Ways to make #virtual trade shows a sales success.

In conversation with Nozi Hamidi in Atlanta, USA, talking about the impact on PR of the loss of trust in American media and great tips on how companies can leverage virtual trade shows for business. Nozi was until recently the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at SWM International and is about to take up a senior role at a global chemicals company.

About the show:
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Transcript

Jim James: 0:14

Today, I was joined by Nozi Hamidi all the way from Atlanta. Nozi was actually a former client. She was working for a big industrial company in America looking to build a brand in China. Now, she is back working in corporate America and is going to be the Head of Marketing for a large chemical company. Recently, she and I have been working together for clients who have been trying to bring their brands from the Asia In our conversations, we touched on the topic of trust and trust n the media. When it comes to ho perceptions of the media ha Pacific to the US. e changed in America, Nozi says you can turn on the television n the US and it doesn't matter what channel you're on, the even Media relations is a fundamental part of a strategy to engage ng news will run the exact same stories with the same message with the audience in America, so I asked Nozi if that means that oints. Numerous polls, re ardless of political af iliations, have found that Am ricans do not trust the media, nd she says part of that has o do with the same message that the mainstream media that might have been a trusted platform is gets delivered. Nozi thinks that this lack of trust spans more on political views than it does business views, because some imes it spills over into whet er we believe what's happ ning with the US economy or not. no longer being used by businesses, and if people are then shying away from the editorial opportunity on networks like CNN, CNBC, or Fox. Nozi replied that she believes people are shying away from trying to politicize their business, but there are some US companies that have taken a stance and said something about issues like Black Lives Matter or anti-police brutality. However, that company's customers and employees will look for action, not words. Companies have been highly criticised for making these grandiose statements yet doing nothing about the situation. From an editorial standpoint though, Nozi does see businesses still trying to promote editorial in their niche or industry, because that in itself, their technology, their process, their products, and what value it brings to their customers, especially in B2B, is generally not political. A lot of those companies don't pay attention too much to social media and haven't been tapping into the potential to grab their customers attention using social media, Nozi says. The message then seems to be that it's kind of business as usual for businesses in America or even British companies trying to get into America, especially with Brexit on the horizon. Nozi says this goes back to trust or the lack of it that Americans have in the media. At the same time, Americans are very motivated right now to bring the economy back. In March, when COVID hit and we all went into lockdown, tons of people lost their jobs. And then slowly, we started to come back. Nozi read that in August, 1.4 million jobs were brought back in the US, and it brought the unemployment rate down from over 10% to a little over 8%, which is a huge move in one month. Most Americans, Nozi thinks, are very motivated to get their jobs back, get the economy rolling, and be able to make money. What she finds interesting is that even without any unemployment relief or assistance from the government, because of COVID, there's this phenomena where interest rates are so low. There is a good portion of the US economy refinancing their homes. That could mean as much as an extra$500 a month for some families purely from refinancing, so the consumer is going to be in better shape because of that. Businesses are making products again and creating new jobs, and these two things together are really good for the economy in spite of the possible uncertainty because of the elections, according to Nozi. I then proceeded to talk about issues around trade and international trade. I asked Nozi for advice on positioning for, say, a foreign company wanting to work or sell its products in America. Nozi says now is a good time to try to do business in the US, because there are many entrepreneurs who are looking to provide value to entire segments, and there are entire manufacturing segments who had their supply chain largely anchored on China. There's also quite a bit happening in the government with trying to shift things back to being either being made in the USA or being less reliant on China. So, if another foreign manufacturer can come into play for a US company and offer an alternative to China, Nozi says this is definitely a good time to be looking at that. If a company is working on bringing their business to America, I asked Nozi how it would be done. In the past, we would ship equipment in the music industry to New York and Nozi says that trade shows are invaluable to identify new go to a trade show and then work with the print publications. Some of those activitie are still happening, but they' e taking place virtual y. This is where the power o your network comes into play, N zi says, and you have to h ve either a sponsor, a distribut r, or some connections into the US market. If Nozi were working or a European or Asian comp ny trying to get into the US market, she would posit on herself with partners. She w uld try and get some media cover ge. Printed publications ma no longer be a thing today, ut many of them still have a g eat online following. Trade s ows that they usually sponso are now going virtual, and s this is a brand new field for everybody, not only the rganizers but the parti ipants as well. From Nozi's ind strial manufacturing world, tha's very B2B. customers, to further solidify relationships with existing customers, and to launch new products. A lot of deals and a lot of orders were taken at trade shows, and so this should still go on, but virtually. It's really important to have great content to put into your virtual booth and a great pitch to talk to your customers about new products and what value it brings to them, Nozi says. She believes virtual trade shows are going to bring much more focus into content and value more than a physical trade show where there's a lot of entertaining each