How to Get Ready for SuperZoo 2024 with the Whisker Report
Join Mary, Alex, and Mark as they discuss essential strategies to prepare for SuperZoo 2024. Discover expert tips to make your booth stand out, attract media attention, and schedule meetings with the press. Don’t miss this episode for all your SuperZoo success secrets!
Listen to Episode #4 Now:
Transcript:
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Announcer: This is PetLife Radio.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets.
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Mary Tan: We're a brand new podcast focused on helping the pet industry and the animal welfare industry with their PR and buzz.
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Mary Tan: We want you to get the publicity you need.
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Mary Tan: Hello again, everyone, I'm Mary Tan.
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Mary Tan: I'm one of the hosts of the show, along with Alexane Ricard, who's my French counterpart across the pond.
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Mary Tan: Bonjour, Alex.
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Alexane Ricard: We're so excited about the show today.
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Alexane Ricard: So as you all know, Super Zoo is coming up, and we've decided to help you make the most of it PR-wise.
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Alexane Ricard: But first, let me introduce you to our producer, Mark Winter of Pet Life Radio, who is the man who gets us to you each and every day.
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Mark Winter: Hi, how's everybody doing?
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Alexane Ricard: We're good.
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Mark Winter: I've been having beach vibes all week long since Alex sent me pictures of the beach from the south of France.
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Mary Tan: Oh my gosh.
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah.
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Mark Winter: I mean, I'm in Fort Lauderdale.
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Mark Winter: There's a beach here, but I don't think it's quite the same.
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Mary Tan: Yeah.
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Mary Tan: I mean, I'm in Minnesota, so you two, you know, both one up me very easily.
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Alexane Ricard: How's the weather in Minnesota, Mary?
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Alexane Ricard: Is it really cold right now?
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Mary Tan: No, it's been, this week, it's been really, really beautiful in the seventies, but typically, you know, it can get really hot here.
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Mary Tan: Last week, it was in the nineties, actually.
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Mary Tan: But as I say, summers in Minnesota are earned because most of the time, we are below zero or we have snow.
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Mary Tan: In the winter, that's the only two things that happen.
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Mary Tan: You're either below zero because it's too cold to snow or it's snowing out.
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Mary Tan: So we earn our summers and we appreciate every single day that we can go outside and not wear a parka.
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Mary Tan: Well, you know what?
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Mary Tan: We are going to talk about Super Zoo, right, Alex?
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah, exactly.
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Alexane Ricard: So, I mean, Super Zoo is one of the biggest events of the year for anyone in the pet industry.
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Alexane Ricard: This year it's actually happening in August, I think from the 14th until the 16th in Las Vegas.
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Alexane Ricard: Really excited.
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Alexane Ricard: This will be my second year attending, but Mary, how many times have you been to the show?
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Alexane Ricard: How many years have you been attending it?
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Mary Tan: Oh my goodness, five, six at least.
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Mary Tan: And you know, this is where I see Mark and his lovely wife, Michelle.
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Mary Tan: Actually, I see them more at Global Pet Expo.
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Mary Tan: And it's just a great opportunity to network with people.
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Mary Tan: And you know, Alex, this is like, the trade shows are when you and I get to see each other in person because we really don't see each other a lot.
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah, that's my favorite part.
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Alexane Ricard: Okay, well, we're gonna have a lot to talk about, but first I just want to leave you with our sponsor for just a little bit.
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Announcer: Here's Daryl Michelson, owner of Purniture Cat Furniture.
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Daryl Michelson Most cat furniture hardly passes as a plant stand.
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Daryl MichelsonThe big difference between our furniture and other cat furniture is the fact that we use plywood, and we're also using what are called cores, which are half inch thick tubes.
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Daryl Michelson
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Announcer: You can see the Purniture difference online at purniture.com.
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Announcer: That's P-U-R-R-N-I-T-U-R-E.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets on petliferadio.com.
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Mary Tan: And we're back now.
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Alexane Ricard: So, Mary, you've been attending it for five, six years now.
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Alexane Ricard: And I'd like to know, because you've seen it many times, what do you feel like people need to do to be prepared to this kind of show?
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Alexane Ricard: Because we're talking about Super Zoo, but it could be for global, you know, those trade shows.
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Alexane Ricard: So how do you think people should prepare for it?
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Mary Tan: You know, being prepared, and my number one tip is don't be afraid of anything.
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Mary Tan: Don't be shy, get out there.
