Trade shows intensify many perspectives about product marketing. One reason for this is that if you are working a booth, you spend the day talking to people. The more you talk with them, the more you understand what kind of conversation works and what doesn't.  It's an intense education in selling.  When you're not in the booth, there's time to see what other companies are doing and checking out their marketing/selling methods. 

 Now that I'm back from NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) and ESC Silicon Valley (Embedded Systems Conference), I realize that these two shows offered another lesson in marketing.  At both shows, acquaintances mentioned their new phones.  Three people told me that they had just purchased a new Blackberry and that they were very pleased with it.  One person told me that he purchased a new iPhone and that he loved it.  He then gave me a demo!  He showed me his photo album, including a Christmas party 10 years ago!   He showed me the free apps, how he schedules meetings, how he calls his wife and kids, how he checks the weather, shows, restaurants and their menus.  On and on he went.

 As I sat captive to his monologue, I realized that the Apple iPhone was more important to him than our conversation. More importantly, I realized that he was a better salesman for the iPhone than any TV commercial or news story.  Then I realized that my niece, nephew, and other friends and acquaintances who have iPhones, all spend time demonstrating how it works and what they like best about it. 

 And then I realized that not one Blackberry owner - including the ones I met at the shows - ever gave me a demo of their Blackberry.  I wonder why?

My takeawy is that Apple has forever changed the way consumers use their phones  and how they perceive them.  The phone is no longer a tool.  It's information, communication and --- a PASTIME!  The Apple iPhone is adult entertainment  at its best.  Congratulations to Apple for creating a product that their customers are selling for them, and doing it in a most effective way.

 -Barbara Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR (sm)

No, you haven’t heard of these guys – yet.  But if their budding talent can match their marketing success, they’re going to be known by every rock aficionado in the country.  

 Devilcar (www.myspace.com/devilcarband) played the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Central Hall area during lunch time during NAB (ww.nab.org) this week.  A great gig to capture since those of us exhibiting were on short breaks and living on the (bad) fast food that the LVCC is known for.  Thus, it came about as I was scouting for the shortest food line, I happened to hear the lively rock-n-roll beat of the band playing in the piece of territory claimed by HD Radio (www.hdradio.com).  Forgetting lunch, I watched this group perform and promote themselves in a way that left many of the actual exhibitors in the shade.  

Marketing – Devilcar Style Devilcar entertained with a variety of songs to show their breadth of talent.  In between songs they were handing out free CDs, buttons with their signature “D”, stickers, and pocket-sized 4-color cards promoting their gig at the Beauty Bar in Las Vegas. (They’re playing live every Wednesday night in April, for those who will be in town.)  They had their own banner – with their website posted. A young woman was shooting video of them and the audience for their website and other promotion.  They were selling tee-shirts.  When they ran out of CDs, one of the singers said they’d send free CDs to anyone who gave them a business card.  A dozen hands shot out with business cards faster than any customer I’d seen at a booth.  It was like watching a quick-draw duel in an Western movie.  

Devilcar’s show was as thrilling to watch as it was to listen to their music.  These guys were energetic, upbeat, friendly, interested in their audience, and happy to tell their story to everyone in their impromptu audience.   The HD Radio rep told me that they found the group through their channel, Last.FM.  That’s what real marketing success is about. 

Marketing – NAB Style Inside the NAB halls were huge pavilions staffed by professionals and glib employees repeating canned pitches every hour on the hour.  Think of the old Comdex show or CES and you get the picture.   Some of these giants were like bee hives, with attendees buzzing in and out.  To have a small booth bordering one of these behemoths meant that you could capture some of the ‘bees’ as they made their way in, out or around the hive.   Many other large companies had glitzy exhibits, but their staffs constantly looked busy or bored or pre-occupied on their laptops. 

