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Integrating the Internet of Things (IoT) into your trade show

In 2008 the number of things connected to the internet exceeded world population (Digital Catapult).

 

Ten years on and the Internet of Things (IoT) is a phrase that is commonly heard across our events and tradeshows. But what is it and how can you use it to maximise results at your future shows?
The IoT broadly refers to connecting devices over the Internet and allowing them to talk to each other, apps and importantly us. With the number of connected devices predicted to have grown to between 20-100 billion by 2020, how customers consume and interact with your content at future shows and exhibitions are set to change.

As technologies continue to develop some IoT devices looks set to provide exciting ways to help you stand out, increase customer engagement and capture data. Below are four exciting IoT technologies that could be popping up at one of your future events.

1. Track customers from entry to exit
As Wifi Location Analytics services such as that provided by Euclid continue to develop, they’re making it easier to track the journey of customers during events and shows. Doing so by detecting radio waves submitted from mobile phones this technology creates the opportunity to capture invaluable data at your next event.

Your customer inflow, the wait time of customers at advertising displays and levels of traffic, can all be measured and analysed to help you generate optimal levels of engagement. Using this new data, it’s about to become a lot easier to manage and improve your setup, event marketing, product positioning, and the customer journey all with real-time changes.

2. Measure human emotions
Integrating VR into your shows is a fantastic and exciting way to engage your audience. It can now also be a great way to collect data on the emotional response consumers are having to your VR content. UK start-up emteq have developed FaceTeq, a facial sensing machine learning platform that clips into VR headsets. The tech can be used to generate invaluable consumer insight into your products and brand, captured in an engaging and lighthearted way. Capturing real-time data also makes it possible for changes to be made to your VR content there and then. Switch it up to reflect the responses you’re getting!

3. Sound signage
Revealed at CES 2018 Metasonics new technology offers ultra-high fidelity control over sound, allowing your business the opportunity to shape and direct audio messages at events in the future. Like never before you could be able to target personalised broadcasts directly to individuals amongst a crowd. Used in connection with mobile phones and other devices within the IoT these messages can be carefully created using gathered data to ensure maximum results.

4. Bluetooth Beacons
Already employed by major US retailers such as Urban Outfitters and Macy’s, Bluetooth beacons such as those are creating new opportunities to increase customer engagement. Able to send out signals to mobile phones connected to Bluetooth it is possible to send out more efficient, location-targeted messages and alerts. Instead of contacting customers before your event, remind them of your presence and of attractions at optimal times. Deliver alerts, promotions and fresh content on their arrival or just as they’re approaching your stand! Bluetooth beacons are a super simple technology ready and waiting to help you stand out from the crowd.

https://www.blueupbeacons.com/index.php?page=case

https://estimote.com/products/

Whether in the early stages of development or already on the market – what’s for sure is IoT is set to shake up how your business generates leads and data at future events. To find out more about how our team and the IoT can help you deliver a memorable and compelling design at your next show, please email hello@i3-uk.com

Stages of Perception in Marketing (and the importance of making an impact at your event!)

What Is Perception in Advertising?
(What’s it really about?)

 

Everybody knows first impressions are essential, and this is no different for brand-consumer relationships. With that in mind, ‘perception in advertising’ – the technical term being ‘consumer information processing’ – is largely about managing consumers’ first impressions of brands.  To that end, ‘Sensation’, ‘Attention’, ‘Interpretation’ and ‘Retention’ are four useful words that can guide brands wanting to make impactful first impressions.

Sensation
‘Sensation’ refers to the moment that a consumer first becomes conscious of a brand’s external stimuli. Of course, this can happen through any one or more of the five senses. Take Coca-Cola for example; one person might respond to its red and white logo while another might respond to the click and fizz of one its cans opening.

Attention
It is not enough for a brand to merely stimulate a consumer’s senses; a successful encounter causes the consumer to stop, think and make an association between the stimulus and the brand. Generally, consumers pay more attention to stimuli that appeal to their wants, needs or opinions.