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Mary Tan: If you're a pet product manufacturer, make sure you are engaging with the people that come to your booth, or as people are walking by, engage them, talk to them, tell them, you know, hey, would you like to see a product or something like that?
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Mary Tan: Absolutely try to promote yourself at any possible moment.
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Mary Tan: When you're a pet store retailer, ask questions, make sure that you are asking the manufacturers, besides the product, do you offer PR and marketing services to help?
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Mary Tan: Because Alex, as you know, we both work for Boss Nation, and they have a very important marketing program where before they sell in stores, they actually do training sessions with retailers to get them to use the right talking points when talking about their products.
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Mary Tan: And it's important.
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Mary Tan: I personally feel it's so wonderful when manufacturers reach out to help pet store owners with their marketing, because in the end, that's what it's about, right?
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Mary Tan: It's about learning about the product.
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Mary Tan: And how many times have you walked into a big box store, like here in the United States, where you go into Walmart or Target, and you ask the clerk like, hey, what pet food should I get?
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Mary Tan: And nine times out of 10, they say, well, my cat eats this one.
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Mary Tan: And that's not what you want to hear.
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Mary Tan: That's where pet specialty retail stores really come into play.
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Mary Tan: That is where they can really show the expertise of their staff.
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Mary Tan: And pet product manufacturers can help those retailers give their staff the education they need.
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Mary Tan: Because in the end, it's all about selling product.
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Mary Tan: Wouldn't you agree?
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah, definitely.
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Alexane Ricard: And so what you're saying is great.
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Alexane Ricard: I mean, at SuperZoo, 100%, don't wait for people to come up to you.
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Alexane Ricard: Go up to them, go talk to them, go sell yourself, go present your product or your services, just show who you are.
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Alexane Ricard: And again, what makes yourself unique in your product.
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Alexane Ricard: So yeah, that's a really good advice, I think.
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Mary Tan: Yeah, and Alex, you also went to Inner Zoo in Germany, which is the European trade show, which is, I think, actually bigger now than the two US trade shows.
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Alexane Ricard: The world's largest pet event, I think, like the world's largest pet trade show.
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Mary Tan: Yeah, and so tell us about, when it comes to languages, it's really important to have people who speak the language.
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah, I mean, definitely for Inner Zoo 100%, I'm lucky enough that I do speak a couple of languages, and I know a lot of little words in many different languages.
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Alexane Ricard: So Inner Zoo, it's very European, so you've got a lot of British people, but also Portuguese, Spanish, German, and also a lot of Asians.
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Alexane Ricard: So we had a couple of Indonesian people or Japanese.
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Alexane Ricard: And the good thing is I always knew how to say hi or how are you in the language.
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Alexane Ricard: And that was a really good selling point because I was there helping Lala Home, which sells automatic litter boxes.
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Alexane Ricard: So before they hired me, they used to go to Super Zoo and Global, and what they did, their mindset was just to present their product to whoever was coming up to them, but just like, oh, hi, this is our product.
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Alexane Ricard: But they were not in front of the booth, trying to engage with people.
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Alexane Ricard: They were more sitting, waiting for people to come to them.
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Alexane Ricard: And that is not great.
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Alexane Ricard: I think what you really need to do is to show people that you're very open and you're ready to have a conversation and that you're passionate about your product.
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Alexane Ricard: So that's what I was really trying to help them do is to be really in front of the raw and like everybody.
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Alexane Ricard: And whenever somebody was coming up, I was like, oh, hi, where are you from?
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Alexane Ricard: And just like start a conversation, even though it was not about the letterbox.
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Alexane Ricard: So then we could just like start to present the product.
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Mary Tan: Yeah, it's amazing.
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Mary Tan: So we have a great client called Lala Home.
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Mary Tan: They're based out of China and they actually requested Alex because as some of you don't know, Alex actually speaks five languages fluently.
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Mary Tan: So she's really, really amazing.
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Mary Tan: So she was able to communicate with all of the people who attended the show.
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Mary Tan: And the reverse is also the same in the US.
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Mary Tan: So what you really wanna do is if you're a foreign manufacturer exhibiting, you really need to have somebody that is pretty fluent in English because how many times have you seen, especially the overseas exhibitors, they're just sitting there and they're not engaging with people.
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Mary Tan: And I think part of it is the lack of the ability to speak English.
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Alexane Ricard: And the thing is like you can have a great product, but if you cannot communicate about it or you can't just share the passion you have for that product, then people, they don't get attracted to a product.
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Mary Tan: Yeah.
