Take Your Show on the Road

Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba's most recent MarketingProfs article, "Market Like a Rock Star," considers the opportunities and possibilities offered by taking your show on the road -- hitting the pavement to meet with clients, customers, and partners.

The two make the following recommendations:

• Think loyalty, not acquisition.
• Give plenty of notice, at least two months' worth.
• Document your tour.
• Be generous with SWAG (souvenirs, wearables and gifts).
• Leave the suits at home.
• If youre small, a tour may be simply visiting customers in their homes or businesses.

Between 1999 and 2002, I went on four such tours for Fast Company, the Company of Friends Roadshow, visiting readers and leaders in the southern U.S., central and western Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the west and east coasts of the U.S. It's definitely an idea worth considering.