other and a lot of talking, eating, and building relationships. Now, content will be the highlight of your virtual booth. People have limited time to be at a virtual trade show, because they might need to jump to another Zoom call or so on, and so it's going to be really important that your messages are synced, and that your materials are clear, and that there's a reason for a customer to come meet with you. It used to be that the size of your trade show booth gave you an impression of the quality and scale of your company, but now everyone, in a way, has got the same real estate to play with. We no longer have two-storey monstrous booths and only with connections do you get invited to the second story where they have really good drinks. That's not going to happen anymore. My next question for Nozi was what she thinks are the hallmarks of great quality. Depending on the virtual show and how expensive their tools are, Nozi says you're going to be somewhat limited. Superstars will stand out, because of their content. By that, Nozi means interactive tools that customers can play around with, or demonstration tools like videos to show how a product is used, or calculators to show your customers that it may cost more than your competitors, but it's worth the investment, because it's going to actually save you money in the long run. You should be able to run that calculation and allow your customers to put in their own values if they were to use that product. Your content should be something that catches your customer's attention and something that shows that you can respond quickly, that you can produce quickly, and that you can save your customer money. Especially in this economy where everybody's trying to get back to the growth path that we were on, better than GDP, Nozi thinks customers are still very interested, at least in B2B, in saving money and in how they can produce more by using less and by using less energy. All those things are very important, and being able to visually show that through videos, calculators, demos, are the kinds of things that Nozi believes will catch customers' eyes. I then asked Nozi how a salesperson can build a personality at a virtual trade show, because the rest is carried by the marketing pitch, but there has to be someone to come in and close the deal. Nozi says we will still need that heavy hitter on the sales team who is really good at closing deals, even online. There might not be as much ordering of items during a virtual show, because the time is limited to only a couple of hours a day versus three days before. So, what you'll see is the follow up that happens after the show and more comparing and contrasting the different exhibitors that were met at the show. That's why Nozi believes the skills of the salespeople are still needed, but they have to be comfortable working in a virtual setting and working with virtual demonstration tools and showcasing the value of their products and services. She mentioned earlier on some key overarching themes, so I asked Nozi if there are some narratives that people are looking for, particularly in America, like sustainability, Black Lives Matter, or social responsibility, to name a few. Most Americans believe in those social drivers, according to Nozi. You see them in the news media presented in different ways, but if you were to ask Americans, regardless of their race or gender, most would say they believe in equality of all Americans. From a sustainability standpoint, again, there has been for a while high interest in sustainability, but you will find that most manufacturers will only embrace sustainability if it doesn't cost them more. That's a theme, Nozi says. There's also a belief that B2C companies tend to be more embracing of sustainability than B2B, but the overall theme is to just get the economy going, get back to business, and get our lives back to normal. Many parts of the US are very comfortable doing their normal personal and business routine with guidelines like having to wear masks and social distance. Unfortunately, in other parts of the US, it's not like that. It's still very hands-off and work from home, but most Americans generally just want to get the economy going again and are looking forward to the election being behind them. They want to get it over with and go back to business. There are different theories on whether elections will change the economy, Nozi says, but they're seeing improvement in that more jobs are being created, and the stock market is picking back up, although there may be a little correction here and there. There always is some kind of pause in the stock market somewhere around the election time, but the theme is that most Americans just want to get their life back to normal, and keep riding on an economy that is growing and one that makes everybody prosperous, Nozi says. That's fundamentally what most Americans believe in, making their country a great place to live and work in and leaving a place that's better for their children. It sounds as though, coming all the way back, that one of the initial instruments of that message was the media in America, and that seems to have really suffered an irreparable harm to its own reputation. Nozi says mainstream media has a cloud over itself right now, and social media has added to that, but Nozi would separate that from what she and I are used to working with in business media, such as publications that are industry-specific and different from CNN, Fox News, and so on. If you ask most Americans, they don't know what to believe. They just believe everything that is in mainstream media. So, this is actually an opportunity then for brands to build their own community and their own loyal following directly. Especially with being virtual, a lot of us working from home, not being able to travel, and sit in front of a customer, Nozi says we are presented with lots of opportunities, more so for industrial B2B businesses who had not built their brand on social media yet or invested in virtual tools. Now is a great time to do that and throw at it what you would have been spending on travel and in the face-to-face time, Nozi says. It was a pleasure speaking and working with Nozi even for the briefest of time. Nozi talked about the impact of technology, elections, and the coronavirus on virtual trade shows, the opportunity that still exists in America for business owners who are looking to tap into a foregin market, and the value of virtual trade shows during these COVID times. If you want to find out more about Nozi and what she does, you can find her on LinkedIn.