ROI in Trade Shows? Fuggedaboutit.

It's time to change the conversation about trade shows.

Savvy exhibitors have ceased thinking quixotically about ROI and moved on to more urgent and practical matters.

What do they want from their trade shows spend?

It's pretty darn simple.

Leads and sales.

Exhibit marketing isn't like the other popular B2B marketing tactics.

Websites, Webinars, SEO, paid search, e-mail, PR, print advertising, direct mail and social media are all one or more steps removed from personal selling.

Executives demand fancy evidence of ROI in them, because they can readily suck up time and money without clearly driving sales.

But exhibit marketing is different.

It's so closely tied to personal selling that executives don't demand elaborate proof of ROI in it. No more than they demand that salespeople "prove" with charts and graphs the ROI in phone calls, travel, lodging, hospitality and gifts.

Any particular trade show, instead, is judged a lot like a salesperson is judged.

In assessing a show's performance, executives want to know:

• Does the show help our company communicate effectively?
• Does it help us establish industry leadership?
• Does it let us identify promising accounts?
• Does it help us educate and develop buyers?
• Does it create valuable relationships?
• And does it, when all's said and done, produce sales?

ROI in trade shows?

Fuggedaboutit.

How to Write a Blog Post that Will Attract 10,000 Followers

During a recent conference, a social media expert told me, "Writing super-sticky blog posts is so easy, a chimp could do it."

So I sought out accomplished blogger and social media maven Joe Young and asked him to share his secrets.

Here's what he said in answer to my question, "How do you write a blog post that will attract 10,000 followers?"

BOB: Joe, first off, how do you get started?

JOE: Never begin with an idea or point of view. Those things are for sissies. If you want to write a blog post that ranks well and draws visitors to your site, start by using Google's keyword tool to find "Low Competition" keywords. Once you find enough of them, string the keywords together in sentences. Of course, I'm exaggerating when I say "sentences," because sentences typically have a point.

BOB: What's the next step?

JOE: Now that you have all the keywords stuffed into "sentences," you need to chop your achievement into bite-size pieces, so visitors don't choke. That's where section headers come in handy. The more, the better.

BOB: Any finishing touches you recommend?

JOE: After you have compiled your content, sliced and diced it, and added headers, be sure to go back and insert a lot of obvious grammatical mistakes and punctuation errors. You don't want visitors to think you're a snob. Gotta be authentic.

BOB: I understand graphics are important, too.

JOE: Absolutely! Most people are now using mobile apps to read blog posts. An image will lure them in. Videos work well, too. But a word of warning about them. If you use videos in your blog, be careful to keep them super-low quality. Followers hate "slick." Again, gotta be authentic.   

BOB: Is there anything else to writing a blog post that attracts 10,000 followers?

JOE: Nope.

BOB: Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle.

Meet the B2B Consumer

Most B2B marketers don't think of their customers as "consumers."

But according to Tony Zambito, originator of "buyer persona" research, "there is an increasing consumerization effect happening in B2B buying."

B2B buyers no longer progress, zombie-like, through the buying cycle.

Instead, they behave like living, breathing consumers.

As proof, Zambito points to five trends:

Mapping. With so much content on the Web, B2B buyers are "mapping" the discovery process. B2B marketers who want to court them need to understand how customers are finding their way through the jungle.

Ecosystems. All B2B buyers work in corporate "ecosystems." Gone are the days when a buyer made a decision on her own. Marketers need to adapt by incorporating "ecosystem views" into their strategies and organizations.

New rules. B2B buyers are basing buying decisions on new variables, such as globalization and economic uncertainty. Marketers need a firm grasp on the "new rules of decision-making," so they can support how buyers are making decisions.

High stakes. Organizations have become risk-averse and now see buying as a high stakes game. Marketers need to understand why B2B buyers buy. That means grasping buyers' shared attitudes, goals, beliefs, perceptions and motives.

Post-purchase assurances. As the stakes increase, B2B buyers want better assurances after the purchase. Marketers need to move away from "funnel thinking" and put stronger effort into engaging customers after the sale. "Post-purchase support and talent can no longer be an afterthought," Zambito says.

Mad Man: Copy Rules

I grew up in the 1950s and '60s, a few miles outside New York City.

Both good and bad ad campaigns were pervasive.

There were posters and billboards everywhere: on roadways, in train stations, at bus stops and on the sides of buildings.

I've forgotten all the bad campaigns, but still vividly recall the good stuff.

One of my favorites, a campaign for Levy's Jewish Rye, was cited last week by ad man George Lois in an interview by NPR.

I was delighted to learn from the interview that Lois believes in the primacy of copy.

Even though the synergy between words and images is crucial to a good ad, the copy must come first, Lois insists, "because a line, a slogan should be famous."

Guns Don't Kill People. Associations Do.

The lonesome death of Trayvon Martin has prompted me to wonder why.


Why did George Zimmerman shoot a 17 year-old kid strolling down the road, minding his own business?


I've followed the chain of causation from that gated community in Florida back to its original link.


The chain leads to the doorsteps of a handful of pro-gun associations.


It's no secret: associations, when sufficiently funded and mobilized, are powerful packagers and pushers of legislation.


In this case, the legislation sold by those associations promotes and protects vigilantism.


I'm no "criminal coddler," but vigilantism isn't ground I can stand on, or for, or behind.


We all should tremble when the National Rifle Association, the Gun Owners of America and the National Association for Gun Rights want to talk bullet points.