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Mary Tan: Hey, we wanna bring Mark in here because Mark goes to a lot of trade shows.
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Mary Tan: In fact, that's where we see Mark as well.
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Mary Tan: And Mark, what have you noticed about the exhibitors at these trade shows?
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Mary Tan: What brings you to their booth?
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Mary Tan: Like what do they say?
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Mary Tan: What have you noticed?
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Mark Winter: We have a list when we go there of booths we already wanna see.
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Mark Winter: So we do them at certain times and then we walk up and down and really looking for something new because there's like a million of everything.
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Mark Winter: You know, there's a million booths with collars and leashes and there's a million booths with food.
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Mark Winter: And I like to just go up and down the aisles and see what's different.
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Mark Winter: And those are the booths that attract us and that we stop at.
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Mark Winter: In fact, Boss Nation, even though it was on our list to see, they had this giant animated wolf that was like 10, 15 feet tall that was attracting a lot of attention.
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Mark Winter: So I mean, that was a smart move on their part because it was like, you know, something from Disney World at their booth.
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Mark Winter: So we look for things like that.
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Mary Tan: Yeah.
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Mary Tan: So Mark, just so you know, Mark goes as a member of the press.
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Mary Tan: So he is, everybody's courting Mark because he runs PetLife Radio, right?
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Mary Tan: And this is a chance for these companies, you know, to get some publicity on the 85 million podcasts that Mark produces.
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Mark Winter: In the first couple of years, we had a booth.
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Mark Winter: And so we were stuck in like, I don't know, somewhere in the outskirts of global.
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Mark Winter: And after the first couple of years, we said, you know what, I mean, the buyers are coming, stopping by the booth.
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Mark Winter: And, you know, people walking around, may come to the booth and see us.
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Mark Winter: But the people that we want to see us, the exhibitors, aren't seeing us.
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Mark Winter: So then we started walking around instead.
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Mark Winter: We didn't get a booth, and we wore our Pet Life Radio t-shirts.
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Mark Winter: You know, we did our little marketing and advertising, and we pull around our little wheelie carts, and we have our signs on that that say Pet Life Radio.
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Mark Winter: So wherever we go up and down, people see Pet Life Radio.
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Mark Winter: So a lot of times they just pull us over because they see us walking by.
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Mary Tan: Yeah, exactly.
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Mary Tan: And that kind of brings us to another thing with press and digital influencers or content creators that attend.
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Mary Tan: And Alex, can you talk about what you do in terms of digital influencers and pet influencers, basically?
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah, well, so the good thing with Super Zoo is that you can get the list of the media attending, and in the media, you get the pet influencers.
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Alexane Ricard: So it's really important that you take that opportunity to see who is coming, to check that list.
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Alexane Ricard: So what we always do with Mary is we take that list and we kind of like verify who is coming.
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Alexane Ricard: We're like, okay, this one is really good.
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Alexane Ricard: We want to take them on a tour or this one.
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Alexane Ricard: Okay, maybe we don't need to, they wouldn't be a great fit for clients.
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Alexane Ricard: So what we do is really go through that list and check, okay, who would be a great fit and who wouldn't, so we're not wasting time because, as you know, those shows are very time-consuming and you need to make decisions.
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Alexane Ricard: So that's what we do and then I don't know when you started that, Mary, to take the media and the influencers to your clients booths, but what you do is you organize that beforehand so then we can make sure that the right influencers are going to the right clients.
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Alexane Ricard: So if we see that a dog that has really good engagement and they wear a lot of bandanas or something, we're like, okay, these would be a great fit for one of our client that makes rubber bandanas.
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Alexane Ricard: So it's just a question of who is a good fit.
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Mary Tan: Yeah, and I can tell you that, so I've been doing booth tours since I started at Super Zoo, except for maybe the first year, because I was kind of clueless.
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Mary Tan: But ever since then, I've done booth tours and it's just grown so much that now Alex and I both have to go because we represent anywhere, I would say six to 10 clients, and that's a lot of people and a lot of walking.
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Mary Tan: Oh my gosh.
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Mary Tan: I can hit 20,000 steps at one show.
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Mary Tan: I know I always bring my little Fitbit thing.
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Mary Tan: But that is one thing.
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Mary Tan: You can get the media list and the influencer lists from the different trade shows.
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Mary Tan: And so you can have access to these people.
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Mary Tan: I do the same thing with the press people.
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Mary Tan: And here's the thing, if you don't invite them to go on a tour with you, they're not gonna probably see your booth.
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Mary Tan: They might.