Interpretation
Having stimulated the senses and garnered the attention of the consumer, the next challenge for brands is ‘Interpretation’. ‘Interpretation’ is about deliberately evoking certain meanings, narratives and feelings using brand stimuli.  Accuracy and precision are paramount here. When marketing with a particular audience in mind, it helps to make shrewd references to memetic or historical symbols that already occupy a space in that audience’s imagination.

Retention
Ideally, evoked meanings, narratives and feelings linger in consumers’ minds for as long as possible. When durably made and well-directed, an excellent first impression guarantees a lifelong and fruitful relationship between the consumer and the brand – this is the ultimate goal.

Our solution
The creatives at i3 Global Design know how to make bold, impactful first impressions. They understand that consumer perception is the key to brand success, and therein that first impressions are the key to perception. Get in contact today at Hello@i3-uk.com, to help secure your brand’s status and future.

Defining Your Event Goals and Objectives to Help Make an Impact

Firstly, it’s important to think about what your event objectives will be…

 

Take the time to think about what goals you would like to establish for your event. Is your goal realistic, and is it really attainable?

Consider Key Questions and Resources to help achieve defined event goals:

  • What is the purpose of your event?
  • Does it align with the companies’ marketing strategy and target audience?
  • Is it likely to be a good use of your marketing budget and be able to generate sufficient interest in your product or services?
  • Sometimes fewer, well-thought-out events with reasonable budgets can be better than a ‘scatter bomb’ approach.
  • Which attendees should be invited to your event?
  • How should you make your event memorable or your exhibition stand ‘stand
    out’ amongst your competitors? Contact: Hello@i3-uk.com
  • Will you need speakers or any educational content to reach your goal?
  • If it’s a social event, what is your social goal for your attendees and how
    will you encourage this interaction?
  • How will you measure your success against given objectives?

Developing the Event Strategy
Once you have your event goals confidently defined, brainstorm the steps and strategy to help achieve them. When thinking strategy, it is helpful to look from two perspectives – the companies and also, from the perspective of your attendees. How will both the planning team and the attendee realize their individual goals?

The strategy might involve some mini-goals so ideally, map out a plan either in outline or as a more detailed project plan.

Make Connections?
No two events are the same. Some events lend themselves to making connections and not necessarily delivering content. For other events, the goal is to teach attendees. In cases like these, think about what attendees are learning, why, and what you want to teach them? With these answers you can then start to build out the essential items like speakers and content, ensuring that you are selecting the right content for the defined target audience.

Once you determine your overall event goals and objectives, all other planning seem to just be pieces to the puzzle. Your event budget, theme, speakers, and entertainment each have a place and will ultimately aid commonality with your given goals.

Planning a speech for a business event – Suggestions to capture your audience

Speeches throughout history have been used by leaders to galvanise groups, rivals and even nations to unite, act in the desired outcome or to educate.

 

Famous examples include ‘The Gettysburg address’ by President Lincoln during the American civil war – one of the most inspirational and recognisable speeches today, similarly Martin Luther King in 1963 with his ‘I have a dream speech’ sparking the rise of civil rights in America. In the business environment, Steve Jobs’ speeches at Apple Product Launches were legendary…check out here

Time and again, we see the effects that engaging speeches can have on people, but what makes a good speech?

Humour
Humour is a great way of grabbing the audience’s attention right from the beginning, one fairly recent example of this is President Obama’s speech in 2014 where he started a press conference by saying the government were discussing plans to build ‘Iron Man’. Obviously not true but a good way of capturing the audience, amusing them and making them more open to new ideas. Humour does not necessarily have to be something said – it can be a meme, image or even funny animations on slides.

Storytelling
One mistake with speeches is making them too long. People wish to be entertained and engaged but give anybody a lot of content and they switch off. Storytelling is a great method for making speeches more engaging and giving the audience a way of connecting with the speaker. For generations, stories have given lessons and inspiration in our own lives and speeches are no different. Taking the audience on a journey through a crisis/personal trial will make them not only more attentive but also give them something to relate to and remember.

Involvement
There are many ways of involving the audience:  asking a question, getting an example from an individual in the crowd or even getting a delegate up on stage. What is important is to seek involvement at the right time.  The ’20-minute rule’ is a guideline to help with speeches as generally, people can only pay attention to something for that long (with the exception of Steve Jobs)!

