A Light-hearted Trade Show Promo

When you win a customer in Hawaii, it’s like having your promo theme handed to you on a silver platter! When I found out that Dynacore Equipment’s newest customer is based in Honolulu, it seemed pretty clear how we could leverage this at the PCI Conference (PreCast Concrete Institute) in September to capture the attention of prospects, and have some fun as well — trade shows can be pretty tedious.

It’s an uneasy time for the industry, and we know that manufacturers are hurting.  This is an opportunity to show the market that despite the downturn, Dynacore is solid, doing well, and even acquiring major new customers; oh and by the way — if you want to visit a reference site, there’s now one in Hawaii.

Before Dynacore shipped out the hollowcore extruders to Hawaii, we dressed them up in (admittedly tacky) Hawaiian decorations and did a photo shoot.  My favorite design team at Honeycomb Creative made up a post card we are mailing out to conference attendees.  “We can’t send you to Hawaii, but we can send Hawaii to you”.  The offer is: come to the Dynacore booth for a chance to win a Hawaiian gift basket worth more than $100, shipped to your home.  Dynacore has even agreed to ship the tacky Hawaiian decorations with the trade show booth, to continue the theme while we are there.  Fun, but making a point.

A Good Product Video Works Hard

Today I am reflecting on the many ways a good product video has contributed to Dynacore Equipment’s marketing success. 

Working with video clips supplied by Dynacore, I created a script, and with help from the production team at BaseTwo Media, we delivered a 5-minute video (in English and Spanish versions) that highlights Dynacore’s low cost of operations and maintenance. The company has been pushing a total-cost-of-ownership message, because if customers do the math, Dynacore’s low consumables costs beats the competition hands-down. 

How has this video been working for Dynacore? 

More effective trade show presence: some manufacturers in this industry are big enough to ship huge machines to trade shows. This is something Dynacore wants to avoid. With this video, Dynacore can ship just a couple of machine components and still demonstrate the operational features of the hollowcore extrusion system by showing the video.

More effective response to phone and email enquiries: again, this is an engineering-centric industry.  They want to see machines in action. Posting the video on the Dynacore website allows them to send a link to the prospect. 

Better channel support: with agents in Central America, Europe, the Middle East and Far East, sales support can be challenging.  With DVD versions of the product video, agents are able to show the machines in action — and  very importantly, in action at various Dynacore customer sites.  A video proves that the machines are real, installed, and working.

Unexpectedly, this turned out to be a valuable educational tool. Dynacore has been working with an agent in Mexico for a few years now, and one of their managers said to me, “Now I really understand what makes these machines better than all the others”.

Better industry presence: all Dynacore ads now mention that there is a video on their website.  Also, the premier trade publication for the pre-cast concrete industry is CPI; it has set up a promotional video area on their website. Dynacore is one of the few hollowcore machinery manufacturers to submit a quality video to the site.

Of course the video is only one element of an integrated marketing program for Dynacore.  But you know your messaging is making an impact when the competition starts putting out ads about their low operations costs!

< Click here to watch the video!