Getting Customers to Stop by to See You

Walking the Trade Show Floor

Yesterday walking the trade show floor, I felt I was in a 3-D blog world. Aisles and aisle of blogs sitting side by side with real people in and around them. They were all in the same market, different niches. Some were not easy to tell apart. I was scanning the signage to get a clue. Oh my! 60% were woefully inadequate. Here’s what I saw.

• Company names with not a hint of what they do.
• A list of what the company does, but no name to pull it together.
• Taglines that said abolutely nothing, i.e. making things happen — good things? bad things? It didn’t say.
• Taglines that said the same five buzz words that I found at most every other booth.

It seemed clear to me that the folks who designed these books — 3-D blogs — were thinking of what they thought the customer should know rather than thinking of what the customer might have come to find out. Standing outside each booth that I’m talking about I only had one question.

Who are you and what makes you different from the 1500 other booths that I have a choice to spend my time with?

Whether you’ve got a blog or a booth at a trade show, you’ve got only so many seconds to get my attention to check out what you have to offer. How you communicate who your business is through you signage will either do that or not. Your signage is your image and your best point of promoting your business and your brand. You’ve got me there. All you have to do is show me who you are.

Don’t tell me who everyone is looking for. Tell me what is unique and special about you. If you don’t have what I’m looking for, I’m not going to stay anyway. You’ll only frustrate me and make sure that I stay away. On the other hand, if you’re clear about your purpose and your brand, I’ll remember you the next time that I want what you do offer.

Can you see the corollation between a trade booth and a blog?

ME “Liz” Strauss

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