can use social media to attract attendees to their booth, and then create an Instagrammable event in their booth to get attendees to share their company brand with their peers. Exhibitors can create activities that educate buyers about their products and services. Augmented reality and virtual reality are getting a footing with higher end exhibitors who really want to stand out.

These tech advances have helped exhibitors remain relevant to younger, "digital native" attendees who expect tech as part of their day-to-day experiences.

3. Increasing measurability proves the value of trade shows and events

B2B marketers have struggled with the conundrum of more easily measurable digital media, versus the less easily measurable (yet intuitively higher value) trade shows.  But that dynamic is rapidly changing.  With more and more companies switching from Excel spreadsheets and siloed databases to web-based CRM systems like Salesforce.com, exhibitors are getting better data on leads to sales conversions than ever before.

No less than Harvard Business Review authored a new study that showed that greater use of events correlates with greater business growth.  That greater trackability has helped increase trade shows' credibility: 52 percent of the Harvard survey respondents said event marketing drives more business value than other marketing channels, while only 8 percent said it drives less.

4. Trade shows tick all the boxes on marketer's goals

Marketer have long valued trade shows for meeting three major marketing goals: building brand awareness, generating sales leads, and strengthening key relationships. Exhibitors often adapt their trade show program and exhibit design to focus on the key goal they want most.

Savvy exhibitors even design their booths around activities to accommodate visitors at all phases of the buying cycle: spaces for early phase buyers (such as group presentations), middle phase (including product demos), and late phase (such as conference rooms).

Yet, there are more goals trade shows can help marketers achieve. Exhibitors will often launch new products – especially since attendees' No. 1 goal is to see what's new. Companies can meet with industry press while at the trade show, who can generate much publicity after the show is over. Marketers who have embraced account-based marketing find that trade shows get them a rare chance to actually get face-to-face with buyers from their target accounts.

5. You can grasp your industry's big picture at your industry's main show

Trade shows are a unique occasion where everyone is all together at one time: your clients, your competitors, you channel partners, and your industry experts.  In this arena you get a pulse of your industry's trends, main issues, challenges, and opportunities. You'll never have a better chance to engage in conversation with your competitors, as you walk into their temporary places of business to see what they are promoting – and how potential buyers are responding to it. 

And even better, as an exhibitor, you'll get a more accurate feel for the market by talking to hundreds of prospects and clients over the course of just a few days. Your booth visitors aren't just a boost to your sales pipeline; they are a continuous, face-to-face stream of market intelligence.

6. You'll get to know your own team better

It may seem counter-intuitive to fly to a trade show in order to know your own team better, but hear me out. Your booth staffing team is pulled from a variety of disciplines: sales, marketing, engineering, customer service and top management. Instead of sitting in their cubes isolated in their departments, they spend a few days working together, shoulder-to-shoulder, with team members they ordinarily wouldn't. They go out to dinner together to share stories and celebrate successes. Working together at the show creates new relationships that otherwise would not have happened. Relationships that bear fruit in better cooperation across departments when back at the office.

If your trade show booth staffing team is from across the country, you get face time with your fellow employees or channel partners you usually only interact with over the phone, chat, or email. Those tighter bonds build trust and community that leads to better communication and less turnover.

Trade shows are still a tremendously valuable arrow in your B2B marketing quiver. They help you meet your key marketing goals that drive essential business results, provide insight into the state of your industry, and strengthen relationships within and outside your company. They are worthy of your time and investment, because they will pay you pack in many times over.

Blockchain Technology Is Poised to Change the Business World

Posted: 18 Mar 2019 08:00 AM PDT

In a world driven by instant gratification, short cuts and quick fixes it's easy to see how the investment potential of crypto currencies attracted a massive new wave of Initial Coin Offering (ICO) investors. Fueled by media hype and viral stories of overnight millionaires, thousands of first time investors, many of whom belong to the tech savvy millennial generation, wanted a piece of the action.

In many cases investors were able to make a hundred or even a thousand times their initial investment. The problem with this model is that it opened the door for large-scale abuse. Some projects started off as downright scams, with fake team members and plagiarized white papers, they collected funds and simply disappeared into thin air. Other projects started of with good intentions and a good idea but soon as the money came rolling in many of these projects simply failed to produce a product or a platform. There was no accountability, so in most cases they got away with it.

For most of 2018, the ICO market had died down considerably. Even really good projects battled to reach funding goals because many first-time investors left the crypto market after losing money from exit scams. This has started to change in 2019 and people are starting to explore the market again, especially now with the introduction of STO (security token offering) which are regulated and overseen by the SEC. There will be more focus now on utility, applications and industry disruption. The beauty of this is that people will start to see the potential of the underlying technology instead of just seeing crypto currency as an investment vehicle.

One of the challenges or barriers to entry that the industry faces is the technical nature of the technology. This tends to hamper user adoption to some extent. This is slowly changing and even people who are not tech savvy are starting to understand how blockchain can be integrated to varies aspects of our lives.

A blockchain is a distributed ledger that is immutable, transparent, secure, decentralized and runs on a consensus algorithm. These are just some of the primary characteristics. Most people are unlikely to understand the value of blockchain by simply reading the above terminology, so to put things into perspective, let's look at potential use cases for a blockchain.

Digital Identity

We live in the digital age, so why does every country in the world still depend on a physical, paper or plastic identity document and passport? Identity theft is a worldwide problem and one of the major reasons for this is our dependency on a physical form of identification. Also, think about the often painful and laborious process of replacing a lost or stolen Identification document. It's time consuming, expensive and resource-intensive.

How could blockchain solve this?