Pause and leave silences
Listening to anyone speak for a while can be tiring and attention starts to fade. Therefore, separating topics and giving pauses and silences is vital. It gives the listener some time to think about what has just been said and reflect on it. Silences can feel uncomfortable to new speakers, but silences are good as they separate content and build suspense. It’s useful to see how the audience receives each element of a speech before a speaker starting to communicate more information to them.

Passion
Audiences are observant, they know if someone is enthusiastic about what they’re saying. This is the chance to show passion! Wanting to be informed and entertained – it is then up to the speaker to act as the catalyst for the room and spark peoples’ interest.

Plan what you are going to say, rehearse it and have fun……..

Applying a growth mindset to your business (and life!)

Applying a growth mindset to your business (and life!)

 

There are two types of mindset that we can choose to cultivate: a fixed mindset, or a growth mindset.

The growth mindset, a term coined by Stanford psychologist Dr.Carol Dweck, sees individuals taking each challenge as an opportunity to learn, even if this means failing. Individuals with a growth mindset believe that new abilities can be developed through practice and that failing and practice are synonymous. They develop a love for learning that most great leaders and artists have in common, and warmly welcome constructive criticism, understanding that it is a vital component of change and development. A growth mindset makes life exciting and endless opportunities arise when you begin to knock down the wall of fear.

So, how can you apply a growth mindset to your business?

Celebrate trying – by avoiding only celebrating triumphs, you give value to all the other hard work and attempts that didn’t quite make it to the top. These efforts are stepping stones to getting to where you want to be.

Encourage the development of new skills – by encouraging staff to step out of their comfort zone and attend training days, perhaps in an area, they aren’t familiar with or holding workshops to develop new skills; you will inspire them to stop ruling out unfamiliar tasks from their capabilities. Once new skills are learnt, you no longer see your failures as a hurdle to what you are doing instead you see it as fuel to boost your development and reach your goals.

Listen to constructive criticism – it’s important to remember that when receiving constructive criticism, it is not you that’s being assessed, but the result of your work on that one day. The criticism doesn’t define you, but it is vital that you digest it and act upon it to improve. When receiving constructive criticism, listen, and try separating your worth from the outcome of your efforts. You will always have the chance to improve, and it all starts with your mindset.

Having fun –  organising silly and fun team building events can give everyone the opportunity to let their hair down (including the senior management team) and can leave them feeling more comfortable and relaxed. It reminds them that we’re all human and we can all fall on our face sometimes!

Be Bold – When thinking of new ways to increase innovation within the organisation and deciding how best to showcase this externally, as part of an effective marketing strategy through eye-catching and well-coordinated events, be bold. Don’t be afraid to try something different and stand out.

Practice –  You don’t always have to enjoy it, but the effort is part of a journey to a fun life.

Using live events to create brand awareness

Irrespective of which market sector you’re in, creating a live event is a fantastic way to get the attention of clients and potential prospects.

 

This could just be a social Summer & Christmas party or structured around business development such as the launch of a new product or promotion.
Holding a live event gives you valuable ‘face time’ with potential customers and offers the opportunity for them to experience the look, feel and personality of your brand. Maybe, adopt a theme to create additional interest, such as a 1920s cocktail evening or a vintage tea party.

Why not also consider raising funds for a chosen charity at your event – it’s the perfect way to give back as you increase brand loyalty? One i3 client hosted a Corporate Annual Touch Rugby Competition at Twickenham for invited corporate teams & organisations who all come together to raise funds for the various charities they support. The day was always filled with loads of energy, with so much positivity coming from the teams and supporters!

Live events are an opportunity to create customer satisfaction, putting your brand top of mind and allowing consumers to not only engage but create their own story that incorporates your brand.

Creating a brand experience that consumers can capture and share not only extends the reach of your brand, it also creates a lot of dialogue in participant’s social media posts. Research has indicated that consumers attending a live event have an increased intent to maintain brand loyalty.