Many exhibitors were too busy texting to ever look up to see who was passing by.  And, in many cases, they didn’t even seem to care. This isn’t anything new.  It’s common at every show.  After a few events, we all know the badge names to look for.  But in any show, if you’re spending the money to exhibit, you should make the time to market your presence ahead of the show, at the show and after the show. If Devilcar had learned marketing from the exhibitors, they would not have given their CDs to anyone with a non-US company badge, or someone older who might not be a rocker, or someone in a suit, or someone with a company name that didn’t sound relevant, or  --  you get the picture:  Sometimes, you don’t know who your customers are.  I have the Devilcar CD, button and postcard to prove it. -Barbara Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR (sm) 

The National Association of Broadcasters (www.nab.org) knows that their members are actors and speakers, so they tapped into that skill base to get attendee feedback at this week’s NAB show in Las Vegas. NAB hired Gabzebo (www.gabzebo.com), an interactive video recording company, to host a recording ‘cube’ to gather comments about the show. 

Here’s how it works:  You enter a booth that looks like an upscale mall-photography booth.  The Gabzebo has French doors and is hard-sided all the way around.  You sit down, sign in with your name, company and email address,  read a permission statement, then digitally sign your agreement and on to the survey you go.   

The survey consists of three questions.  You select one or all to answer.  You are given a 5-second countdown, and then you have 60 seconds to answer the question.  If you had fun with that question, you could answer two other questions about the show…again in 60 seconds’ time and then leave the booth, knowing the NAB had your feedback.   

I wished I had had the time to go through the booth a couple of times. As you’ll see from my video, even PR people – who love to gab – need to practice before getting in front of a camera… kkalkis@compuserve.com~Q2~14~04~2010~19~33~17.3gp 

Think of the advantages of this technology:  It’s easier to talk than to write or tap out a message.  In three minutes, you can get feedback on three questions, or six questions, or nine – all by limiting the answer time.  You can post the answers you want, and you have real commentary from real people. 

Gabzebo says their clients include every sector, from multinationals to trade shows like NAB to private events.   Like much of the really, really neat stuff at NAB, the gems weren’t in the gigantic exhibits that looked like small planets.  The diamonds were “packaged” into small spaces, like the Gabzebo. -Barbara Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR (sm) 

NAB wrapped up this week in Las Vegas. As the National Association of Broadcasters’ (www.nab.org) premier show, it is a smorgasbord of audio and video technologies and equipment – everything from connectors and cables to technologies that will deliver 360-degree viewing angles, 3D, and realistic images that seem to pop off the screen.  In short, everything that happens behind the screen and microphones is collected into one space.  As one happy traveler on my flight said, “NAB is the best vacation I have all year.”  No offense to the wife and twins, of course.

NAB’s serious side is to safeguard mass media as a free-speech platform and to act as our watchdog in Washington.  They keep the government in tune with your rights to information access – a lofty goal.

Geeks, gurus, stars, wannabes, marketers wearing everything from Dockers to designer suits, and the occasional retirees in electric carts built for two roamed the floor.  Every hemisphere on the globe was represented, making this an interenational one-stop shop for the broadcasting industry.

Brazil was well represented. As hosts of the World Cup and the Olympic Games, they were on the prowl for new technologies to wow the global audience that will participate in the games from their livingroom sofas.  That same reason brought in groups from Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela – because all of Latin America wants a stake in the attention of these two sports showcases. 

If you want to know what the Consumer Electronics Show will feature on the floor next year or the year after and, in some cases, the year after that… NAB is the place to be.

-Barbara  Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR  

The semiconductor industry has two “holy grails”. The first is to make chips smaller, faster, smarter, cheaper.  We’ve accomplished this in aces.  We’ve done this so well that if Lamborghinis were made by semiconductor companies they’d probably be priced in dollar amounts for quantities over 1,000 units.  On the practical side, consider that your pocket-sized mobile phone has more functionality than the notebook computers of the “old days”; ie, 5 years ago.

