At R+K, we are Pathfinders who help our clients find the best route to achieve their business goals. Attending trade shows like Commodity Classic, conferences and other industry events is a vital part of pathfinding.
Audience intel
We believe in a customer-first approach to marketing, so R+K Pathfinders are obsessed with understanding our clients’ target audiences. If you walk the halls of R+K, you’re bound to overhear quantitative discussions about data and customer insights. However, we also know that the qualitative side of our exploration – really listening to discussions, questions and concerns from our clients’ customers – gives us a deeper understanding of the target audience.
Industry events bring together a variety of customer perspectives, opinions and experiences all in once place. It’s the perfect opportunity to really listen and gain a deeper understanding of what resonates with our clients’ customers. We take our learnings and apply that filter to the data to clearly define the customer need, mindset and journey.
Trend watching
We may not have a crystal ball, but hearing from thought leaders, researchers, product managers and other experts like those at Commodity Classic helps us keep an eye on the horizon and prepare for what could come next. Things change fast both in marketing and in our clients’ business. If you don’t stay up to date, you will quickly fall behind. Understanding what the future holds allows us to help our clients avoid any obstacles and set achievable goals.
Networking
It’s a small world, especially within specific verticals. At R+K we value partnerships with our current and potential clients, vendors, organizations and other agencies. We engage with outside partners every day to create great work for our clients. Those partnerships always start with networking, and conferences and events are a great way to build new relationships. Plus, attendees at industry events are in the mindset to discover new resources and meet new people. We don’t have to rely on a potential partner’s website to know how they think – we get to hear it from them firsthand.
When employees return from an industry event, we always ask them to sum up their key takeaways to share with the rest of the agency, so everyone benefits. As we continue our commitment to industry events and customer insights in 2020, be sure to stop and introduce yourself to an R+K Pathfinder and ask them what they’ve learned. Stay tuned for a post recapping our key takeaways from Commodity Classic!