Given the significant benefit for your customer acquisition, under no circumstances should you ignore the value of references.

Be it individual project examples or the names of existing customers: with a well-thought-out approach, you can reinforce confidence in your services without having to reveal too much.

Customer projects – tangibly intangible

By providing examples of projects, you demonstrate that you have already handled and successfully implemented similar tasks. This in turn, will reinforce confidence in your skills and expertise.

Be as specific as possible in your presentation and generalise when called for. This will make your content interesting without revealing too much. The following aspects will provide relevance for your target group and lend credibility to your reference:

• The sector you worked in.
• Which technical services did you provide? Outline your core area of expertise and provide an overview of your achievements.
• Describe the added benefits you provided for your customers.

By combining these three points, you can create compelling project examples despite confidentiality. For three different industries, these could be phrased as follows:

"Development of all optomechanical components for a medical device for a global player in ophthalmology. During development, we took care of all documentation requirements and product approval in accordance with MDR."

"Set up of a fully automated laser welding system for an automotive customer, including production of sheet metal parts, automatic feeding and welding. Compared to the existing system, annual output increased by 30% (to a total of 1,300,000 units) while at the same time reducing the reject rate."

"Development and manufacture of the electronic control system for an optical image processing inspection system. The control elements were installed in a space-saving design (50 x 60 mm) and connected with flexible polyimide circuit boards. The design and manufacture in accordance with IPC-J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610 ensures not only the highest quality but also durability."

Make your successes visible

Through authentic visual material, you can reinforce the credibility of your references. Use your discretion and thus safeguard confidentiality:

• Show only what is necessary to prove that your product really does exist. At this point, technical details are irrelevant and don’t need to be visible. In practice, two image perspectives have proven successful: complete systems should also be photographed as a whole, while close-ups are suitable for components.
• Allow no deductions to be made about your client. For example, remove all logos and customer-specific colour schemes.
• Disguise images so that no critical details or technical functions are recognisable. For example, replace specific components with standard solutions.

With the above tips, literally any company can publish compelling references in text and images. If you nevertheless come to the conclusion that this won’t do the work for your company, we have another option for you.

Customer names – your own „Hall of Fame”

You already have a reputable customer base? Use it to your advantage. Your customers' reputation reflects on your company and underscores your performance. A compact presentation adds value to your website, brochures or presentations. Your customers' logos are particularly suitable due to their high recognition factor. However, it is always mandatory to obtain written permission before publication.

Do you use project examples and customer logos? Make absolutely sure that no one can establish a direct connection between individual projects and clients.

Despite confidentiality, don't forego the positive effect of references to lend your expertise more credibility. Present yourself as an expert provider who has already delivered on their service commitments in the past. This builds trust among prospective customers and makes it easier for you to win new customers.

Would you like a little extra support with the use, wording and presentation of your references? We are more than happy to assist you. Feel free to contact us!

You will learn:

• Why a complete visitor analysis starts before the website visit
• Which key performance indicators are important and what you can derive from them
• What basic options are available for analysing visitors and what framework conditions they are subject to

We will then be available to answer your questions.

Date: July 30 2025
Time: 14:30 - 15:00
Venue: IGZ Erlangen/Tennenlohe

Participation is free of charge. Please register by 23 July at the latest.

This year, we donated to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as well as the regional charity "Freude für Alle" of Nürnberger Nachrichten.

The entire KelmMoyles team is looking forward to meeting you again in the coming year.

P.S. This year we've donated to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) - an independent international medical relief organization assisting those in need in crisis regions across the globe.

Uncaught TYPO3 Exception: mb_strlen() expects parameter 1 to be string, null given

This could e.g. be a side effect of a website or database migration if the servers involved use different character encodings.

Further technical information about collations can be found on the MySQL blog, e.g.: MySQL 8.0 Collations: Migrating from older collations

A simple solution

Fortunately there is a simple solution to this problem, all from within the backend. Before you start: It goes without saying that you have a database backup handy, just in case…?

1. Install the TYPO3 extension "sfdbutf8"
2. Switch to the corresponding backend module and check the collation of your database entries. Red and green table rows indicate an inconsistent database collation.
3. Change the collation of the database tables by pressing the button at the top of the screen. Note that changes only the database table settings and not the data therein.

Now the editor for content elements should work as usual again. By the way, we would recommend removing the extension after the change is complete.

Feel you could do with some support? We’re just a phone call away, call us!

P.S.: Nowadays most systems should be using "UTF-8" character encoding by default, but it wasn't always so... For MySQL we typically use either "utf8mb4" or "utf8_general_ci".

