I took a day off last week to have a wander around the Speciality Fine Food Fair in London’s Olympia and very nice it was too. On the train home one thing struck me and that was, that nothing really struck me. There were a plethora of cheese makers, olive oil producers and chocolate manufacturers (I declare my loyalty to James’ Chocolates, not because of the name, but they make great chocies and package them beautifully).

So, basically I walked round in a trance, no one grabbed my attention, no one had a compelling reason for me to approach them. It was two days into the fair and all I seemed to see were bored business owners or members of sales staff looking uncomfortable in suits thrusting trays of freebies at me with varying degrees of success. I’m guessing, but I’ll predict that each stall probably represented an investment of upwards of 5k that’s by the time you put accommodation, staff costs etc down and I just question if people get a return…moreover, if this is their best shot at grabbing your attention, what do the promotions / outward marketing efforts look like for the rest of the year?

I’m probably being a little harsh, but I think that if you have exhibitions in your schedule this year or next, taking a stroll around a show, even if it’s not in your sector, is an exercise worth completing. Not everyone will want your product, in fact you won’t want to talk to everyone – but you need to grab their attention regardless – this starts with good PR before the event to give people a reason to visit, hit them with one strong message on the day and tell them why and how you can stay in touch after the event!

Do great minds think alike…NO! Great minds set themselves apart from the rest, that’s what makes them great.