For the first time at an NAED Regional Conference, new members of the association could purchase a table just next to the registration desk to use as a showcase for their products.
“There is a lot of value out here for us,” said Aaron Jacobs, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Orbit Industries. “Just getting our brand out there. people here are seeing our brand every time they walk by.”
Jacobs says he did some pre-planning and pre-marketing to get ready for the Eastern Regional Conference, including downloading a contact list and sending out an e-mail to let distributors know Orbit was going to have a table at the Vendor Showcase.
“This gives us brand and name recognition,” said Shelby Miller, Marketing and Communications Director at PathGuide Industries, which is based in Seattle. “We are going to do this again at the Western Conference, and since we have already established a relationship with distributors, they are willing to meet with us at the event in January.”
Miller said the location was perfect on Thursday morning, when distributors were getting coffee before the Opening General Session. “I was able to bring people over to my table while they were waiting for the session to start.” Miller adds that any new manufacturer who wants to have more meetings at the NAED regional conferences needs to be a part of the Vendor Showcase.
The same is true for Patriot Aluminum. They brought extra people to the NAED Eastern Regional Conference, to make sure their table was staffed at all times. “We love anything that gives us the opportunity to meet more people,” said Megan Larraburu of Patriot. “One of our focuses right now is brand awareness, Having our name associated with this event is a great value. We are here just to tell our story. Distributors here got a chance to see a little piece of Patriot.”
Patriot president Tom click says there are a number of distributors he would have never met without the Vendor Showcase. “I think it’s up to us to make our opportunities,” Click said. “We would have never made the contacts that we have now without this. We would still be way down on the list. And this was an easy decision. For the price of one dinner meeting, we are able to get in front of many distributors.”
The vendor showcase is available to manufacturers who have been members of NAED for less than 2 years.
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