STANDING OUT

Making a memorable, good impression should be a goal whenever you are presenting yourself and your business in an individual or group setting.

A popular form of marketing is to have a display, a booth or table at an expo. The last expo I attended featured everything from custom made signs and banners to crowded table tops where products were being offered for sale. Often I find homemade signs or no signs at all.

A wide variety of “gimmicks” are used to attract prospects to a booth; at this one I saw a “spin the wheel” game and win a prize. The focus was on the game not on the product or service being offered. Over 50 percent of the exhibitors were offering pens and candy as their takeaways. Fish bowls for cards were also available at most of the booths with a few offering a drawing for a prize at the end of the show.

In my opinion, not one of the exhibitors created a “buzz”. There was no “you have to visit this certain booth, it’s awesome” type of talk.

Next time you go to a networking session or an expo, stop and think about the person at the networking session that most impressed you or the booth at the expo that got you so excited that you just had to tell someone about their service or product. In this particular case, I could only remember a few of the businesses that were there, and nothing extraordinary about any of them

As an exhibitor if all you get out of your precious time and money spent are a handful of cards, then you wasted both time and money.

The buzz has to be created in a twostep process. First, your display has to attract attention; it has to be talked about because it is different. The second part has to do with the story you tell those that stop by your booth and the material you hand out.

This is a “human touch” marketing effort which I consider a rare opportunity to make a firsthand impression on someone who can become a customer or refer a customer to you.

Like any other marketing effort, the key word is differentiation. Spend the time and do some “out-of-the- box” planning so you can create the synergy your business deserves.

“Fitting in is a short term strategy.  Standing out pays off in the long run.”