As the baseball season begins, I start thinking about the tradition and long history of the sport – as much as the game changes it remains fundamentally the same.

I love Yogi Berra as an icon of baseball and its culture.  His ‘Yogisms’ are legendary as he always makes it hard to tell if he is a baffoon or a genius.  But isn’t he really a master of being both?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yogism #1: “If the fans don’t come out to the ballpark, you can’t stop them.” – When he was asked about such poor attendance for the New York Mets team he was managing at the time.

We are hearing something similar from a number of shows.  Their attendance is down and they want help in finding ways to “bring the fans to the ballpark.”

Some are legitimately suffering the effects of a down economy, like the construction and housing industries.  But others are industries that are ripe with future opportunity.

We are often asked about how to use social media and mobile applications to attract more attendees.  Those are great channels for spreading a compelling message.  But the truth is most don’t have a compelling message to start with, or people would already be attending.  Social media channels only accelerate what is inherently interesting in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For example, if Justin Bieber were not very talented or cute, he wouldn’t be Justin Bieber.  In fact, there are thousands if not hundreds of thousands who have tried to do the exact same thing he did – get famous through posting himself on YouTube. But they didn’t because they didn’t have the same appeal.

So if your attendees really don’t want to come, social media and mobile apps aren’t going to change that.

We tend to hear these two answers in the top five of why attendees aren’t coming: “I don’t have time” or “I don’t have the money.”  Both are another way of saying “Your show just isn’t worth my time or money.”  Or in baseball terms: “The Mets aren’t winning; I’m not spending my money to watch them lose.”  I’ve looked at the stats of the Mets and their highest attendance wasn’t in winning years, but following winning years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yogism #2: “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.”

Before you start sinking a lot of your time and resources into a social media or mobile strategy, take some time to find out if your show experience and marketing strategy is resonating with your audience.  If your show isn’t something they are interested in, it’s even easier to ignore that tweet or Facebook post than the personalized e-mail or full color printed brochure.

Yogism #3: “You can observe a lot just by watching.”

Research can be an expensive undertaking, but using social media and other new channels to garner customer insights are allowing some shows to learn about what appeals to its prospects.  Most shows can tell us a lot about the people who do attend the event.  They survey participants and exhibitors fairly well.  But what many aren’t doing very well is understanding the desirable participants who don’t attend.

Most shows also have great statistics about attendance.  Freeman just conducted some research with a declining show that had flat attendance. However when we talked to exhibitors and attendees on the show floor, they said they felt like attendance was down between 15-50%.  This perception can really harm even a long standing show’s momentum.

Creating the “buzz” and “perception” of a crowded, active show is just as important if not more important than actually increasing the attendance.

Which would you rather have?  A show where the attendance is up but everyone percieved it was down, or a show that was down and everyone felt it was up?  The perception is likely more predictive of the future than the actual attendance trend.

Understanding what attendees and exhibitors want and taking time to develop a clear marketing and show experience strategy can lead you to this final Yogism:

“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go Rangers!

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