In The Land Of The Blind, The One-Eyed Man Is King
So, let’s get used to it. Recession has arrived and will be with us for a while unfortunately, but life goes on and so must business. Opportunities will still come by, but the important thing now is to grasp them all, companies simply cannot now afford to miss any opportunities and particularly not those that some simple business intelligence would secure.
I’m talking about, ‘knowledge’. It’s imperative that companies ensure that their sales and marketing guys have up to date data on their target contacts, so that all interactions can be both timely and relevant, details not lost on any of us in the world of information overload. Integrated databases are a first step. How many organisers map post-show visitor databases with exhibitor and prospect databases? We all know that there are loads of potential exhibitors, media partners, sponsors and the like checking out shows as visitors, but when the sales team pulls up a record and picks up the phone, do they have that business intelligence to hand?
Tracking how visitors to websites move around online, monitoring how they enter the show’s website and what pages they visited, how long they stayed etc etc, puts marketers in a hugely strong position. The event’s marketing team has the ability to know what each and every visitor is interested in, or at least have a very good idea. They can gauge how interested web visitors might be by how long they view each page, if they go back to particular pages, if they clicked through for more details etc etc. Access to this knowledge is available now, our own Eventive product is a great example and there are others, but how many companies make the most of it?
The answer is very few. As the recession bites the old adage, ‘knowledge is king’ should not be ignored. Every ounce of information must be used to ensure that no resources are wasted. Messages to potential clients, exhibitors, visitors, sponsors and partners, need to be both targeted and meaningful, and should be directed at the right segments at the right time. It’s not rocket science, it’s here and now and an easy win for those with intelligence!