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Mary Tan: They might respond and say, I'll stop by.
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Mary Tan: But nine times out of 10, they don't stop by.
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Mary Tan: So what we do is we ask the media to meet at a certain spot so that we can physically take them from booth to booth.
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Mary Tan: And that way, I can give ROI to our clients because we need to prove our worth and we get a lot of great PR out of it.
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Mary Tan: Wouldn't you say, Alex?
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah, no, definitely.
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Alexane Ricard: And I think especially for PR people, SuperZoo is a great way to network with the media.
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Alexane Ricard: And the more you network, the more you can see what they're gonna publish about your client and you can like really, yeah, I think it's really helpful to meet them in person, to actually like show them instead of just sending them a press release by email.
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Alexane Ricard: So yeah, definitely.
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Mary Tan: Yeah, so you know what?
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Mary Tan: We need to take a break, but after we get back, we're gonna talk about the press list and how it really, really varies.
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Mary Tan: We'll be right back.
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00:14:48.745 --> 00:14:53.165
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Announcer: Let's talk pets.
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Mary Tan: And we are back with Alexander Ricard and Mark Winter, and myself, I'm Mary Tan.
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Mary Tan: And what we were talking about before was the media list and the influencer list that are available at trade shows.
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Mary Tan: But we discovered something really interesting when Alex went to Inner Zoo, isn't that right, Alex?
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah, so Europe is big on privacy and just protecting your personal data, I guess.
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Alexane Ricard: Yes, so they're not allowed to, so Inner Zoo was not allowed to share who was coming to the show.
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Alexane Ricard: So they were not allowed to share any email addresses of the press or of the influencers.
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Alexane Ricard: And that was a big struggle because, you know, with Super Zoo and Global, we're very used to getting that list and to prepare in that way, to write a press release, to send it to the press, to schedule a meeting with them.
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Alexane Ricard: But Inner Zoo, it wasn't like that.
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Alexane Ricard: So that was a bit more challenging to actually speak to the press or the influencers.
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Mary Tan: Yeah, Alex actually went and looked for them.
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Mary Tan: I did.
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Alexane Ricard: And it was very hard.
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Alexane Ricard: And there was no cat influencers.
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Alexane Ricard: So when you have an automatic cat litter box to sell, it was really difficult.
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Mary Tan: Oh yeah.
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Mary Tan: I mean, that's another thing about all the animals that show up to the show.
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Mary Tan: So I bring Franklin, who is an orange kitty, and he's a nightmare at home, but he's great at these trade shows.
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Mary Tan: He's also a therapy cat in training.
00:17:14.984 --> 00:17:20.684
Mary Tan: With one of our, he's going through one of our other clients, pet partners, to pass his therapy test.
00:17:21.004 --> 00:17:23.924
Mary Tan: But having live animals really works, doesn't it, Alex?
00:17:24.224 --> 00:17:25.564
Alexane Ricard: Exactly, that's what I was gonna say.
00:17:25.844 --> 00:17:31.364
Alexane Ricard: One way to jazz up your booth or to attract more people is definitely if you can.
00:17:31.664 --> 00:17:38.184
Alexane Ricard: And if you have an animal that loves the show, then you should definitely bring them to the show because that will bring people over to your booth.
00:17:38.584 --> 00:17:45.084
Mark Winter: I have another tip that when we were at Global, one booth was giving out margaritas, and man, their booth was packed.
00:17:45.284 --> 00:17:47.504
Mark Winter: I said, that might be another idea.
00:17:47.524 --> 00:17:49.604
Mary Tan: That's a fantastic, you know what?
00:17:49.704 --> 00:17:52.764
Mary Tan: Events at your booth always work.
00:17:52.784 --> 00:17:57.204
Mary Tan: And yes, I was shocked at how much alcohol people were giving away.
00:17:57.264 --> 00:18:00.604
Mary Tan: I mean, everybody was having a happy hour at their booth.
00:18:00.804 --> 00:18:05.744
Mary Tan: I saw people that were tipsy, and it wasn't even five o'clock yet.
00:18:07.564 --> 00:18:13.564
Mary Tan: It's amazing, Mark, you're kind of a lush, so it's great if you're Ellie.
00:18:13.604 --> 00:18:15.704
Mark Winter: I'm really not, but I do like a margarita.
00:18:15.724 --> 00:18:32.044
Alexane Ricard: Yeah, and then definitely providing events, but even if you can give away samples, like little samples of your food or your product is really great because you attract people because people love free stuff, even retailers or manufacturers.
