Synch-Up: The GetSynchronicity Blog

“10,000 years ago, civilization forked. Farming was invented and the way many people spent their time was changed forever.”

That’s the opening of Seth Godin’s blog of Wednesday, Feb 3. Seth went on to make the point that marketers seldom differentiate between Hunter type personalities and Farmers. A sentence way down at the bottom, very close to the end of the post, caught my eye: “Trade shows are designed to entrance hunters, yet all too often, the booths are staffed with farmers.”

Seth sure nailed that one.

There is a need, of course, to include the shy technical expert and the reluctant research specialist among the exhibit staff, but not many event marketers count on those types to open relationships. What about the legions of account managers and product managers that I see in exhibits? These are highly socialized men and women. Most of them are accomplished professionals. Many even have extroverted personalities. Yet they generally hang back and wait to be approached. Coaching and training definitely help, but no amount of coaching will transform a farmer into a hunter.
I think Seth is on to something. Why spend thousands of dollars on floor space, exhibitry, sponsorships, signage and promotions, only to put the wrong people in the booth? Next show, ask yourself: “Who are the hunters in our organization.” Try staffing a booth only with people who are trained to scan and pounce. Then compare outcomes with a prior show. Do hunters make better trade show staffers? Let me know.

February 2nd. Ground Hog Day and exactly one month since I began my New Year resolution of being a better networker. Punxsutawney Phil’s results? He saw his shadow and we have six more weeks of winter. My results? Almost as depressing.

I haven’t updated my LinkedIn profile. I haven’t commented on any blogs or retweeted any worthwhile posts. Not only have I not responded to any of the discussion threads for the online groups I belong to, I haven’t even read the threads. Worse than all of that, I’ve been deleting from my calendar the dedicated networking hour that I schedule for every Monday morning.

In my defense, we have had a strong start to the year and I’ve been busy taking care of customers. I also spent three days at a face-to-face networking event, something I’ve never done before. Maybe this is one step forward and two steps back.

It’s only February. We still have 11 months to go in 2010 and that leaves plenty of time for self-improvement. I’m going to move that scheduled block of networking time to Tuesday afternoons, which tends to be a more forgiving time slot. Maybe by the time spring emerges my networking skills will have started to blossom. I’ll let you know.

Today we announced a partnership with Unisfair, the leader in virtual events and virtual environments for business.

Are we abandoning the live events market and our loyal conference and trade show customers? Reacting to the shrill warnings about the impending death of face to face events? Hoping to get in on the ground floor of the latest trend?

None of the above.

Virtual events aren’t likely to ever replace the face-to-face experience. They do offer accessibility to geographically dispersed audiences that might otherwise not be able to participate in a live event. They represent an alternative for budget challenged event managers. They offer opportunities to extend and expand the lifespan of existing events. Looked at through those filters, virtual environments provide a natural complement and enhancement to an established events portfolio.

Yesterday, in the middle of a weekly conference call, a client team unexpectedly exploded with a burst of creative ideas. We had been confirming strategy for a social media campaign. Suddenly the dam broke loose and ideas began flooding the room. Everyone had ideas about something new or different to try.

That’s one of the benefits of adding a social media component to traditional marketing campaigns. It opens new dimensions that fire the imagination and stoke the creative engine. This team was on fire.

Sadly, the time for brainstorming had passed. There’s a moment in the creative process when we stop generating new ideas and we begin to develop the idea or ideas that will best help us reach our goal. None of the new suggestions supported the original project objectives. It was up to me to throw some cold water on the fire. I politely suggested that these were great ideas to hold onto for another project at another time because they weren’t going to further our efforts on the current campaign.

It all reminded of the social media study GetSynchronicity recently co-authored with Exhibitor Magazine. (Click here to view the report) In it, fully 66% of respondents who had used social media in a marketing program indicated that they had not set measurable objectives for their campaign. At the risk of sounding like a killjoy, that’s ignoring rule #1 in Marketing 101.

Fortunately, the client lead saw it the same way. We decided to proceed with the original concept. The one based on solid business strategy tied to measurable objectives.