MSV Brno is one of the most important industrial fairs in Eastern Europe. Exhibitors from over 30 countries represent all key areas of mechanical and electrical engineering:

• Industrial automation (testing, control, and automation technology)
• Electronics
• Machine tools
• Materials
• Mechanical engineering parts & components

Come visit us - we are looking forward to meeting you!

KelmMoyles at the MSV Brno:

Hall V, booth 124 (at the "Bayern Handwerk International" pavilion).

For example, if you look at the interior features highlighted by BMW in 2017 and 2018 for the X3 and X4 model series, you quickly notice equipment features that you would not expect at this point:

Source: www.press.bmwgroup.com

Why does BMW highlight a cup holder and storage areas? Because it's exactly what SUV buyers want. As early as 2010, the "Initial Quality Study" by the market research institute J.D. Power and Associates in Westlake Village/California painted a clear picture: American buyers were dissatisfied with Audi, BMW, Mercedes and VW. The reason: there weren't enough cup holders in the cars. In addition, SUV buyers thought the storage areas were too small. In the years that followed, BMW took up this customer need in its communication and highlighted the corresponding equipment features and their user value. A little thing that cannot be taken for granted.

What do your customers want from you? Just ask!

It pays to find out what your customers expect. You don't necessarily need a lengthy questionnaire or systematic survey for this. Particularly SMEs can exploit the advantage of personal customer relationships and learn more about wishes, expectations and needs in face-to-face discussions. Who knows - maybe the answers are quite down-to-earth simple and yet very crucial.

Feel you could do with some support? We’re just a phone call away, call us!

By the by/Would you believe it: a cup holder can also be high-tech. BMW introduced a version with gyroscope technology in 2019! And indeed, heated or chilled cup holders have been around for a long, long time…

As in previous years, we donated to charities instead of Christmas presents. This year we've split our donations between the regional charity "Freude für Alle" of Nürnberger Nachrichten and the UN-Women programme to help women in Afghanistan.

Wishing you and your families a wonderful holiday season and a healthy and peaceful New Year.

As in the last years, we have made a donation instead of Christmas presents. This year we supported the Corona Solidarity Fund of „Montessori-Pädagogik Erlangen e.V.“.

Wishing you and your families a wonderful holiday season and a healthy and peaceful New Year.

However, even with this software "oddities" exist where intuition does not help much. The correct localization of dates and times is one of those areas - especially if you want to display day and month names written out in local language.

There are essentially three implementation options:

1) Do-it-yourself

A technically simple solution would be to build your own translation using the l()-function and arrays with the date and day names. But with this you are entirely on your own with updates (e.g. adding a new language) or maintenance. We therefore call this option only for the sake of completeness - from our point of view there are better alternatives.

2) Use IntlDateFormatter from the PHP 'intl' extension

The PHP class "IntlDateFormatter" can easily be used to get the localized month and day names and supports a variety of languages.

First, create a formatter object:

<?php $formatter = datefmt_create($language->code(), IntlDateFormatter::LONG, IntlDateFormatter::NONE); >?

and then uses this to localize your data:

<?php echo datefmt_format( $formatter, $page->date()); ?>

The standard formatting functions for date (IntlDateFormatter::LONG in the example above) and time (IntlDateFormatter::NONE in the example) are very flexible - certainly good enough for our own purposes...

Attention, two conditions must be met for this approach:

1. PHP 5.3 or later. But this should be the case by now, for the most part.
2. The PHP extension "intl" must be included. Unfortunately this is not the case in macOS' stock PHP.

3) Use "strftime" for date formatting

Kirby 2.1 introduced a configuration option that makes it even easier to output correctly formatted time and dates by defining a handler in

site/config/config.php

c::set('date.handler', 'strftime');

Unfortunately work is not done yet, as the formatting parameters for date and strfdate are different!
E.g. a date using written-out month names in US English would need to change from

'F jS, Y'

'%B %e%O, %Y'

Attention: This also applies to time stamps, e.g. from the sitemap. These use a formatting according to ISO 8601, e.g.

date('c')

date('%FT%TZ')

Conclusion:

• For Kirby version 2.1 or higher, we would recommend using

  strftime

  to format dates.
• For earlier versions, we believe the

  IntlDateFormatter

  is the best choice.

Related links:

• https://forum.getkirby.com/t/problem-with-strftime/10079
• Overview of strftime formatting options. The linked page also applies to the PHP implementation.

