Large-scale meetings cater to many needs, and The Precast Show is no different. Some people focus on meeting up with old friends and networking. Others come to learn about new products and meet vendors face-to-face. Many take education and a few have leadership responsibilities.
One thing I noticed this year is lessons in marketing were all around. There were formal opportunities, but the best lessons may just have been in the informal moments when the casual observer wasn’t looking for them.
My favorite were the networking moments where two people were meeting for the first time. It’s human nature to quickly assess the other person and present yourself in a way you think will resonate. We don’t think of this as marketing, but we are all in the business of marketing ourselves much more than we realize. And in my opinion, most people are much better at it than they are at marketing their companies. Have you ever walked away from a booth thinking, “He or she was really nice, but I don’t understand/want/need that company or its products”?
If you take the average attendee, I’d bet most first impressions with fellow attendees are somewhere in the decent to great range. Now take that same person and ask them to market his or her company to potential customers. Do you think the favorable impressions will be as high? Maybe for some, but not for the majority. That’s because we can be overly formal and stiff when it comes to marketing a company.
What if we treated marketing our businesses more like we do social interactions? Think about the companies you are most loyal to and I’m willing to bet most of them feel like reciprocal relationships. The best brands make you feel welcomed, included, appreciated and valued. Those are traits most often associated with personal relationships, but it doesn’t need to be that way. They can apply to business relationships as well.
This is just one example of the opportunities to learn more about marketing that exist at a meeting like The Precast Show if you’re looking for them. Keep your eyes open and you’ll find they are all around.
Kirk Stelsel
Director of Communication & Marketing, NPCA
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