The second “holy grail” is more abstract.  We constantly strive to remind people that the advanced technologies created by semiconductor designers actually does relate to end products used by real consumers.  Yes, all those cool features on your cell phone are enabled by the chips smaller than your fingernail and lots smarter than a fifth grader which run the software that shows the pictures that you just took with the built-in camera feature and which you just emailed to your friends around the world.

For years, we’ve listed all the products that run on semiconductor circuitry:  everything from space shuttles to UAVs to HD cameras and microwave ovens.  Somehow, telling people about the link between electronics and equipment just hasn’t seem to penetrate the mass-market psyche.  But that’s about to change.

The newly combined sites will offer the design-to-development-to-delivery view of technology.  Other semi industry publications do this effectively for semiconductor and technical audiences, but Popular Mechanics draws on its longtime reputation of showing how things work at a level that the mass market can understand and relate to – and get excited about. 

This is an innovative relationship that can draw consumers into our world of technology and bring technologists out into the world of real market possibilities – along with some sci-fi vision stuff, of course.    

The semiconductor industry is not ready for prime-time mass media yet, but this news venture brings us one step closer.

Question:  What do all of these these terms have in common?  Airline Passenger, Medical Patient, Caller, Taxi Fare, Metro Rider, Restaurant Guest, Bank Patron….

Answer:  You can substitute the word “Customer” for each noun printed in color.Companies try to make customers feel special by using these names.  Instead, these euphemisms allow companies to step further away from us. By stepping away from the concept of a customer, they step away from the concept of service.   We are no longer special. We do not deserve courteous one-on-one treatment.  We become part of an unruly group to be managed.    

I’ve  been thinking a lot about the names that organizations use to address customers.  We used to all be customers.  Now if you phone a toll-free number, you are a caller in a virtual line.  If you try to negotiate with an airline, you are a passenger.  The doctor’s office calls those of us in the waiting room “patients”. And on it goes.  It’s been my experience that medical personnel never call anyone a ‘customer’.  I guess that’s because they see us as an insurance number.  Plus, do doctors really want to get too close to their customers?  I don’t think so.  Who wants to hang out with sick people? 

What I’ve noticed about these identifiers is how differently we are treated when we are no longer called ‘customers’.  In each of the terms listed above, we are individually and together customers in each scenario.  When you book a ticket and board a plane, you are not just a passenger. You are a customer of that airline.   And, for many of us, we are loyal customers if we have frequent flier mileage on a specific airline.  After all, we want the points that buy “free” trips.   

When you visit the doctor, you are that physician’s customer.  You choose that physician, and you stay with him as long as your insurance program lets you. 

When you walk into the bank, you’re the customer – and the owner of the money that institution holds for you. 

Interestingly, companies try to make customers feel special by using these names.  Instead, these euphemisms allow companies to step further away from us. They distance themselves in the way they have to treat us.  Instead of seeing us as an individual with purchasing power  --  and choices about where our purchases are made – they see us as a group.  By stepping away from the concept of a customer, they step away from the concept of service.   We are no longer special. We do not deserve courteous one-on-one treatment.  We become part of an unruly group to be managed.   

To illustrate what I mean, here are some one-sided conversations that I’ve been part of.

Doctor to Patient:  “Patients shouldn’t be on the internet. They should just listen to their doctor.”  (A doctor told me this.  Really.  I had mentioned a treatment I found on a website and thought my doctor might be interested.  Wrong. After all, I’m a patient.  Not a customer who might not want the treatment du jour being offered.) 

Flight Attendant to Passengers:  “Passengers have been TOLD not to stand up in the aisle or attempt to use the forward cabin lavatory until the Captain is finished in there and has returned to the cockpit.”   Everyone waited with baited breath until he finished, hoping that (a) the auto-pilot was working; (b) the co-pilot was awake; and (c) that  the captain had eaten something different from the meal we were given.

Caller:  “Your call will be answered in the order it was received.  Expect a waiting time of 3 – 10 minutes.”

Fare:  “Do you want to get into the City (NY) the fast way or the long way?” (Never choose the 'fast way".)