Convince your existing customers

Certain exceptions might allow companies to send newsletter to existing customers without prior consent. In practice, however, these often do not apply because several conditions must be fulfilled simultaneously and completely. Further details on this can be found, for example, in the eRecht24 article "E-Mail Werbung und Newsletter Marketing: Was ist erlaubt, was sind die häufigsten Abmahnfallen?".

There is no way around it: you need to act if you want to include existing customers in your marketing campaigns but don’t have their documented consent. Many companies perceive this as a challenging situation, fearing that asking for such consent alone will lead to a "no" and a permanent exclusion of such customers from all future advertising activities. Even if a negative answer still remains possible: A target-oriented approach gives your customers arguments why giving consent is good for them.

How to increase the opt-in rate for your newsletter?

1. Offer content that outlines customer value

Let’s face reality: Few newsletters sell themselves and the world might not have already waited for them. So be prepared to actively "sell" yours. Keep a close eye on two quality criteria that are crucial for maintaining the interest of your readers in the long term: Relevance and timeliness.

Relevance – meeting your customer’s interests

Your newsletter will only be read if the content is important for your target audience. Therefore, you should concentrate on topics that both offer your clients clear benefits and at the same time are also directly connected to your company’s products and services. In addition to product innovations and special service offers, there are many other points that could be considered, e.g:

• Applications of your products and technologies with special or even extreme requirements.
• Known technologies in new or unusual applications
• Tips and tricks on how to make your products easier or better to use
• Information on changes to the legal framework conditions

Let yourself be guided by where and how your customers use your products and services - and what they do with them. Focus on a small number of key topics that fit you and your customers. Be selective as quality goes before quantity! Lastly, don’t forget that growing your readership will require time and resources.

Customers should have the feeling that they are missing something important without a newsletter subscription!

Timeliness and publishing frequency

Current topics must be communicated promptly in order to benefit from their novelty value. This can be problematic with a low frequency newsletter. On the other hand, a high frequency generates effort that you and your team have to bear. An appropriate newsletter frequency is therefore always a compromise between different, competing requirements, customer expectations and resources available in the company. Think about it:

• A newsletter only remains present as an advertising measure if it appears regularly.
• The interval between two newsletters should not be too long, because you will then lose the attention of your readers.
• At the same time, a too high frequency can easily overtax your readers.
• Recipients quickly develop expectations that need to be met permanently. Make sure that you are able to sustain the effort of developing high quality content over a longer period of time with the capacities available to you. 

In B2B practice, it has proven to make sense to send between four and 12 newsletters per year. 

Quality beats quantity. Prefer to send one high quality issue over two half-baked editions.

Considering these points - of course finely tuned to your target group - work is almost done: You developed a benefit centric argumentation that you can "sell" to your customers. This is used as the foundation for our next steps.

2. Give your customers peace of mind regarding their personal data

Recent data scandals of large companies have raised concerns with more and more people when it comes to passing on personal data. With a carefully prepared written declaration of consent (DSE) under data protection law, you show your customers that their personal data is in good hands with you. The content of such a declaration is subject to strict legal requirements and should therefore be coordinated with a lawyer. Nevertheless, you can do a few things to increase the probability of consent:

• The entire declaration should be easily readable in terms of both language and font size. This will avoid the impression that you are trying to hide something.
• It has been demonstrated in practice that asking for per-channel opt-ins (instead of one general opt-in) lowers the hurdle to obtain consent. This leaves it up to your customer to decide how to be contacted, e.g. via "mail", "e-mail" or "telephone". Attention: Your CRM system and internal processes must be able to map this separation of contact channels. The different approvals have to be documented for each customer and taken into account when making contact.
• Make it clear that you will under no circumstances pass on or use data elsewhere.

Create transparency. Communicate clearly how you will use customer data and what you will not do with it.

3. Speak to your customers - in person

The right contact

As already described in item 2, giving personal data to someone else is a sensitive issue. There is a tendency to be reluctant to disclose one's own data, let alone to provide opt-ins. Therefore, trust is the be-all and end-all when it comes to consenting to the use of data. 

If a customer buys your products or services, this already proves trust in your company. As trust is bound to people, let that employee ask for consent who has regular contact with that customer and who shares the most positive experiences with him or her. The sales person or key account manager would therefore certainly be preferable to someone from accounting or some “unknown” trainee.