Events are more impactful than they have ever been. Not only is a brand amplified through attendee’s social media channels, an event or an experience, but it also provides a host of content that can be promoted widely long after the event has finished. A live event provides a great opportunity to create effective and engaging video content that can be shared across multiple channels.

Consider if there is an opportunity for you to introduce more impactful events into your marketing plan to further engage consumers!

Thinking “outside-in” marketing

The Outside-In strategy focusses on delivering all aspects of marketing from a customers’ perspective.

 

Companies using this approach first seek to immerse themselves in the mind of their clients to fully understand their needs before designing their marketing strategy.

How can this be achieved?

Remind yourself of your market
By taking the time to carry out research, you can identify and act on a range of opportunities and threats to your business.

Through taking the important step in getting to know your market correctly, it is possible to build stronger plans for the coming months with context as well as fresh ideas. It also lessens the risk of being caught out by market changes due to not having information at the ready.

Market research can help with;

  • Identifying gaps for business opportunities (e.g. new services or products, or even just rearranging existing business features)
  • Anticipating and acting on trends or changes (e.g. technology, or customer habits)
  • Evaluating and understanding customers’ needs
  • Customer satisfaction – are your customers happy? If not, why?
  • Choosing which method of advertising works best for you
  • Keeping ahead of the competition

Get to know your customers
One of the biggest errors companies make is trying to attract everyone. By precisely defining your Target Audience to a distinct set of customers, you can get into the shoes of those you are focusing on. This allows you to tailor your marketing strategy to your target customer, which should ultimately increase your marketing and businesses effectiveness.

Get out a crystal ball
You’ve reviewed your market, analysed your client base and now you need to use that data to look forward. How can you pull this information together to keep your company one step ahead?

Keeping up with trends allows you to stay in touch with your target customers wants, their buying habits and all the new technologies which can improve your business for customers.

Schedule some meetings
With the rise of technology, face to face meetings with customers is starting to become a rarity. This is because technologies such as phone calls or video communications allow for easy and often cheaper alternatives to face to face meetings.

However, face to face contact with customers is vital as it helps to trust, understanding and a feeling of a shared goal. This can be hard to replicate through online communication.

From experience, it is generally also more productive as face-to-face meetings can generate greater ideas in the initial stages via brainstorming.

Attend industry events
Finally, on the theme of real-time interaction look ahead at the events, awards and gatherings scheduled for the next year. Ideally, you will also be exhibiting at a few of these well-chosen events.

That different perspective, maybe even attending as an individual rather than your organisation, can allow you to review your position, have different conversations with competitors, partners and clients in a new environment.

Think too of creating your own events and create a unique/memorable spin. Lasting Impressions…

The importance of good exhibition design

An early i3 Global Design award-winning exhibition stand that still retains a ‘wow’ factor today

 

Consumer awareness of ‘good design’ is at an all-time high. We operate in a world that is fundamentally visual, with images making up almost everything we view. Since customers or followers are bombarded with thousands of these images every time they seek a product, design needs to be considered carefully.

Exhibitions are extremely competitive
Well-designed stands help to portray a professional organisation, increase visitor interaction/memorability, as well as post-event marketing success.

Having a stand that evokes positive emotions in people can bring more delegates to your stand and ready them for open conversation. Consider the emotive power of colours & harmonious graphics.

Space
People are more drawn to open space naturally, it creates a calming atmosphere. However, great functionality is important too.

A Design that connects with your company
Reinforce your brand values. Your design/graphics/collateral needs to reflect key points from your business:

  • What do you do/offer?
  • What are your USP’s?
  • Who is your target market?

Displaying these clearly and with impact, perhaps with short and easily interpreted taglines, will help your company stand out from the crowd and instantly let delegates decide whether you are relevant to them.

The clever incorporation of cutting edge technology can be very beneficial too.
Having a good design with impactful visuals and meaningful messages helps your ROI, and sets you apart from competitors.

At i3 Global Design, we champion powerful and distinctive design that is specific to each of our clients. Alongside, we can also provide a full show press office service from pre-publicity and marketing through exhibitor support activities and post-event opportunities. Please do get in touch:  jan.grzyb@i3-uk.com.