In this post from the Influential Marketing Blog, author Rohit Bhargava shares his predictions for 2012 marketing trends. Several of them should be of particular attention to trade show marketers, including:
1. Corporate Humanism: Companies should use trade shows to reinforce their corporate personality. It’s the perfect opportunity to humanize and build relationships with clients and prospects.
3. Social Loneliness: People need personal contact beyond their computer screen. Studies are demonstrating that even though we may have more “friends” than ever, we are becoming more and more isolated. So it’s important to start your promotions in advance of the show, then encourage people to come meet your team in person at the booth.
8. Medici Marketing: Take a more multi-disciplinary approach to trade show marketing by involving members of different departments of your company, such as scientific, communications, and more.
15. Retail Theater: What do the fastest-growing retailers have in common? They create memorable in-store experiences, which drives both sales and customer loyalty. (Those of you who’ve attended one of my workshops or read my book know that I’ve been a very vocal advocate for experiential exhibiting for more than a decade now, ever since I read the book, The Experience Economy.)
To view a slide show about all 15 trends and check out some examples of each, visit the Influential Marketing Blog. (And take time to review the list of last year’s predictions at the end of the slides, which are still very relevant.)
And while we’re on the topic of retail, be sure to check out this other article from the same blog about how brick-and-mortar stores can avoid becoming “3D catalogs” for online retailers. Once again, there are some very important lessons for exhibitors!