Having our identity in digital format on a blockchain based solution would mean that your digital identification is with your 24/7/365. You don't need to carry around any documentation, there is nothing to physically lose or stolen. Thanks to blockchain being decentralized, there is no single point of failure and thanks to immutability your information can not be tampered with. You have full control of your identification and you can allow restricted access to your identification with the use of a key or serial, much like an ID Number or social security number. You can decide how much information you want to share with the person and how much of your data you want to keep private.

Blockchain Based Title Deeds

Currently, when someone purchases a property, we need to do so via an intermediary, like a conveyancer. Anyone who has purchased or sold a property in the past knows what a time consuming, costly affair this can be. Apart from that, these deeds are physical records, which means they can be tampered with, even though they sit at the deeds office. The weak links in the system are the human components, which, as we all know, may be fallible and corruptible.

How could blockchain solve this?

A blockchain based title deed system would make the transfer of property almost instant. Due to the transparency of the blockchain, it's a trustless system. We don't need an intermediary to confirm or verify anything. The transaction can be verified by anyone. It can also be automated into a smart contract, for example, when person A (the seller) gets payment from person B (the buyer) into a predefined crypto currency wallet belonging to Person A then the title deed will automatically be transferred to person B. This entire process can happen within a matter of minutes and could cost less than a can of soda.

These are just two basic examples of real life, use cases of blockchain technology, but there are many more to come. We are only at the beginning of this technology, social and economic revolution.

 

 

 

 

6 Leadership Traits You Need as a Successful Startup Entrepreneur

Posted: 18 Mar 2019 05:00 AM PDT

The most valuable companies today had humble startup beginnings (think Apple, Amazon, and Airbnb). Many people on the ground floor didn't come in with Harvard MBAs and years of experience in corporate jobs, and it's likely that involving leaders with traditional business backgrounds would have impeded the ability to grow these companies.

You may have felt intimidated by those who went to better schools, worked at bigger companies, or have more experience at higher-level positions. Yet, if you possess and develop that elusive entrepreneurial spirit, then you have an advantage because startups need you.

Based on my 30-plus years working with hundreds of amazingly talented startup entrepreneurs, I've identified six leadership traits that can transform the trajectory of your career. 

1. Realize there's no substitute for hard work 

There is only one way to the top and that is through hard work. There simply is no substitute for rolling-up your sleeves and get your hands dirty – frequently. No great achievements are possible or sustained without hard work. Hard work is the price you will pay for the success you desire to achieve. 

2. Regularly challenge the status quo 

We have all heard the old sayings, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" or, "that's the way we've always done things around here." The status quo is strong. It represents a bias that can permeate the culture of a company for keeping in place the current state of affairs. Its comfortable, predictable and perceived as less risky. But growth requires change. 

Most every person and organization that wants to become great at some point had to challenge the status quo. The pace of change is incredible. But, our ability to keep up with it isn't.  You simply can't achieve and build on success if you continue to do the same things. 

3. Summon the courage to make tough decisions 

Are you daring enough to make tough call? Do you have the "guts" to make an unpopular decision? Strong leaders are able to quickly assess a situation and decide, when others stand idle.

Many people fear making the wrong decision. That's because, most decisions are not cut and dried. Decisions can be very hard to make because the world does not exist in black and white. It exists in shades of gray. The most difficult part of making a decision is having the courage to know that you might be wrong when the outcome is unclear – but decide anyway. 

4. Acknowledge the elephant in the room 

Have you ever been in a business meeting where things seem to be going great? You're getting stuff accomplished. Yet, there is that one big issue hanging over everyone like a cloud. This is the issues that everyone is thinking about, but no one wants to discuss. It's the big issue everyone tiptoes around, often called the "elephant" in the room. 

The elephant in the room is the expression that refers to the big, obvious problem that no one wants to bring up. These are the topics that are uncomfortable, the topics people usually want to avoid. And, why not? It's easier and less stressful to avoid the big problems.

But unlike fine wine, elephants don't get better over time. They rarely vanish. They must be addressed head on. 

5. Open up to the audacity of accountability 

I'm sure you've heard these questions before: Why can't this person just be more accountable? Why do things seem to be falling through the cracks? Why doesn't he seem to accept responsibility for his projects? Who owns this? 

Accountability takes guts. It's one of the most important traits that people have in successful organizations. Accountability is all about being responsible for decisions, actions and results. It's all about taking ownership. Accountability sets the stage for high performance. Without accountability execution suffers. 

The problem is that not every organization has a culture that fosters accountability. And, not everyone is hard-wired to be accountable. Accountable people hate both. It causes frustration and makes A-plus talent leave. On the flip side, accountability is empowering and its contagious – there just needs to be more of it. 

6. Exude positive energy and optimism 

Winston Churchill said it perfectly: "A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty." 

Do you see the cup as half full or half empty? Do you focus on the upside or the downside? What's the vibe in your office? Who are the kind of people you would rather be around? The person who has a smile and is full of optimism. Or the person who blames others and feels like their pessimistic lot in life is outside of their control. 

Positive, optimistic people are the ones I choose to surround myself with. They are more fun, more resilient and make better decisions under stress. They put negative events into perspective. I'll go out of my way to avoid negative people – they will drain you. 

Optimism is contagious. People who are optimistic are more successful at work and at home. Optimistic people don't sweat the small stuff. They are happier, don't give up easily and are promoted more frequently. Pessimism can also be contagious. Have you ever heard the phrase misery love company? Pessimists find others and if you get dragged into their group, it will suck the life out of you. 

Managing a successful career requires a high level of positivity. Change is constant and adversity is around every corner. But consistently being optimistic can be much easier said than done.
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