Things we can’t live without

We took an informal survey here at McCabe, Duval + Associates to see what things our staff believe they can’t live without. In some cases, the results were not surprising. Everyone knows we’ve got several dog lovers, for instance, who were bound to talk about their pooches. Some folks mentioned often-taken-for-granted aspects of daily living, such as hot showers and cell phones. Others referred to items most of us wouldn’t have even thought of — or might not need or want. And some people’s “things” turned out not to be things at all.

Below is a sampling of things that our agency staffers believe are necessary for a happy life.

Chris Duval, Partner/President: I can’t live without my two golden retrievers, Tanner and Olivia. They're always there, always in a good mood, and, most of all, they always like me. Plus, they’re always good for a laugh or two!

Ron Recchio, Senior Project Manager: “Where’s my watch? Where’s my cell phone, glasses, wallet, car keys?” Most of my mornings started this way, with a never-ending list of misplaced stuff. Then somebody gave me an L.L.Bean boat bag, and all that ended. Now, everything goes into the bag. It’s literally impossible to misplace anything — except of course the bag itself, which is much easier to locate than an assortment of small objects. The only downside was that I felt kind of goofy schlepping a boat bag to and from the office. But then Michael Kors added it to his list of must-have accessories saying, “ The L.L.Bean boat tote is something everyone needs, at least one if not two or three.” Well, I may not agree with having three since it would probably bring me back to my original problem. I can imagine running around the house driving everyone crazy yelling where’s my black tote, where’s the green one with the tan handles, where’s the plain canvas one. For now, I’ll stick to the simplicity of one.

Charlie Beaudoin, Chief Financial Officer: I can’t imagine going back to the days when we did not have cell phones. True, they can be annoying and disruptive — but when used properly, they can be very important in peoples’ lives. I can be in the middle of Sebago Lake or on top of Mount Katahdin and still talk to my son in Alabama. That’s just incredible. I wish I could have been in touch with my dad like that 30 or 40 years ago!

Thoughts from the trade show floor

A couple of months ago, I went to DM Days in New York for a direct marketing conference. The seminars and workshops gave me a lot of great ideas we can put into action for our clients. The concurrent trade show exhibits, on the other hand, offered the exact opposite — a list of what NOT to do when you have a trade show booth.

1. Don’t use up valuable word space with me-too benefits that could easily be cut and pasted to your competitors booth.

2. Do use benefit copy that clearly separates you from the pack. No big differentiator? Use interesting concepts, impactful graphics, strong offers to draw people in.

3. State very clearly and prominently on your booth exactly what it is you do.

4. Don’t use premiums or gimmicks that are unrelated to your product or service — popcorn, auction games, weightlifting accessories may generate a lot traffic, but you’re better off getting fewer higher-quality leads. Make your giveaways relevant to what you do and how you solve your customers’ problems.

5. Make your space inviting — remove barriers between your booth and the customer.

6. Invest in a card reader. More and more trade shows pass out “ID” cards to attendees. All you have to do is swipe the card to capture relevant information. Quick, easy. If the show is using cards and you don’t have a reader, you outdated.

In wandering the aisles, I had three specific goals in mind: find out what’s new in direct mail formats, see the latest in online marketing technology, and comparison shop large mail houses.

It was DM Days, it was New York, I figured these things would be easy to find. Not so. As I wandered the aisles, the first thing I noticed is that very few booths clearly stated what the company does. I saw lots of benefits — over and over and over again. At every booth they were going to make my company succeed, put me ahead of the competition, help me win new clients, save me time and money, give me a one-stop resource, etc., etc., etc. All very well, but I got extremely tired of asking “what do you do?”

It was an interesting perspective being on the other side of the booth. And it led me to develop a few dos and don’ts for trade show displays.