COLUMN: MARKETING MATTERS
Delivering long term success
Ian Bamford, founder of Foundry 12, says brands should be centre
stage, not an afterthought
H
ow do events and exhibitions
thrive? How do they evolve and
continue to grow?
These are massive questions, and the
relationship between organiser and venue,
the cost of attending and visiting, the quality
of exhibitors/speakers/visitors/delegates,
better Wi-Fi or food & drink, parking,
how technology (and personalisation) can
improve the experience and creating a sense
of theatre are all part of the answer.
But I want to talk about another part of
the answer. Something equally as important,
but never seemingly as high on the list.
Brand building.
If we’re to create stronger and more
relevant events and exhibitions that continue
to thrive over the long term, we need to
place our brands centre stage. They aren’t an
afterthought.
Shows exist in a competitive environment.
So, it’s fair to say, when everyone’s bringing
exhibitors, speakers, visitors or delegates
together, different show offerings are going
to be fairly similar. Yes, shows can introduce
a new bit of tech ahead of their competitors.
Yes, they can introduce a new feature. But
competitors quickly follow suit, meaning
there’s no long-term advantage. These are
short-term tactics creating short-term spikes.
But once a spike is over, people’s behaviour
quickly reverts to type. So, in a competitive
context where there’s a parity of offering,
how do you win? Through building your
brand to embed long term behavioural
change.
And here’s the thing. Brand building is
very often seen as a cost rather than an
investment isn’t it? Easy therefore to cut
when budgets are under pressure. Never to
return again! We don’t seem to value one of
our most powerful assets, our brands.
Yet, successful brands are more successful
businesses, delivering more revenue, profit
and growth. These stats support the business
case for brand building:
• Brand value represents on average 20 per
cent of a business’ market capitalisation.
• Strong brands build price elasticity.
High strength brands command a price
premium 13 per cent higher than low
strength brands and six per cent higher
than average strength brands.
• To maximise effectiveness, brands
should spend 60 per cent of their budget
on brand building and 40 per cent on
activation. Too little brand activity and
the equity needed to drive future revenue
won’t accumulate.
• Of the total commercial impact
marcomms makes, 58 per cent will be
seen in the long term (six-plus months),
42 per cent in the short term (up to six
“If you don’t know
what your brand is,
or you’ve lost sight
of it, go back to the
start and work it
out”
months).
Brands are built over time. They have a
clear mission, values that govern how they
conduct themselves and a value proposition
that crystalises what it is they offer. They
possess their own personality and tone of
voice allowing them to carve a distinct
niche amongst all the generic noise
out there. Not only that, brands
consistently deliver their message in
a creatively engaging way, creating
preference amongst their audience. They
care about the detail. No wavering in
approach, no cutting corners.
All of these ‘brand pillars’ are critical
to an organisation’s future growth. An
outstanding marketing communications
strategy and great creative execution that
resonates with your audiences can only
develop out of a fundamental understanding
of the brand. So, if you don’t know what
your brand is, or you’ve lost sight of it, go
back to the start and work it out. Before you
spend all your marketing budget (a budget
you probably fought hard to justify), make
sure you can say you know who you are,
how you should act and how you fit into the
lives of your audiences to meet their needs.
People need to believe you can deliver on
what you’re saying.
They need to believe how you look and
what you say in your marcomms is a true
reflection of what your brand is and what
you offer them. When your brand says, ‘I
understand what you’re looking for from
me and I’ve got the answer’ and that’s
consistently delivered, people build up trust.
They begin to see how you can add value
and how you can help them deliver their
business success.
If you fail to engage, fail to build long
term trust, it doesn’t matter what you’ve
done to improve the on-site experience,
people won’t be there. Yet how often do we
see copycat messages that could be delivered
by anybody? And how often are brands
‘refreshed for next year’?
Don’t re-invent each year. Instead, take
the insight and learnings to build on each
year. If we’re forever changing our identity
and our message, how can we hope to build
recognition and long-term trust with our
audience? By constantly changing, we’re
saying to them we don’t know who we
are. And if we don’t know who we are,
what chance have we got of convincing our
audiences we can help them achieve their
objectives?
Brands find new ways of articulating what
they stand for, they don’t keep changing
what they stand for.
So, let’s view brands as an investment.
And let’s create brand platforms that make
ourselves distinct, relevant and successful.
Remember, successful brands are successful
businesses.
exhibitionnews.co.uk | January 2019
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