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Madison-area companies extend their marketing reach
For dairy-related companies based in or near Madison, a presence at World Dairy Expo’s Trade Show offers tremendous opportunities to reach out to producers from around the globe while they attend the world’s premier dairy event.
"We exhibit at 40 different trade shows all over the world every year, but World Dairy Expo is in a class by itself," says Kimberly Miller, global marketing communications manager for BouMatic, a full line dairy equipment manufacturing company.
"It really is the premier dairy show. We use it as a launching pad for introducing our new products to the market and to promote our brand. What we do here sets the tone for our branding and messaging efforts at shows for the entire year," she adds.
BouMatic’s close proximity to the Expo grounds, just three miles away, provides a unique opportunity to connect with customers at the show. "We bring a lot of people from our overseas offices to the show every year," Miller says. BouMatic does business in 45 countries, and half of the company’s revenue is generated from outside the U.S.
ABS Global follows a similar strategy. The company’s headquarters are in DeForest, Wis., about a 20-minute drive from the Alliant Energy Center. "We’re able to bring guests who are attending Expo to DeForest and showcase our facilities, labs and our quality-control processes," says Brenda Gilbertson, advertising and promotions manager for ABS Global in North America.
"We’re also able to arrange farm tours and special seminars throughout the week. It adds value for our customers by giving them opportunities to interact with our technical experts, company leaders and other customers," she adds.
A presence at Expo is a central component in the company’s overall marketing strategy, Gilbertson says. "We’re the worldwide leader in bovine genetics, distributing our products to both dairy and beef producers in 80 countries," she says. "Expo gives us the opportunity to connect in person with many of those producers."
The fact that more than half of the people attending Expo every year come from the Upper Midwest is especially appealing to Vita Plus Corporation, a Madison-based feed company offering dairy nutritional consulting and other technical expertise to producers in that part of the country. "We really focus on close relationships with our customers and on offering expertise for the management decisions they make day in and day out," says Marjorie Stieve, marketing services manager for Vita Plus.
"We see being at World Dairy Expo as an extension of that. Here, it’s all about having one-on-one conversations with our customers and prospects who come by," she adds.
Vita Plus brings in 50 staff members from throughout its Midwest territory to work at its Expo exhibit.
"We run four shifts a day with four people working each shift," she says. "It’s a big commitment, but we want to make sure that there’s plenty of time to interact with everyone who comes to our exhibit and that they get our full attention. It’s why we’re here."
