Give Your Brand a Voice: Take it to the Streets

There are so many possibilities for brands and companies today to step foot out of the office to get out in front of the people who are using its products to engage these consumers to get a better understanding of brand perception, product feedback, and to get a better understanding of what competitors are doing. Armed with this information, brands are then positioned to attack the market and claim some more market share! Your brand can take that market hostage and tie it up in its creepy basement and just deliver all the value you can provide.  However, there are so many managers that simply do not see the value in this.  Sure, you may not actually want to take customers into your creepy basement, exactly.  And for that matter, if you have a creepy basement, that ball is entirely in your court.  Nonetheless, how do companies get out there and make sure that the value of the brand is not only being expressed to the consumers, but also make sure the value is being received and understood by consumers?  

ACTIVATION!

ACTIVATION!

ACTIVATION!

Wait, what?  Activation?  What's that?  Activation is taking your brand on the road.  Packing up your best marketing assets, sales slicks, getting a few chatty people, throwing in a few extra pairs of clean underwear, and pounding the proverbial pavement.  Make sure you are at the critical trade shows within your industry.  It may not be apparent, but it's helping.  Potential buyers and customers go to these shows to help determine purchase behavior.  If your business is consumer-facing, it shows your core buyers that you care too! Not only are you out there, likely standing on some poured concrete floor in incredibly uncomfortable shoes, for hours on end, but you are also demonstrating that YOU care about what they care about.  They aren't just some money dispensing robot.  By showing up at consumer-facing trade shows, you are communicating that you CARE about the consumer.  And you do, don't you?  You know who actually pays your bills, right?  Good.  Because if you don't, your closest competitor sure as hell does, and they even got one of those squishy floor mats to help with the fatigue.  Smart.

The other thing about these people at these conventions and trade shows is that they are the ones who were willing to take days off work, surrender their Saturday, or abandon time with loved ones to make an effort to come check out the things they are passionate about.  Use this passion to your advantage.  Educate them.  Help them become better consumers.  Help them help their friends.  These people are the influencers.  They are the ones that people tend to listen to when certain topics are approached.  These are the ones that you have to win, because if you don't win them over, someone else will.  Then it will just be you and your product sitting all alone in your creepy basement with absolutely no market share to dazzle. 

So take a look at what your competitors are doing.  What shows are they going to?  What conventions are they hosting?  Is there something they have a presence in that you don't understand why?  Don't let that pass.  Investigate.  Pry.  Go to that show as an attendee.  See what it's about.  There may be some hidden value tucked away in one of the countless aisles of product demos and free knick-knacks. By neglecting your live brand activation, you are seriously harming your consumer brand relationship.  Not the way to be. Get out there and talk to some people.