00:18:32.064 --> 00:18:41.104
Alexane Ricard: So I think it's great also to provide free samples if you can or something, maybe like, I think Boss Nation is hosting like a raffle prize as well.
00:18:42.444 --> 00:18:45.524
Alexane Ricard: Yeah, so yeah, just like something a little bit different.
00:18:45.724 --> 00:18:50.544
Mary Tan: Yeah, they have special like tchotchkes that they create just for the shows.
00:18:50.944 --> 00:18:56.644
Mary Tan: And then they have this little wheel that you spin and then you can spin to win a prize.
00:18:56.724 --> 00:18:58.724
Mary Tan: And they have dog cat and cat stuff.
00:18:58.724 --> 00:19:00.844
Mary Tan: They do stuff really, really well there.
00:19:00.924 --> 00:19:07.304
Mary Tan: And Basel, the founder, you know, he has that big, is it wolf that you were talking about, Mark?
00:19:07.604 --> 00:19:09.264
Mary Tan: Yeah, and it roared too.
00:19:10.244 --> 00:19:11.384
Mark Winter: It was like really big.
00:19:11.404 --> 00:19:13.664
Mark Winter: It was like 10 feet, 15 feet tall.
00:19:13.684 --> 00:19:14.564
Mark Winter: It was like huge.
00:19:14.864 --> 00:19:17.384
Mary Tan: Yeah, it was really, really amazing.
00:19:17.584 --> 00:19:28.684
Mary Tan: And I don't know if this is just me, but I find that like the mid-level brands, the medium size, not the startups, but not the really big guys, they're the ones that have the most creative booths.
00:19:29.124 --> 00:19:30.604
Mary Tan: That's just my personal opinion.
00:19:30.924 --> 00:19:36.304
Mary Tan: But then, you know, some of the big ones, they'll bring in celebrities to come in and talk about their products.
00:19:36.324 --> 00:19:46.284
Mary Tan: Like Catherine Heigl is gonna be at Super Zoo talking about her new pet food, Badlands Ranch, and Jackson Galaxy has been, Dr.
00:19:46.744 --> 00:19:50.404
Mary Tan: Paul, all of these, a lot of celebrities actually come.
00:19:50.624 --> 00:19:53.724
Mary Tan: But the show is so huge, I always miss them.
00:19:53.964 --> 00:19:56.284
Mary Tan: I mean, it's just impossible to see.
00:19:56.524 --> 00:20:05.384
Mary Tan: And for those of you that don't know that aren't in the pet product side of things, just so you know, the trade shows are where buyers get to see the new products.
00:20:05.844 --> 00:20:12.944
Mary Tan: And another thing is if you have a new product, the new product showcase, you absolutely wanna make the investment to enter it in there.
00:20:13.344 --> 00:20:19.364
Mary Tan: We've actually had some clients win, and it was their first time ever showcasing at the show.
00:20:19.444 --> 00:20:23.564
Mary Tan: And that's another marketing and publicity tool, right Alex?
00:20:23.844 --> 00:20:25.364
Alexane Ricard: Yeah, no, definitely.
00:20:25.524 --> 00:20:31.284
Alexane Ricard: And I was also gonna ask you Mary, like what can people do after the show?
00:20:31.584 --> 00:20:36.584
Alexane Ricard: You know, once Super Zoo is over, how can they follow up with the press?
00:20:36.604 --> 00:20:43.544
Alexane Ricard: Maybe the press that came up to their booth, or you know, just like the general press, how can they take advantage of Super Zoo?
00:20:43.604 --> 00:20:44.764
Alexane Ricard: Like what should they do?
00:20:44.964 --> 00:20:46.424
Mary Tan: Yeah, that's a great question.
00:20:46.624 --> 00:20:47.904
Mary Tan: You have to follow up.
00:20:48.124 --> 00:20:54.604
Mary Tan: Everybody you meet with at these shows, get their cards, get their information, and follow up with them.
00:20:54.984 --> 00:21:01.984
Mary Tan: Even, you know, even if they maybe weren't all that interested, just say, hey, if in the future, you know, this is my information.
00:21:02.004 --> 00:21:07.604
Mary Tan: If you're interested in my product, keep my information, and we'd be glad to help you in the future.
00:21:08.004 --> 00:21:14.664
Mary Tan: When it comes to the press, what's really interesting is they all do Super Zoo and Global Pet and Inner Zoo wrap-ups.