Customer benefits pave the way to customer consent

A benefit argumentation is the basis of every sales talk. This also applies when it comes to consenting to the use of personal data. Unfortunately, in practice only the legal necessity of such consent is typically pointed out. Instead, take the benefit argumentation developed in item 1 and explain to your customers what kind of content you will have for them and how these are associated with immediate benefits for that customer. Be smarter and stand out from the crowd!
Even if these two points are legally already covered in the written declaration of consent and data protection, actively address them again during your conversation with to your customer:

• For which purposes will you use the customer data?
• What will you not do with their data (e.g. disclosure to third parties)

The direct conversation is better than an anonymous letter from the marketing department.

4. Catch the right moment

When is the right time to ask for consent to use customer data?

The approval rate also depends at what point in time you ask a customer. With "tailwind" through positive experiences your customer will be more open to agree to the use of his or her data. If you have just delivered a new CNC machining centre or a new software solution to him on time and successfully put it into operation, your chances are much better than if you are currently confronted with a complaint. 

A positive mood makes it easier for people to say "yes" to something new.

Don't leave opt-ins to chance! With our tips you make it easy for your customers to agree, actively generate recipients and increase the effectiveness of your newsletter. 

Need support with the concept or implementation of your newsletter? Get in contact with us. We’d love to hear from you!

As in the last years, we have made a donation instead of Christmas presents. This year's donations went to "Freude für alle" of the Nürnberger Nachrichten.

Wishing you and your families a wonderful holiday season and a healthy and peaceful New Year.

MSV Brno is one of the most important industrial fairs in Eastern Europe and celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. On the occasion of this anniversary, more than 1600 exhibitors from over 30 countries take part, representing all key areas of mechanical and electrical engineering:

• Industrial automation (testing, control, and automation technology)
• Electronics
• Machine tools
• Materials
• Mechanical engineering parts & components

Come visit us - we are looking forward to meeting you!

KelmMoyles at the MSV Brno:

Hall V, booth 133 (at the "Bayern Handwerk International" pavilion).

A Round of Buzzword Bingo?

With all the positive attributes that can be said about the new appearance, the new claim engineering. tomorrow. together. gives the impression that it was conjured up in a round of Buzzword bingo. Empty, limp without a clear statement or address. It very much reminds me of Microsoft’s classic "The Wow starts now"! launching Windows Vista - Seth Godin's aptly commented on Times photos of several bored-looking MS managers at the launch event.

Actually, thyssenkrupp really wanted to convey something else.

The claim - “engineering. tomorrow. together.” - places a clear focus on cooperation, while also conveying that we are looking to offer pioneering solutions. In other words, the logo and claim embody our corporate identity.

Given the choice of words, I find it difficult to fathom out a "focus on cooperation" as the first two words dominate too heavily. Additionally, I am surprised about the term "clear", because the basic stringing together of three nouns leaves a huge amount of scope for dangerous interpretations, e.g.:

• "We’ll start tomorrow with our joint engineering" (Well, not today but definitely tomorrow and also together with you!)
• "Tomorrow’s engineering we will do together with you." (That of today we’d better do alone!)

Handbook for good claims and slogans

A few tips for you on the path to better claims:

1. Make a single credible statement which really embodies the company or product in its entirety. Everybody should be able to say: YES, that is us!
2. A good claim works internally as well as externally just by conveying a positive message to both customers and employees. The word “together” is actually a good starting point e.g. Schaeffler “Together we move the world.” (N.B.: last year’s news of thyssenkrupp’s job cuts hints that less the own workforce is meant. Whether that helps in the transition to a modern company is another question.)
3. Clarity trumps. That’s why even half a sentence is better than just stringing words togther.Guide the reader’s interpretation possibilities with a clean statement. Why not play a bit with words and meanings which can bring a smile to the reader’s face? Emotional appeal increases the impact of your slogan dramatically.
4. One language will suffice! When you have come up with an interesting play of words for yourself or your product stick to one language. Avoid translations (especially for idioms!). Apple’s advertisement for the MacBook Air in English uses the wonderful pun “Light years ahead”. The German version is about as boring as one could imagine: “Um Jahre voraus”. The translation is correct but… do I need to say anything else? Well, thyssenkrupp didn’t go down this road as their claim is English only.

You have questions or want to make your marketing far more effective? Then get in contact with us. We’d love to hear from you!

• Jugendfarm Erlangen
• Médecins sans Frontières / MSF

Wishing you and your families a wonderful holiday season and a healthy and peaceful New Year.

Contents

This seminar conveys all necessary skills and techniques for convincing presentations. Learn how to tailor your content to the needs of your target audience and also how to explain complex technical content clearly and comprehensively. Intensive and active practice makes sure your presentation reaches your audience and your own targets.

