Exhibiting at Major Shows

Mark Mitchell [Link no longer there] will challenge your thinking about exhibiting at the AIA show and other major trade shows in his blog article:

Why Building Product Companies Should Stop Exhibiting at the AIA Show
[Link no longer there]

I agree with his statement:

"In fact, if you’re a small to medium-sized company, exhibiting at AIA can be a large portion of your marketing budget. You should not be gambling so much of your budget on a chance to sell some uninterested architects over two days. That same money would be far better spent on marketing initiatives that could reach far more architects, 365 days a year."

Many small and medium building product manufacturers have a specific niche market they need to develop. One example is the pull-out bleacher found on high school projects. There is no need to try and market to hospital design firms. I call this my sniper approach as covered in an earlier newsletter:

Manufacturers with products found on most projects need a completely different approach to marketing. The products would include paint, windows and doors, toilet partitions, and firestopping.

Mark followed up with a second blog article:[Link no longer there]

Two of his 8 Tips I want to emphasize are:

Architects Specialize - And So Should You - high school architects will not be designing major hospital facilities, and vice versa. Focus on the design firms doing the types of projects using your products.
Understand Why Architects Cut and Paste Specs - including full-time specifiers. They have an office master (or masters for different types of projects) and try to do a serious update of a section each project, on approximately a 3-year cycle.
Read the rest of his tips and consider how they relate to your marketing plans and program

Contact me if you have any questions or suggestions.

Colin

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Colin Gilboy
Publisher - 4specs
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