Frost Miller Group recently developed a marketing and rebranding plan for Manila F.A.M.E. International, designed to help the semi-annual expo recapture its position as a leader in its industry. The expo showcases high quality home and fashion lifestyle products produced in the Philippines. It was the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, but had lost market share to high-volume producing countries like China and Viet Nam.

Most of the hands-on research was actually feet-on research - I spent a significant amount of time on the show floors talking to exhibitors and buyers. I also visited competing shows in Thailand, Hong Kong and mainland China and of course at the benchmark home products show, Maison & Objet, in Paris.

We developed a detailed plan for rebranding the show to focus on its core strengths of creativity and ingenuity, and a marketing plan that maximized exposure to buyers from around the world.  

We recommended adding new exhibitor categories, integrating exhibitor groups who had splintered off to form their own shows, and inviting compatible shows to co-locate. We suggested adding public relations, search engine marketing and improving the direct mail/email mix; and even operational improvements of interior design, location and quality of venues and integrating native entertainment to make the show more fun.

And our plan was well received - Manila F.A.M.E. mentioned our study in a recent article.

My experience confirmed that tradeshows everywhere struggle with the same issues - how to differentiate themselves in crowded marketplaces, maintain market share in challenging economic times, reach more qualified prospects with diminishing resources, and help exhibitors make the most of their tradeshow experience.

I also learned some valuable personal lessons.

All of the people I met in the Philippines were absolutely lovely and treated me with incredible kindness and respect. And for that matter, so did the people from the "competing" countries of Thailand, China and France - despite my English-as-an-only-language handicap.

Most importantly, I recognized the vital importance tradeshows have, not only to certain industries, but to entire countries. In places like the Philippines, where poverty is a serious issue, the success or failure of an expo affects an exhibiting furniture manufacturer from, say, Cebu Island, which in turn has a profound impact on its rattan weavers and wood workers. It means the difference between earning a satisfactory wage (which, according to a 2005 study, averaged approximately US $146 a month) and barely surviving. Meeting these hard working people gave me added incentive to develop the absolute best plans we could, and I am reminded of that experience every time we develop a marketing plan, exhibitor prospectus or tradeshow Web site today.

Direct mail has always had to live with the "junk mail" moniker. But over the past year, you would think it's also a part of the Madoff family considering how quickly people want to see it put away for life.

Yes, email is cheaper, but that doesn't mean it's always better. Email is particularly effective when the recipient knows the sender. When emails are sent unsolicited, though, their open rate drops dramatically. As it is, the open rate for email is only 17.5% according to Constant Contact's analysis of more than 200 million customer emails. That means 8 out of 10 people aren't even looking at emails they receive.

As more people send unsolicited email, fewer are being opened. A survey published in DM Bulletin indicated that open rates are dropping - upwards of 25% a year. This is less a symptom of ineffectiveness as it is of overuse. As more marketers buy email lists and use them for prospecting, more people choose to hit delete since they don't know the sender.

A 2009 benchmarking survey by DMA showed that 70% of marketers plan to increase the use of email in the next year. To support that kind of growth, email is replacing direct mail and advertising at a startling rate. Fifty-three percent of marketers said an increase in the budget for email will come at the expense of direct mail and 35% said it would come out of print advertising budgets. Two years ago, those numbers were only 33% and 21% respectively.

Some of the shift has to be attributed to the economy. With marketers needing to cut budgets, more expensive media like direct mail and advertising are easy targets. Email also has advantages that the other media can't offer, like the opportunity to achieve far more frequent contact with customers.

But savvy marketers are using the explosion of email at the expense of other media as an opportunity. With fewer direct mailers crossing prospects' desks or thresholds and fewer ads appearing in shrinking magazines and newspapers, those that are created can really stand out.

The key, of course, is to integrate email with appropriate print, electronic, digital and face-to-face marketing channels. As noted in the same DMA study, more marketers are integrating other tactics into their campaigns to support their email efforts. And which are the two channels they are integrating the most? Direct mail and print advertising.

"Although some resources are switching to email at the expense of other channels, this should not imply that email marketing is best used as a standalone channel. Many marketers are conducting (or experimenting with) integrated campaigns, as the following chart shows."

In recent posts, I've discussed the importance of strategy, no matter which marketing tactic you employ. Strategic thinking is essential before your business engages in any type of digital marketing--especially social media--because the results are very public and very long lasting.

So where do you start with a social media strategy?

First read the social media guide, Mashable's, blog post HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy. It offers five good tips to begin a strategy. Two of them really stood out to me:

• Determine your objectives. Figuring out what your organization wants to get out of its social media involvement will help you determine which networks to join, how much time spend on social media sites, and who to engage.
• Listen to the conversation already taking place. Listening before tweeting or blogging will help you identify the experts already in place, their audiences, and what they're discussing so that you can add your angle at the appropriate time and place. As social media strategist Eric Schwartzman puts it--It's like joining a conversation at a cocktail party. You wouldn't walk up to a group of people talking and start yelling about yourself.

And remember to contact your marketing partners. Your agency can lead your organization through establishing a social media strategy that fits into your overall marketing strategy and meets your goals and objectives.

Follow Frost Miller Group on Twitter http://twitter.com/frostmiller to see how we're implementing our strategy and join our discussion!

It doesn't take a futurist to see that before long, the majority of promotion will be done digitally. The recession has only accelerated the process. As companies look for ways to spend less, they are abandoning mainstream media like electronic and print advertising in favor of online media.

This is supported by a survey of marketers conducted by B-to-B magazine and reported in its November 16, 2009 edition.

Kate Maddox writes, "The biggest increases (in marketing spending in 2010) will be in online, as marketers shift more of their dollars to the lower-cost, more measurable medium...Online areas that will see the largest increases include Web site development, email marketing, search, social media, online video and webcasts."

Fortunately, there is more to the article than this. With all the buzz about...well, buzz, many people are too quick to abandon "traditional" marketing tools when they make the most sense. The same survey indicated that along with less expensive online tactics, direct marketing and events spending will also rise.

Maddox continues by writing, "Customer acquisition was cited as the top marketing goal for next year, and marketers will use a wide array of programs to attract them. Many plan to get back to basics, using innovative direct mail pieces to cut through the clutter and conducting customer events for face-to-face interaction."

The bottom line here is that the only way to determine what marketing strategy is best is by defining your marketing goals and then using tools that best achieve those goals, regardless of whether they include new or "traditional" media.

It's always inspiring to see someone solve a problem in a win-win way. Evan Shubin (www.resultsdotnow.com/rn_bios.htm) has done this in the tradeshow industry with the launch of Exhibitor Invites (www.exhibitorinvites.com).