Hey Guys Want Some More Chocolate? The Market Bucket's Guide to Cutting Through White Noise.

After another short week in the marketing world I've come to note a new insight into the sellers mind set.

Being somewhat of an Exhibition Boffin, I was asked to help out at a small one last week for an Events company based in Leeds (KNM if you're wondering).

Now, I’m well aware that there noise we marketers need to cut through to reach our target must be somewhere around the 140 decibel mark-yes jet planes really do have something in common with us!

So, let me paint the picture for you.
One football stadium, a couple of handfuls of private boxes, one exhibition arena, thousands of possibilities for attraction. Correct? Well, as I trotted (the need for exercise will be revealed momentarily) around the halls, rooms and vast amounts of perusing employers I noticed one overriding common feature-chocolate.

The one thing that is fabulous about exhibitions is the endless possibilities for picking up useless but nonetheless items that are imperative to the running of your life freebies. Deck chairs, mobile phone key rings, stress balls the shape of Hitler, an oar, ornate fans, straw boaters, test tubes of sand....how I was disappointed. The potential branding inferno that should have been taken advantage of was ignored in favour of a few Cadbury's Celebrations. Who gave me what? Who knows? Who cares!

It struck me that in an environment where competition is truly at World War level, to not take advantage of the perfect opportunity for differentiation was foolish on the verge of ridiculous.

I'm not saying that are lives need to be dominated by branded good so that the jet engines we are trying to cut through amass to something greater, she says holding a DWP pen and looking at an Eversheds mug, but when life hands you lemons don't buy chocolates instead.

Networking - An Outsider in an Insider's World.

Being new to this "networking" game (4 weeks in fact) i'm becoming more and more in tune with how the system works. As an ameteur, I used to consider that meetings/conferences/breakfasts etc were business, however, i've been suitably corrected that this is in fact "networking".



It seems to me that networking is a grand name for having a chat with potential clients-something that, correct me if I'm wrong, has been going on for sometime.



Now i'm all up for the concept, I mean, where would we be without our pocketful of contacts, plates full of smoked salman or paws full of business cards. But part of me feels that this forced style of pre-emptive social gathering is dampening the forging of natural business relationships and putting pressure upon those in the situation.



On the otherhand, it allows those who perhaps aren't confident in their networking skills to develop in a confined arena.



Either way, this labeled style of networking works well for me-I haven't had such a good breakfast in a long time! Business card anybody.