Jake Kellogg

Your product has been in R&D for years, final stage gate reviews for months and were just about to hit “Go” on your new product launch, and then … COVID-19.  Now what?

We’ve been to a zillion (yes, a zillion) tradeshows over the years and have seen our fair share of spinning wheels, bowls of candies and branded swag - all with the goal of encouraging attendees to visit a booth and engage with that brand. Whether or not these efforts are effective, we believe it takes more than cute tchotchkes to garner the greatest return on your tradeshow booth investment. As noted in my previous post, we recently attended the International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas and were happy to report that tradeshows are making a comeback for brands that know how to effectively engage customers. Now that it’s been a few weeks since we’ve returned from Vegas and have finally earned back the money we lost at the blackjack table, we thought we’d highlight what not to do when looking to attract an audience at your booth.

Exhale, everyone. The building products, kitchen and bath industries are back. While the homebuilding industry is growing at a slow but steady pace, the 2015 NAHB International Builders’ Show (IBS) and Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS), held in Las Vegas last week, were filled with optimism about the future. Exhibitors at IBS/KBIS had only positive things to say about the increased traffic to their booths, quality of conversations with visitors and overall energy compared to previous years.

Designing for a B2B customer requires a more intimate understanding of how your audience interacts with your brand. It means taking the key insights from your target audience, rinsing it with the data you’ve gathered from them and tailoring the messaging and visuals to these insights and behaviors. It means being customer-centric, as opposed to product-centric.