Step by step, we lead you from the initial concept to your “performance” – in either German or English.

In a nutshell

• Structuring a topic for a successful presentation
• Argumentation and storytelling
• Know what's important: Needs, benefits and advantages
• Balancing your targets vs. those from your audience.
• Do the right thing: Language and behaviour for all audiences and situations
• Oops: Body language, do's & dont's

Intensive

Small groups, only 4-6 participants

Relevant

You work with your own material.

Duration

2 days

Dates

July 1 & 2 2015
October 7 & 8 2015

Venue

IGZ Erlangen.

Please contact us for other seminar dates, also in your premises.

Participation fees (incl. material and catering)

820 EUR + VAT

Detailed information (in German) about it can be found on the ofraCar website, including a registration form.

If you would like to learn more about this subject: Contact us. We are happy to help!

With that in mind we've made a lot of progress by replacing WordPress by Kirby as our main CMS. The benefits are manifold:

• There's no database. Kirby is entirely file based: NoDB instead of MySQL. No special handling when backing up the CMS - just zip up the folder. And we are 100% protected from SQL injection attacks.
• Multiple plugins were needed with WordPress to accomplish what Kirby does out of the box (e.g. multilingual sites). One update and we're done. No more questions whether specific plugin versions are compatible with the latest WordPress version. So with one common authority for the entire platform the system will most likely be safer, too.
• Often times the WordPress admin interface turned out to be more of a pain than a pleasure. Too many clicks, even for simple tasks, too limited overview. Kirby allows us to put everything together beforehand (offline) and test it as a whole. Zip up the folder, transfer and unzip it on a production server - and that's it. Server migrations are a snap now. And should we ever need an online admin UI: there's always the Kirby panel…
• Markdown is simpler and quicker to write than trying to format text in an online editor. No special apps or upload API. Device independent - works wherever we are. A simple text editor is all that is needed.

Truth be told - getting everything out of WordPress and converted into Markdown was more time consuming than expected. But it is already evident how beneficial that migration was: we freed up time to spend more time on client projects.

If you'd like to know more about how we made the switch or have other questions: Contact us. We are happy to help!

Every branch of business has its own special terminology/jargon and businesses should be well acquainted with it and apply it in all relevant languages: Otherwise you run a great risk – who can’t be found, does not exist.

Apart from that, using the correct vocabulary and terminology shows professionalism and expertise. Who would want to do without that?

The value of proofreading should not be underestimated as such mistakes would not go unnoticed by native speakers. The extra cost is negligible in comparison to the cost for the advertising space.

You have questions or require support with your individual implementation? Contact us. We are happy to help!

1. The classic printed media took the first four (!) Places – lead by trade journals. A swan song of the printed word would certainly look a lot different…..
2. The most credible online media is the the homepage of a company.
3. As was to be expected the social networks came in last. After all the are basically opinions rather than professionally researched and edited facts.
4. What surprised me was the fact that weekly newspapers ( e.g. “Die Zeit“) faired much worse than the daily newspapers. Probably what is reflected here is the fact that many reader have more “practical” experience with the daily papers… ultimately credibility develops from regular dealing with a given medium.

Which recommendations for action can be derived from the study B2B marketing?

Just because Social Media is "in", does not mean by a long shot that print is “out”: soundly edited (and perhaps even checked) professional information is still valued by the consumer(reader). Companies should actively take advantage of this potential for their marketing by providing specialist articles and press releases for publications with specific relevance for their own target group. The advantages are manifold:

• targeted own image formation instead of taking on a characterised „alien image“ from reports of others.
• the professional expertise will be confirmed through the reputation of the magazine.
• you increase your visibility in the target group of the respective magazine.
• those who publish appear more innovative than those who remain silent.

Professional public relations promotes trust in the company and its products, thus opening business opportunities with potentials as well as existing customers.

It’s worth giving it a go. So when is your next article being published?

We are happy to support you with the implementation - just contact us.

1. (Almost) all components involved are standard elements from electronic and mechanical engineering.

Whether linear guidance systems, belt drives or stepper motors - you can be sure to find plenty of these things at the big mechanical or electromechanical trade fairs. The "ingredients" are relevant to the industry.

2. Surprise included:

When thinking about the aforementioned products, who – except perhaps at Festo – would relate these to a musical instrument? Usually, these components are used "as normal" and thus fail to enthuse. Yet, over 23,000 views on YouTube in just three days speak for themselves. That much interest would be a dream for most manufacturers of classical engineering components. Not to forget: surprises do stick in one's mind...