Are you among the thirty-one percent of industry respondents who have incorporated social media into their exhibit marketing efforts? What are the most popular social media tools being used in B2B events? What kind of metrics are being tracked and how successful are social media marketing efforts?

GetSynchronicity, in conjunction with Exhibitor Media Group, conducted a survey to establish benchmark data for the use of Social Media Marketing in exhibit and event-marketing campaigns. The data is in and Synch-Up readers can click here to view a copy of the full survey report. Selected data points from the study will also appear in the January 2010 issue of EXHIBITOR magazine and the Spring 2010 issue of Corporate EVENT magazine.

See what your fellow event marketers are doing and let me know about your marketing experiences with social media.

I like what I see happening around me.

For too long, too many of us in brand marketing have been focusing on the moment. The economic downturn has tamed that.

Today customers are demanding programs that stimulate sales and build relationships that last. Impact is great, they say. So are wow factor and buzz. But let’s make sure that this solution produces life-long evangelists who move more product.

Isn’t that what experience marketing was supposed to be about in the first place?

I’ve learned how to manage New Year Resolutions. I don’t make too many. I don’t try to change all at once, instead taking lots of baby steps. I track my progress and I reward success. This year I’m also building in accountability. I’m publishing my resolution right here where all the blogosphere can see it.

This year I resolve to become a better networker. Hopefully, a few of you will hold me to that goal.

You see, I stink at networking. It’s not that I don’t know how to network. I use calendars and schedulers to remind me. I have accounts on LinkedIn and Facebook to connect me. I even have a Tweet Deck to organize me. My intentions are good, but I’m always distracted by work and deadlines. So this year, I’m trying something different.

I’m dedicating one hour every Monday to networking. That probably doesn’t sound like a big deal to most of you, but for me it’s huge. One hour to update the LinkedIn page, respond to group discussions, launch a few blog comments, and maybe event re-tweet a few choice posts. Maybe it’ll become a guilty pleasure. I’ll keep you posted.

Happy New Year!

Outrageous practices perpetrated by event venues. Quality reductions to disguise cost cutting. Hidden contract fees. The sorry state of the hospitality industry.

I’ve had an interesting two days of online browsing. All my online groups seem to be ranting about the same topic – declining service levels. Frankly, I don’t get it.

The economy, of course, hasn’t been kind to any of us but that’s no reason to squeeze existing customers to make up for the lack of other business. Alienating the precious few customers who are actually spending money doesn’t increase value, build loyalty and develop a go-to reputation.

None of us knows exactly when the economy will cycle back up. Many of us are even wondering what the events industry will look like when it does. The one sure thing that we can count on is that excellent customer service always attracts a following. That’s why it’s seldom mentioned as a trend. It should be a constant.

Only two days to go before Santa’s big ride. Here’s my two point wish list for the events industry.

Embrace Virtual Events. The convenience, flexibility, cost savings and environmental benefits of virtual platforms offer tremendous potential for battered corporate event portfolios. Virtual events and live events aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, the former might actually be good for what is ailing the latter. Which brings me to wish number two.

Stop Tolling the Death Knell of Live Events. Face-to-face events are changing, yes. That’s a good thing. It’s in the nature of all living organisms to evolve. When they stagnate, they die. So let go of the fear and remember that prudent pruning results in higher quality yields. Champion change. Reinvention keeps us all relevant.

That’s my list. Just two wishes – and a fervent hope that the power of social media spreads this up to the North Pole before Santa’s team gets under way.

Back in October, GetSynchronicity joined with Exhibitor Magazine to co-author and provide sponsorship for an industry survey on the use of Social Media in Event Marketing. Readers of Synch-Up can click here for a sneak preview of the executive summary.

The research suggests that social media is already making its way into the toolkit of face-to-face event marketers. Fully two-thirds of respondents reported having used social-media sites and tools for marketing purposes, including exhibit- and event-marketing campaigns. More than three-quarters of the respondents expect the value and importance of social media to increase in the near future.

Look next month for a link to the full report which will be published in the January edition of Exhibitor Magazine.