Re-Thinking Your RoleWhen we realize that we are customers, our role in a situation changes.  It’s subtle, but what I’ve found is that we realize that we have more rights. We deserve better treatment.  And by reminding someone that we are their ‘customer’, I’ve seen people actually change their style of communication.  The result is that customers have more control over what happens to them.  We have more control over decisions that are made for us.  And we have more control over the level of service that we will be given.  

Along with the replacement names for ‘customer’, we should remember three more:  “Voter”, “constituent”,  and “taxpayer”.  By removing these euphemisms we can insert the word ‘boss’.  Government isn’t a we-them proposition.  Government officials are elected by the people, and they work for the people. As the boss of government workers, we have the right to fire them in the next election.   If we make the effort to vote.

An old marketing axiom identifies the selling process in terms of where the potential customer is on the sales ladder.  A “Target” is someone who fits the profile of a potential customer, but who is completely unknown to the company.  This is one reason you get direct mail from a company you may never have done business with.    The goal is to turn that Target into a “Prospect”.  The Prospect has a profile that has been reviewed and looks promising.  The “Lead” is someone who has shown interest in a company.  Success here converts the Lead to a “Customer”.  But customers can purchase once and walk away.  If the Customer keeps returning for more purchases, and you can nurture the relationship, you’ve got a “Client”. 

The most successful companies have clients.  But this is best done when understanding that every client is in name and personality a ‘customer’.   And that name games are simply that.

-Barbara Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR (sm)

Conferences still count as one of the most efficient ways to sharpen skills, network, evaluate products, meet and learn about new companies, technologies, products that would otherwise be missed or simply not visible to you on the web. If you missed SEMI ISS, SPIE Photonics West, RTECC (Real-Time Embedded Computing Conference), or DesignCon, not to worry.  The next few months are loaded with conferences and trade shows where you can catch up with colleagues and get a fresh view of your profession, the industry and your company’s place in it. 

UPCOMING CONFERENCES. 

Here are just a few conferences that you may want to think about attending: 

ISSCC – February 8  - 11. San Francisco.  www.isscc.org.  ISSCC has a history making news with its ‘you-saw-it-here-first’ focus on introducing new semiconductor technology. 

Pacific Design & Manufacturing West. February 9 – 11. Anaheim, CA.  www.electronicswestshow.com.  This event combines several shows in one venue.  Very broad audience, but it offers a big picture of the industry from chip to packaging to applications. 

Strategies in Light. www.strategiesinlight.com.  Feb 10 – 12.  LEDs and lighting.  Don’t know anything more about this show, but included it because this is a technology to watch and adapt. 

Mobile World Congress. February 15 – 19. Barcelona.  www.mobileworldcongress.com.  Okay, who really needs a reason to visit Barcelona???   Bigger may not be better, but that’s beside the point.  This is the show to meet anyone and everyone.

Darnell CTO Power Summit.  Feb 15 – 17.  www.darnell.com. Small and you must qualify to attend. 

SPIE Litho – February 22 – 25. San Jose. www.spie.org.  Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about semiconductor manufacturing, lithography, processes, and pushing physics to make chips even more microscopic than they are now.  Presented by the people creating the technology.

APEC (Applied Power Electronics Conference), Palm Springs, CA.  www.apec-conf.org/.  Everything you’ve wanted to know about power and incorporating it into designs. 

Semico Outlook.  www.semico.com.  The Summit moves from Scottsdale, AZ, to San Jose, CA, this year, but the focus remains on evaluating today’s technologies, examining what customers want, and predicting the next new thing.  Networking, connecting with potential partners, and confirming your own ideas about what’s hot and what’s not are the purpose for attending. There are many more events than these listed – just about anything to suit your interests. 

In an earlier blog, I wrote about staying relevant in your profession. That’s just want these events offer. 

Note:  If you want data on the importance of events in a marketing budget, got to btobonline.com. They’ve got some of the best readily available data from their own research and others.

INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL OPPORTUNITY. 

I plan to run these intermittently if they’re relevant to the Fab Owners Association and Maestro Marketing & PR clients, if I have the time, and if I get the notices in time to run them.  Regardless of how you view print versus web publications, sending news announcements is the lynchpin of a marketing program. Remember editorial deliverables a news release, key product features and specifications, price, availability, the url where the news release can be found on your company’s site, and a high-res photo or digital image to accompany the text. 

Electronic Product News (EPN) is featuring products in conjunction with Embedded World. This conference is not listed above. It will be held in Nurnberg, Germany, this year.  Products to be featured should be in the areas of smart systems, remote networking, programmable logic, and the ever popular ‘power’.  Send your product information to Mick Elliott at  melliott@reedbusiness.fr /  The deadline is February 25^th.  

Barbara Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR, kkalkis@compuserve.com – 03Feb10 

One of the most innovative green companies I’ve seen is Recycline, Inc., of Waltham, MA (www.preserveproducts.com/recycling).  They've managed to make recycling waste into stylish, functional, quality products look easy.  They offer a great lesson in green product design, manufacturing, and packaging.

Most important, the toothbrush is just what I wanted!  The toothbrushes come in festive colors and have a unique curved handle. The brush is not as harsh on the gums as other brands.   It’s great to see a company that is smart in terms of making green manufacturing a part of their existence and culture.  Their packaging is innovative, sleek and stylish, while being green in its simplicity.  And of course, what could be better than seeing they have their roots right here in the USA.  Looks like Massachusetts sets the record for yet another revolution.

 -Barbara Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR

If we decide we do value industry publications and journalists, then we need a collective solution for protecting this news broadcasting medium. 

 Q:  What do these publications have in common?  Nikkei Microdevices, Semiconductor International Japan, and Industrial Distribution.

A.     As of January 2010, they have all suspended publication.  Those who proclaim that print publishing is dead and that the web is the answer to news journalism are getting their wish.   

Companies targeting Japan’s semiconductor manufacturers , equipment makers, and materials suppliers must now direct their news to a few remaining relevant industry publications like Electronic Journal or Dempa Shimbun, or to smaller outlets, or larger outlets that are horizontal and less focused in terms of readership profile.     

In the USA, Industrial Distribution, a US publication that was preparing to celebrate its 100^th anniversary next year, is also gone – a victim of both the web and the weak distribution industry sector.  Semiconductor-industry readers can change their subscriptions to Purchasing Magazine (www.purchasing.com).   Computer industry experts can check out the old VAR Magazine at its new home, crn.com.  In the area of market research, Electronic Trend Publications was acquired by New Venture Research Corporation (http://www.electronictrendpubs.com/).  ETP president, Steve Berry, is off to pursue other interests but, happily, ETP packaging expert, Sandra L. Winkler, is continuing her work at New Venture. 

The Macro View

Last August, Media Buyer Planner (mediabuyerplanner.com) reported that American Business Media’s  (ABM) Business Information Network  stated a 30.2% drop in 1^st half 2009 business-to-business (b-to-b) ad pages compared to the same period in 2008.  Total ad revenues in the first 8 months of August dropped 26.5% to $3.7 billion.  All 21 magazine categories tracked by ABM showed double-digit declines in ad pages.  Among the worst declines were – you guessed it – computing, telecom and software, down (-40.7%) and electronic engineering slipping down -36.7%. Media Buyer Planner’s October issue updated the pulse of publication health with a report from MediaFinder.com.  The diagnosis is that closures are outpacing new publication launches due to the economy. (http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/entry/45761/top-10-magazine-closures-this-year/) 

Q.  Do you think age has anything to do with your ability to find a job?A.  If your skill set, knowledge, personality, and pace are not relevant to your profession and industry, you won’t get hired.  Age has nothing to do with it.   