3. A simple and well-known application but a non-trivial apparatus.

That's an ideal combination if you want to "sell" system and solution expertise. A great opportunity for engineering service providers to stand out. Not to forget, such projects are equally well suited to train interdisciplinary teamwork and motivate the people involved.

4. A multitude of hooks into discussions:

According to a recent study (German language only) 16.5% of Germans play a musical instrument. That makes this machine a welcome opportunity for technical and non-technical discussions... Did I hear someone whispering: "Emotions" (which are so difficult to reach in B2B marketing)?

Can you imagine how such a "thing" at your trade fair booth would attract and boost attention? Wouldn’t the trade press also be thrilled to bits? Not to mention your HR marketing?

With such impressive references James McVay will certainly have no trouble finding a job. If you are looking for new, creative ways of presenting your company - contact us today.

Unfortunately this post hasn't been translated yet. It is currently only available in German. Please contact us to request a translated version or check back shortly.

Unfortunately this post hasn't been translated yet. It is currently only available in German. Please contact us to request a translated version or check back shortly.

My first presentation at a technical conference dates back to 1999. At that time I was the only one using Powerpoint slides. I had to haul a digital projector with me as very few companies or hotels had them for rent. The technical equipment alone accounted for more than 7 kg of luggage. A pain to move around and hard to believe from today's point of view.

We've come a long way since then - projectors and large monitors can be found everywhere and are commonplace. And an iPad is attempting to replace my laptop, bringing the total weight of technical equipment I carry with me on a business trip down to 700 grams plus a few cables and maybe the power adaptor.

Still, I was unsure whether an iPad would be enough. What limitations would the device incur?

First the obvious: Many things business travellers need are standard tasks for the device. Mobile internet and eMail, contacts, calendars, reading PDFs or finding the way to the next restaurant are core functions of the device.

But what about presentations? An iPad can drive monitors up to 720p (1280x720 pixels). My favorite presentation software Keynote is available too. So, I launched the app store, bought that app - only to discover disappointing issues: The iPad Keynote app showed issues importing slides from my Mac. Our corporate font was replaced by a default font and not all table features we use turned out to be supported, e.g. lists within a table cell. Furthermore, all slides were scaled down to 1024x768, the devices native screen resolution. Skipping over slides or changing their order works flawlessly, though. If you are aware of the the limitations, that might still be enough.

There are workarounds for some of the issues encountered. The "custom font" issue can be resolved provided you are willing to accept a "jailbreak". Numerous internet sites describe how to do that (www.marcoribbe.de/adding-fonts-to-your-ipad on web.archiv.org). A similarly non-elegant solution can be applied to the table issue. Replace the affected table with a PDF image of it. Of course, not editable, not nice but at least not as questionable as the jailbreak. Only the slide size issue remains unresolved - Keynote seems to be limited to 1024x768 - at least for now.

The mentioned limitations are for sure annoying, yet the low weight is often still more intriguing. On the other hand, an iPad is not enough for me when it comes to editing slides or creating new ones. The brilliant multitouch UI cannot compete with the ergonomics and precision of my Mac's UI for such a task.

I sincerely hope that Apple addresses some of these limitations with iOS 5 and future Keynote versions. For the time being, I will keep my laptop as a necessary alternative. Or is that what Apple has in mind...?

P.S. You could also export the entire presentation to PDF and show it in full screen mode. Personally, I wouldn't recommend that, though. In my tests, PDFs exported from Keynote did not always display properly on the iPad and lacked the images on the slides. The same PDF worked okay on the Mac. The second argument against using PDFs is that you cannot use any animations or page transition effects.

Social Media and B2B?

A successful approach to applying Social Media to the B2B world has to comply with specific and unique properties of that business mode. A clear and committed strategy is inevitable. Three of the topics to keep in mind:

1. All enthusiasm about the power of Social Media aside, there are significant differences between the B2B and B2C business worlds. Where emotions are regularly and sometimes exclusively addressed in B2C, there is much less room for them in B2B businesses. That leaves little room for emotional ties between customers and products or brands.
2. Special components, e.g. of a machine, usually also have very confined target audiences. However, the smaller a "community" is, the more difficult it is to keep it active and alive. With very little to no activity in a network, people quickly lose interest. Additionally, it is important to understand that Facebook is not the only social network around.
3. What are the specific benefits and advantages that your social network offers to its participants? How relevant are the intended topics for the target audience? Without reasonably good motivators, it is difficult to keep the community's interest going. Coupons and draws are usually not enough.

