It is the beginning of a new year, and the trade show world is full of ideas and plans for achieving success.

There may be turmoil in the stock market, rising prices of consumer goods, politics in the news everyday and other economic factors beyond our control, however the buying and selling that takes place on a trade show floor will have a consistent formula for success.

The CMO Council is promoting their newest research findings - a report entitled "Profitability from Customer Affinity".

In an email promotion, they start the document with this finding from the research: "56% of vendors view themselves as being extremely customer-centric, but only 12% of customers agree. Despite an increased focus on customer engagement, most B2B technology companies continue to fall short of meeting customer expectations and commitments.

The quest of filling the sales pipeline is of paramount importance for all companies.

B2B Magazine in their December 10, 2007 issue, the article - 'BtoB' survey finds marketers plan to increase budgets in 2008 shared this statistic:

"The primary marketing goal for 2008 is customer acquisition, cited by 62.4% of respondents, followed by brand awareness (19.

Companies exhibit at trade shows to attract an attentive audience who, hopefully, will show interest in their product or service. The show organizer uses company marketing dollars to bring potential customers to these shows. As an exhibitor you must go about doing this same thing - inviting your customers and prospects to see you and talk to you.

Often easier said than done, right? It can definitely be a challenge.

Recession is the buzz word in the headlines almost every day now. Certainly we have been through recessions before, and most of us have weathered the storms. How marketers view this time resolved itself in one of two ways. They can either enhance their company's cache of customers, or merely attempt to hold onto what they have.

When talk of a recession commenced last year, Wayne Hurlbert posted a blog dated February 28, 2007 - Recession Marketing - Winning Market Share.

TO SPEND OR NOT TO SPEND - that is the question of the day. Where is the best place to invest my marketing dollars? These are dollars, once spent, cannot be reclaimed unless there is net sale. Right? Or, to put it bluntly, what's done is done.

So the question of whether or not to spend your precious dollars is being posed in countless marketing departments today.

It seems to be a fact of life - we are poor planners.

And it is surprising, especially when we talk about planning for various marketing activities which have high price tags.

Trade shows have proven to be an effective tool for marketing.

Still, there are far too many exhibitors who rush into the activity, throw money at it, and then leave wondering where their money went?

What was all that fuss and expense for?

Why is this happening?

Is it because companies don't know how to plan for the best way to spend marketing dollars? Are they too caught up in negotiating the ups and downs of other marketing activities?

Is it the culture of the organization to always be rushing about and entering into all and sundry activities?

"Exhibitors know how to plan ,but they are so overloaded with their many projects; they just do not take the time to plan.