Chats on various social networking sites last year batted around the old (no pun intended) question about age in the work place.  It’s a common enough query, especially in the semiconductor industry, which still thrums   with a vibrancy lacking in other industries hitting the half-century mark. The questions posed to the universe on LinkedIn, for one, went something like this:  Do you think that age has anything to do with your ability to find a job? 

With 2009 being a tough year, many out-of-work engineers were asking the same question in conversations, email threads, and personal notes.  Many of them already had formulated their own answer:  Yes.  They would pass muster in a telephone interview, but when they met with hiring managers who were younger than they are, they lost the job. “Why didn’t I get hired? They took one look at me and decided I was too old.” 

 It’s a tidy reason and a tidy answer.  But, I’m not sure it’s that simple.  I think the real answer lies in the concept of relevance.  If your skill set, knowledge, personality, and pace are not relevant to your profession and industry, you won’t get hired.  Age has nothing to do with it.   

Skill set.  If you’ve been out of work for a year or more, your skill set is out of date.  The disruptive technology of the Internet, fierce global competition, the scramble for new business in countries off the marketing map just a year ago, have changed all high-tech and business-to-business professions.    Think about it.  How is your job being done today?  If you can’t answer the question, you need to do some research, take a friend for coffee (lunch is so yesterday), and get busy networking. 

Knowledge.  Let’s say that you know that Brazil and Vietnam are important markets in your industry sector.  Great.  Now, what do you know specifically about the market size, TAM, tier-one leaders, and customer demographics?   How should marketing efforts be tailored to these different cultures?  It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about marketing, PR, chip design, or chip fabrication, we all need to know how these jobs are being done differently now.  And how they must be done to win new business going forward. I spoke with a start-up recently.  They want to build their brand, attract customers and, of course, get orders.  They want to do press tours and meet with market analysts to do this, because they feel sure that the media is interested in an innovative new product.  (Yes and no.) 

There are two flaws in this old marketing line of thought:  First, the market is already full of devices that this company is making. The current products may not be as innovative in their technology, but they beat this company to the cash register and so own the market the start-up wants to be in.  However much you may love your company’s new product, you need to be brutally realistic and understand that competitive products are available.  And you need to be brutally realistic about what makes your product better than anything else out there.  The folks at the start-up haven’t worked with a marketer or PR agency in several years, so they were still approaching their job in an old-fashioned way.  “Old-fashioned” relating to 2005, of course. 

The second problem with the start-up is that they are thinking about press tours as they were done long, long ago – that would be 2001.  Thanks to the Internet, industry journalists work out of their home. Many are now blogging and writing their own online publications.   Many are now working in other fields, victims of journalism’s waning importance in the commoner-journalist culture we find ourselves in.  

Personality.  Industries and their members have common personalities.  Semiconductor people, for example, seem to be Type-A personalities.  This is an industry where companies produce new product versions several times a year.  We want change and we want it now.  If your personality doesn’t match your old industry, it’s time to find another profession.  It’s not a judgment call; it’s simply finding the kind of people you like to be around and work with. 

Pace.  This pretty much goes with ‘personality’.  There’s a pace to every industry.  My retired friends often comment that they couldn’t keep up with the workload when I describe it to them.  They are happy not having to wear a watch; reading the newspaper – all of it – over coffee in the morning; having lunches that stretch over a few hours; and scheduling activities between commute hours.  In the semiconductor industry, we complain about how busy we are; how often we have to fly somewhere; and so on. But, put us behind a desk for any stretch of time, and we’re like George Clooney in Up in the Air:  wondering when the next flight leaves. 

The economy has played havoc with jobs in the USA. And the ease of releasing workers here is easier than, say some European countries.   Some jobs are simply obsolete.  Some, like journalism, are victims of a communications and technology shift.  These are also reasons for losing a job. But as individuals, we can’t do anything about these macro issues.  What we can do is focus on our own strengths and sharpen them; find our own weaknesses and make them strengths.  Then head out into the marketplace and clear a path for ourselves.  It’s not easy, but it’s doable.  Barbara Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR (sm)