Start listening. And use the responses to draw the right conclusions.

Direct customer communication has always been important and the possibilities of the digital world will further increase its value. If "Social Media" is understood as "listen to your customers more closely", it can be the gateway to important differentiating factors. Support intensive businesses could e.g. launch user forums . This  would enable participants to get answers to issues like  the installation or configuration of complex units or components more quickly and research solutions without contacting the company's technical support. Used strategically, feedback from the community could also be used to generate valuable ideas for further product development. On the other hand, be warned: the mandatory openness might conflict with your corporate culture, and you need to keep an eye on confidentiality issues. Lastly, Social Media does not come for free! Whatever form you chose, prepare to invest a lot of time.

To keep in mind: even if platforms like twitter seem useless for your business, nowadays they need to be understood as boosters to your website's page rank. Use them for search engine optimization (SEO).

Conclusion: Social Media can be valuable in B2B scenarios. However, it does not make sense to just add a presence in one of the large networks. Instead, customer benefits and value should guide your venture. Without a clear concept, any Social Media approach is doomed to fail for your business. We would be happy to support you along the way. Contact us!

This is an english language version of an article published in the January 2011 issue of the WiM magazine, where we describe how to implement fairs economically into the overall marketing mix.

442 fairs alone in Germany according to the Exhibitions and Fairs Committee for the German Economy e.V. (Auma) in 2011. Globally we are talking about 4500 events to reach millions of visitors. Apart from the internet, fairs are the second most important means of public appearance for businesses.

Such a great choice makes it difficult to find the right event. All too many companies go back to the same event time after time ignoring the fact that the focus of the company itself as well as the meaning of individual fairs has shifted or even changed over time. Fairs should not be been solely from a cost point of view but they should be understood as part of the long-term strategy.  Then and only then can the ever-so-efficient “marketing instrument fairs” unfold its full potential.

Your own customers are the first point of consideration by the choice of the right fair. It has to be taken into consideration whether the target is contacting new customers or existing customers. Fairs are ideal for the acquisition of new customers. An indicator might be: could a solution that was custom-made for one customer also be interesting for others? Then a fair in exactly this direction could be the right one to go to.  A market analysis should always precede the decision to have a stand/booth at a fair, and this study can be carried you by a consultant familiar with this particular field.

The appearance should always highlight the benefits of the product from the customers’ stance and not only the advantages and characteristics of the products as seen by the producer.

Is the aim to enhance customer care, then the traditional meeting places of that particular industry are already well-known. In this case the question is not which fair is best attended but rather which contents, innovations and service offers are interesting for the customers. One has to bear in mind; fairs do tend to have a rather high circulation loss.

What do customers expect?

Nowadays, fairs still serve as a means of gaining comprehensive information in spite of the internet. Communication and conversations are the be all and end all: direct contact to the visitor opens up all possibilities of addressing his/her individual needs. Appropriate language knowledge and communication ability go without saying (are a pre-requisite).

In the meantime, the high complexity of technical products has almost done away with the usual handshake in the booth of latter years. In the new markets (e.g. China) as well as in some specialist branches fairs are still seen as”order fairs”.

Which fair is the right one?

Many fairs compete for the same branch. The question then arises, “which is the most appropriate?” and that is easily answered by consulting the fairs and visitor profiles. Respectable organizers provide   very detailed and clear   figures as to the number of exhibitors, visitors and foreign visitors to the fair over   the years or which visitor groups were especially dominant.

Events which are listed in the fair databases of Auma or FKM are a sure bet.
Information of unknown fair organizers should be taken with great care. When dealing with fairs abroad, it is recommended to first view these from a visitor’s perspective rather than as an exhibitor. It can also be advantageous to involve a reliable service supplier in the selection phase and it can also save costs.

With total costs hitting 800 to 1000 Euro per square metre, fairs are comparatively expensive. For companies with less experience in fairs it is definitely worth considering the support programmes on offer e.g. “Bundeswirtschaftsministerium” or the very comprehensive federal programme for foreign fairs. Joint stands are also a good means of fair participation. These opportunities are offered by the “IHKs “(Chamber of commerce), “Handwerkskammern” (Guild of Craftsmen) and “Forschungsinitiativen” (Research initiatives) e.g. “Bayern Innovativ”. Regardless of the choice, joint stand or individual, early registration is essential, not only to guarantee participation but to save costs as well.

Over and above the personal stand there are many other options of participation. Apart from the classical advertising and sponsoring there are the support events and the fair congresses that offer further opportunities to present ones own company.

