Many companies are thinking twice about exhibiting at costly trade shows. But, if you have decided that they are important to the marketing of your brand, then make sure you maximize your investment.

Trade shows aren’t just about showing up and talking to your customers and prospects, they can be used as an effective communication tool before, during and after show time. With today’s online tools you can create a level of excitement and engagement like never before.

1. Plan early

If your company is a long-time exhibitor in your industry, social media can garner a lot of attention and create a buzz. Make sure you have all the relevant platforms in place to get new conversations going:

- LinkedIn for your business contacts and referrals
- Twitter to get the right followers in time to create a high level of interest and interaction
- Website/landing page to announce new developments, post new press releases, etc.
- Electronic show press room, make sure your press kit, releases, promotions, events are posted (as soon as the press room is open)

2. Showtime

Time to execute a carefully developed strategy that should include:

- Interesting early morning tweets to entice people to your booth – don’t forget to get your booth number out there at every opportunity
- Announce any seminars or speaking events – make sure you include the location
- Have all the members of your sales and marketing team reach out to their social network contacts 2-3 times each day
- Have a laptop at your booth so visitors can Tweet while visiting
- Run a contest that will drive traffic and link it into your social media
- Don’t make it all about sales – thank people for stopping by, post some fun show anecdotes, post some fun or interesting twit pics
- Organize some media interviews at your booth and Tweet about who is there talking with you
- If you want to connect with people socially in the evening after the show is closed, let them know where you will be – impromptu conversations in a relaxing setting can be very conducive to building good business relationships

3. Follow up

Trade show follow up can take longer than it should, so make sure you get your team on board with timely online and social media follow-ups:

- Send out a quick email right after the show to everyone you met. It is important to keep the leads hot and the conversation going
- Not all leads will turn into immediate business, use social media to keep in touch without being too pushy – sometimes this can lead to an unexpected referral
- If you have given a seminar, talk, speech, or been interviewed, etc., make sure it has been recorded on video or flip phone. This helps to create some web-based tools to send out via podcast, Youtube, Twitter or Facebook.

With all the new tools available just make sure your trade show experience and the experience visitors have at your booth is not the same old, same old!

24/7 Wall St. has created a list of brands that may disappear in 2011, some of them iconic American institutions.

According to 24/7 Wall St., updating their annual April report of brands would normally take a full year; however, the current economic climate has accelerated the process. The majority of brands on the first two lists have either gone, been acquired, or have filed for bankruptcy.

With a number of the brands on the December 2009 list either gone or on a short-term path to extinction, 24/7 Wall St. has put together the latest version of the Ten Brands That Will Disappear, or whose parent company will be sold or go into Chapter 11.

Making the Top 10 are:

• Reader’s Digest
• Blockbuster
• Dollar Thrifty Automative Group
• T-Mobile
• Moody’s Corp
• BP
• Radio Shack
• Zale Corp
• Merrill Lynch
• Kia Motors Corp

For more information on why these brands made the list: 247wallst.com

It would seem that the market has changed significantly over the past two years. Hardly anyone is developing static HTML/CSS based websites anymore. WordPress and CoreCommerce have become the norm and even that is shifting.

So, what has changed?

Two things – clients and technology. Clients are becoming more and more informed about web design and development. No longer content to be passive bystanders, they want to participate in the process. They understand that Internet Explorer is obsolete and that this should not hold back their website. They know that we now have 26” monitors, iPads, iPhones, and Androids to make sites work and, along with these devices comes variety.

A simple five page brochure site is not enough anymore. It needs to be mobile friendly, progressively enhanced, semantic and accessible.

As the web world continues to shift, change and evolve, so does every aspect of marketing. Make sure your agency is on top of the changes and ahead of the curve; it’s the only way your brand will stay in front of the competition.

Well, ADinfinitum is one PR group that is ahead of the curve and does understand the importance of having a client appear first in an online environment like The Daily Beast.

Our integrated approach to PR allows us to initiate dialog with influential blogs and online media to create the viral groundswell that is crucial in today’s media world.

“There are many shades of green. Be the best green you can be™”

New content is developed on an ongoing basis including a section for Smiling Green Mom approved products, high profile guest contributors and a coupon section, with the intent of attracting a wider audience. Her devoted group of readers are very interactive and influencial.

Utilizing SGM’s extensive Twitter following and connections with other mom bloggers, as well as traditional PR and social media tactics, we helped spread the word about the blog’s message of natural, green living to a wide consumer audience.

Marketing, like movies, is often plagued with copycat content, fad techniques, and mediocre concepts. The advent of the advancement of computer programs and social media has not only led to a lack of creative thinking—it can lead to very little thinking. The immediacy of today’s media environment creates very reactive situations. There is nothing wrong with the viral world–putting something out there and seeing where it will go can create a “buzz,” but there is a lot to be said for the thought process that can deliver the “big idea.”

The basis of any successful campaign is the idea. Defining the word “idea” would open up a whole philosophical dissertation. Suffice it to say, an idea or concept (some people believe these are interchangeable) that makes you stop, makes you think, makes you take action, is an idea worth investing marketing dollars in. Which is exactly what Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures did with their $160 million film partnership.

While many Americans are dipping their toes back into the luxury pool, it’s with a mindset that has been smacked down and radically reshaped by the recession. For many consumers, it’s about owning top technology-based products. Just consider, the four brands now most admired by Americans with six-digit incomes are Apple, Microsoft, Best Buy and Sony (from a recent survey by Affluence Collaborative).

Some “luxury” shopping trends include:

Whatever your idea of luxury is, there is always a luxury discount site to fulfill your every whim. Gilt.com has garnered more than 2 million members in just two years, and the auction-like shopping frenzy only adds to its appeal. Luxury brands are all trying to reinvent themselves and deliver a better experience and it seems the economy has just shifted the definition of luxury.

The trendspotters are: Fran Carpenter, Parade Magazine; Faith Durand, Apartment Therapy: The Kitchn; Nancy Wall Hopkins, Better Homes & Gardens; Sara Moulton, chef, cookbook author and Good Morning America food personality; Rachel Mount, O Magazine; Kara Nielsen, Center for Culinary Development; Denise Purcell, Specialty Food Magazine; Jenna Zimmerman, Food Network.

The trends are:

Other emerging trends identified are fig products, including a cabernet wine and fig preserve; unusual teas infused with turmeric and cardamom; and specialty flavored honeys such as chestnut, lime, pine and raspberry.

We would add some of our top trends: