What do you do when looking for potential partners?

If you’re like me, you inspect their website to see who they are, what exactly they do and what their current priorities are. When asked to list their company’s activities, a surprising number of people tick ALL the boxes. So we’re supposed to believe they are producers, distributors, video production companies, publishers, composers and managers that also do licensing and soundtrack supervision. Yeah, right.

A quick look at their website will tell you what they actually do to pay the rent, which is more useful. Why the confusion? Although the companies probably have a fair idea of why they are attending a trade fair, why don’t they think it through and tell the other participants clearly what they have and what they want? Small companies often say they don’t have the time to work on their websites. But bigger companies are just as bad at targeting their events for other reasons.

So here are four simple steps to focusing your trade fair communications.

1. It might seem obvious, but it’s worth sitting down with a partner to list your top three priorities, such as “finding licensors for our work”, “finding material to release locally” and “hooking up with a mobile platform”. Now go and look at your company website. Is it clear what your priorities are? And what you have to offer? How recent is the latest news?
2. Update and adapt your website to clearly tell people that you are attending – and why. If your website is both for consumers and business, create a dedicated page with the key points to get across.  A page I created for the Cannes Festival 2009 continues to get direct hits due to the keywords (needless to say I have since updated it to reflect current priorities). When sending out e-mails, create a signature that links directly to this page rather than the homepage.
3. Check and re-check all data entered into the event database. I’d say about 10% of e-mail addresses in event databases bounce due to having being badly spelled. Check them once. Check them twice. And check all the websites you mention.
4. Make sure you keep pounding out Twitter (using the right hashtags) and Facebook announcements leading up to the events. Be consistent, be specific and ask for people to get in touch. Link to your business page. Never mind that people don’t answer; you only need a handful of good connections to make a trade fair an astounding success. And nothing attracts attention like success.

So take the time. You’ll find it helps focus any marketing you are doing and creates a loop that will attract the right sort of contacts. If you have questions about communication at trade fairs, call on our copywriting and experience.

The Write Stuff has specialised in trade fairs for 15 years, providing marketing and copywriting services, as well as business development during trade fairs. For 7 years, it developed marketing campaigns for Midem,  Mipcom, Mip Junior, MipTV, Mipim Asia as well as finding names for Mipim Horizons and Amazia.

MIDEM 2010 campaign image

In 7 years of creating the campaigns for Midem, we have seen the world of trade fairs transform at an unbelievable rate. It’s not unfair to say that many trade fairs until recently had been seen by their organisers pretty much a way of renting space to companies. Yet Midem, part of the Reed MIDEM group, has blazed a trail and is re-inventing the way trade fairs see themselves and engage with their audiences.

Central to Midem’s philosophy is the idea of “community”. Now this is a word that is bandied about a lot, and in many marketer’s minds, it still translates as “target group”. If that is your approach, please call us! Trade fairs such as Midem are fighting tooth and nail to provide a leading role for the industry that it serves, music. For Midem, it transpires through the visuals (which we work hard to develop with the talents of Guy Stevens of Pix&Com and Consor), the pricing (they froze many prices several years ago), the number of services and conferences they provide and – new this year – the way they communicate. It’s not a little add-on, such as a Twitter button! You have to go further.

If your trade fair has been getting by on a few e-mails and brochures, expect the worst. It is vital that you keep a closer eye on what is happening within the business, and that you have systems in place to actively identify and pursue the various groups of people that can make the difference between a busy event or empty corridors – or profit and loss, if you prefer.

Think louder

To quote from our 2008 Midem campaign, trade fairs and conferences have to think louder. Midem is interesting. As it serves the music business, it has been dealing with a ferociously difficult market for the past 5 years at least. And when the going got tough, Midem responded in kind. But I can’t help feeling many trade fairs will suffer from the downturn, rather than recognising it as an opportunity for the industry as a whole to re-define its way of functioning and relationship with its participants.

We also worked on the EAS 2009 in Amsterdam, which was very successful (not just because of us!). If you are involved in organising events such as this, we really think we should be talking. Call me on +322/644 02 30.

I should also point out that the EAS was a success and The Write Stuff did the copywriting for the brochure of the next edition

It’s that time of the year again. MIPCOM, the world’s foremost content trade fair, will run from October 13-17 in Cannes. This year (like last year, in fact), we worked on the collateral with the Consorcom agency in Brussels, producing the brochure, key visuals and a few ads. MIPCOM also has a smaller event called MIPCOM Junior, entirely focused on kids’ and youth entertainment. You’ll find them at MIPCOM and MIPCOM Junior.

I quote: “So how did we manage it? It’s simple. Constraints make us creative. Being
a 10 million people federal state with three languages, we deal with smaller
budgets, tougher clients and delicate cross-cultural issues.”

I can vouch for that! Click over to the Creative Club for more.

This is another one of those times when I think, “Now if ever I get a real job…”