Other Options

The question remains, if it has to be a fair or are other marketing measures better suited to the need of attracting attention which often go amiss at huge fairs. Before deciding on a fair, it is best to check if the target group can be better reached by perhaps taking part in a congress or offering a workshop for a customer group at the customer’s.

About the author: Peter Kelm is co-owner of the technical marketing specialists KelmMoyles – Tailored engineering Marketing in Herzogenaurach (kelm@kelmmoyles.com).

Unfortunately this post hasn't been translated yet. It is currently only available in German. Please contact us to request a translated version or check back shortly.

This simple fact indicates that Chinese exhibitors still use fairs as “order” fairs and they primarily target taking orders. Few Chinese exhibitors do see fairs as a means of enhancing their market presence and company image as well as gaining branch-related information. Interestingly enough, this was the same perception for industrial businesses in the western world about 20 years ago.

PS: Our observations are not only valid for exhibitors from China but also for the other „new markets“. Our knowledge is based on the B2B fairs for the automotive, machine and plant fields.

Since then I have been wondering if the trip organizer just wanted to be sure that everybody washed their hands before leaving the restroom. Otherwise, I can’t really see the benefit of this service.

If someone offers a service, then care should be taken that this service generates a perceivable value for the customer. What happens if this is not the case? The service is quickly seen as a “gimmick”, something useless or even worse, something annoying.

We are happy to support you on your way to differentiate yourself from the competition in the most positive way. Contact us today.

The question is, wouldn’t it have been more economical to eliminate the dangerous step? Just fix a board/step to adjust the height difference, a five-minute job!

Regardless, be it either ”German engineering” or American pragmatism, we disembarked safely.

Conclusion: a clever means of advertising..

P.S. The legality of the action and the consent of the airline companies is another question entirely.

Quite an interesting event, were it not for a presentation of a renowned European OEM. The speaker, took a solid ten minutes of the listeners’ time to waffle on about the recent history of the company which has been in China for four years now. For each year he had prepared a cluttered slide which he then went on to describe each point in great detail.

As on can well imagine, it didn’t take long for the first listeners to leave the room. Others just fell asleep…

My request to you, presenters alike – “think before you leap” - that means, consider beforehand who your listeners are likely to be and what they are going to get out of the presentation, what value is the topic going to have for them. Otherwise it is a waste of time for both sides!

And by the way, if you need support in putting your presentation together, we’d be more than happy to help you.

In other words, the Chinese manufacturers are having the same problems in the development as everybody else. With the huge governmental aid their chances are surely good. The other question is, of course, if the cost problem, especially for the local market, can be solved.

Conclusion: Go out and buy an electric scooter…

Actually, I’m not a great fan of beer but that is rather provoking to say the least – the name suggests Bavarian beer brewed according to the traditional Bavarian quality standards.

On the one hand that brings in publicity, on the other, however one can land in front of the judge pretty quickly which usually goes hand in hand with a loss of image and reputation. Some time later, the topic of Bavarian beer from Holland appeared in the newspapers in Germany.

Be that as it may, the deciding factor for the success of a product is the suggested quality behind the product which satisfies the consumers’ expectations. If one doesn’t come up with the promised “goods”, one shouldn’t be surprised when the ones customers start demending what was promised.

Perhaps the Bavarian breweries should consider a form of revenge – something like “Frau Antje Beer”, Tulip Beer (Tulip meat is already on our shelves) or even “Trailer beer”. As in 2006 "Car of the Year" – that could out to be exciting.

Conclusion: The Empire strikes back…

1. An Audi is „South African Car of the Year“
2. BMW responds as winner of the „World Car of the Year 2006“
3. Audi once more responds as winner of the Le Mans 2000-2006
4. Subaru doesn’t let that go unnoticed, of course,  and responds with „Well done to Audi and BMW for winning the beauty contest. From the winner of the 2006 International Engine of the Year“.

Now that’s really entertaining advertising and the three of them did a good job.

Conclusion: Keep an eye on the competition and deal with the success of the others in a creative manner.

P.S. As far as I know the Bently „finger“ is a fake.

Unfortunately this post hasn't been translated yet. It is currently only available in German. Please contact us to request a translated version or check back shortly.

Unfortunately this post hasn't been translated yet. It is currently only available in German. Please contact us to request a translated version or check back shortly.

Unfortunately this post hasn't been translated yet. It is currently only available in German. Please contact us to request a translated version or check back shortly.

Unfortunately this post hasn't been translated yet. It is currently only available in German. Please contact us to request a translated version or check back shortly.