Due to Lack of Interest, the Future Has Been Canceled

Almost a score of years before the Allies were deadlocked on the western front, a Polish banker foresaw with uncanny accuracy the coming of trench fighting. But the war offices and the general staffs paid no attention to his predictions. As always, they were preparing for the last war.

The Washington Post, November 1936

Are there grim signposts among all the green shoots?

Just days before its doors were to open, Future of Events, a first-time trade show slated for late August in Amsterdam, was canceled due to lack of interest. The organizer has filed for bankruptcy.

Grim predictions of irrelevancy surround the producers of large trade shows, but most—like the war offices and general staffs—pay no heed. They're too busy preparing for the last war.

The new war is being waged to win over GenXers and Millennials.

Boomers' tactics won’t work.

Cash Cow

Event producers are gaga over a cash cow who never stops lactating.

It's the broadcast technology known as live-streaming.

American Association of Occupational Health Nurses exemplifies those bullish producers.

AAOHN wanted to engage the 80% of members unable to travel to its 2016 annual conference, says David McMillan of PCMA. So it live-streamed the content, charging the same price for the virtual as the face-to-face experience. Sixty members ponied up the $500. Better yet, a sponsor paid $25,000 for the right to hand out free tickets to customers.

With more footage in the can, AAOHN is "sitting on a stockpile of additional educational content and potential revenue," McMillan says.

But live-streaming does more than immediately monetize events; it publicizes them.

Live-streaming "operates far beyond the traditional broadcasting model," says Tom Owlerton on CMO.com. 

"At its best, live-streaming helps brands go from storytelling to storyliving; they can broadcast behind-the-scenes at big, topical events to share footage that people wouldn’t otherwise get to experience first-hand."

Live-streaming from events, due to the buzz it creates through social media and word of mouth, "can create a huge impact."

The kind that converts to moo-lah.

Slip Slidin' Away

Although "Death by PowerPoint" is universally dreaded, B2B marketers continue to create overstuffed "megadecks."

"Decks have hundreds of company- and product-centric slides," says Christina McKeon on SiriusDecisions' blog. By stupefying audiences with unwelcome information, "sales reps are missing out on a small window of opportunity to establish credibility with the buyer."

Marketers should instead create decks driven by the buyer's questions.

"Winning sales presentations are buyer-centric," McKeon says. Decks should deliver only what the buyer needs to know at the moment, and omit slides focused on "internal processes and constructs."

Decks should also be designed to prompt a specific action by the buyer. Early in a relationship, that might mean validating her organization's needs; later, it might mean preparing to onboard her organization as a customer.

Marketers also need to "think beyond slideware," McKeon says. Content can be delivered through media other than slide decks, such as leave-behinds or a sales proposal.

Lastly, marketers should confirm their decks actually work. "Marketers should ride along on client calls to get live feedback on how the material is working, so necessary adjustments can be made," McKeon says.

Why Face-to-Face Works

As we all know from Star Trek, the strongest force in the universe is gravity.

The second strongest may be mimicry.

Mimicry is the reason face-to-face works—better than broadcast, direct, email, mobile, outdoor, packaging, print, PR, social, sponsorships, telephone, web, wearables, word-of-mouth, or any other marketing channel.

Like gravity, mimicry is an inborn and inescapable "hidden force" compelling us to behave in predictable ways. 

Mimicry makes us automatically imitate the expressions, gestures, postures, actions and language of people around us.

And mimicry generates trust between parties. It's why couples who share the same manner of speech are 50% more likely to date; why servers who repeat their customers' orders get 70% bigger tips; and why negotiators who imitate their opponents' postures are 500% more likely to win.

Because it builds trust, mimicry "shapes professional success," says Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger in Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior. 

"Mimicry facilitates social interaction because it generates rapport," Berger says. "Like a social glue, mimicry binds us and bonds us together. Rather than 'us versus them,' when someone behaves the same way we do, we start to see ourselves as more interconnected. closer and more interdependent. All without even realizing it."

Whenever we go face-to-face, mimicry's our default behavior. 

So it's just natural this vast hidden persuader works its black magic at conferences and trade shows, deleting distrust and making us all members of one federation.

CAPTAIN'S LOG: Happy 50th, Star Trek. Live long and prosper.

How to Get Your Emails Read Every Time

Part with a buck, pull in thirty-eight.

Email's ROI is remarkable, according to the Direct Marketing Association.

But you'll never hit that average, if your emails go unread.

"There are many reasons for failure and many relate to design," says Tanya McGinnity, brand journalist for Onboardly. 

She offers 10 rules to get your emails read:

1. Stay consistent. Discover a look and stick to it. "When recipients hear from you, they shouldn’t have any doubt that it’s you," McGinnty says. Where to start? Mimic the look of your website.

2. Choose a tailor-made template. "Just grabbing the first template you see and slapping some branding and copy in there isn’t going to make you any fans," McGinnty says. Choose the template suited for the job (newsletters aren't product pitches; event invitations aren't customer surveys; new-product announcements aren't time-limited offers; and so forth).

3. Leverage graphics. "Some of the best emails are simply visuals with a simple call out," McGinnty says. 

4. Leverage copy. Smart, well presented copy can grab more readers than graphics.

5. Keep it brief. Don't be the guy at the party who won't shut up. Remember, you can always blast the same readers another day.

6. Think small. Don't go overboard on big images. Big images will send your emails to the spam folder, or blow up a reader's inbox.

7. Optimize the size. Readers use a variety of devices. Make sure your emails are viewable on them all.

8. Trust the inverted pyramid. McGinnty urges you to think like a journalist about your emails. "At the top, a snappy headline that highlights the core message, supported by information and visuals that help persuade readers to click through. Then a no BS call to action button that gives no room for confusion on what to do."

9. Use one call to action. Ask readers to take just one action at a time, because that’s all they can take. "An infinite series of calls to action only confuse the recipient," McGinnty says. Philips Sonicare split-tested two different emails, one with a single call to action and one with four. The email with one call to action produced 371% more clicks and 1,617% more sales.

10. Edit, edit, edit.  Strive for clarity by cutting anything that can distract readers or go into another day's email. "Be tactical and review your email marketing piece like a chef eyes a plate before serving it up to a popular food critic," McGinnty says.