00:21:14.804 --> 00:21:20.324
Mary Tan: Sometimes they'll do like a press release, you know, summarizing what happened.
00:21:20.504 --> 00:21:28.024
Mary Tan: Like at Boss Nation, for example, one of our clients, they do a dinner, an awards dinner, during these shows.
00:21:28.104 --> 00:21:37.784
Mary Tan: And so, you know, we'll put out a press release for that, and we send that to the Pet Trade Media, who are all in attendance, and their editors are all there.
00:21:38.324 --> 00:21:41.404
Mary Tan: And so, yeah, so follow up with them.
00:21:41.504 --> 00:21:58.424
Mary Tan: And then what happened is from doing this so long, when I initially started, the editors, once they get to know you, they're gonna reach out to you when they need, you know, when they need a raw pet food expert, or they need somebody who's an expert in feline accessories.
00:21:58.824 --> 00:22:02.524
Mary Tan: And so this is a wonderful place to make these contacts.
00:22:02.884 --> 00:22:05.544
Mary Tan: I also urge you to go to the networking events.
00:22:05.564 --> 00:22:09.244
Mary Tan: You're not gonna get a lot of the show if you don't meet the right people, right?
00:22:09.404 --> 00:22:14.124
Mary Tan: The world is all about networking and making the right contacts.
00:22:14.544 --> 00:22:20.544
Mary Tan: And if you just stay in your hotel room, that's just, you know, that's not gonna be worth your while.
00:22:20.644 --> 00:22:28.524
Mary Tan: I know they're so exhausting, and there's a lot of times I'm like dead tired, but you just get out there and you meet people.
00:22:28.644 --> 00:22:32.904
Mary Tan: And the pet industry is such, everybody loves animals.
00:22:33.144 --> 00:22:35.744
Mary Tan: So there's always something to talk about.
00:22:35.764 --> 00:22:37.264
Mary Tan: And wouldn't you say that, Alex?
00:22:37.264 --> 00:22:38.724
Mary Tan: There's always so much to talk about.
00:22:38.744 --> 00:22:44.884
Mary Tan: And anybody in the pet industry always tends to gravitate together, and there's always something to talk about.
00:22:45.004 --> 00:22:46.444
Alexane Ricard: Yeah, no, for sure.
00:22:47.024 --> 00:22:53.584
Alexane Ricard: And I think these shows are really, really great, yet to exactly what Mary said, make great connection that will help you at one point.
00:22:53.584 --> 00:22:57.864
Alexane Ricard: Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week, but maybe next year or something.
00:22:57.884 --> 00:23:02.424
Alexane Ricard: So keep those contacts, definitely follow up, and they will always be useful to have.
00:23:02.624 --> 00:23:08.784
Mary Tan: So Mark, as an attendee of these shows, what are you looking for to put somebody on your shows?
00:23:08.904 --> 00:23:11.284
Mark Winter: First, I want to say about the networking.
00:23:11.584 --> 00:23:15.364
Mark Winter: Like at Global, at the end of the first night, they have this big networking event.
00:23:15.604 --> 00:23:20.144
Mark Winter: And of course, people have already been drinking, so they're really, really friendly to begin with.
00:23:20.324 --> 00:23:24.864
Mark Winter: We stand at a table, and like I said, we have our PetLife Radio shirts, and we have our signs.
00:23:25.024 --> 00:23:31.984
Mark Winter: So people find us right away, and we welcome them to come over, and they know who we are, and they come right to us.
00:23:32.144 --> 00:23:35.804
Mark Winter: What we look for, like I said, are things that are different.
00:23:36.024 --> 00:23:40.084
Mark Winter: To give you a plug, the La La Home, their products are really cool.
00:23:40.104 --> 00:23:43.024
Mark Winter: Their litter box and their water fountain, which we actually have one.
00:23:43.484 --> 00:23:46.864
Mark Winter: And so things like that, we want to talk to them about.
00:23:47.084 --> 00:23:52.324
Mary Tan: Yeah, I mean, I think it's innovation is always going to get you attention.
00:23:52.344 --> 00:23:53.324
Mary Tan: Wouldn't you agree?
00:23:53.344 --> 00:23:55.544
Mark Winter: Oh, yeah, of course.
00:23:56.504 --> 00:23:58.844
Mark Winter: Like I said, we don't want to see the same thing over and over again.
00:23:59.104 --> 00:24:02.764
Mark Winter: Especially Michelle for Best Bets for Pets, which is our pet product show.
00:24:02.804 --> 00:24:06.884
Mark Winter: We get a lot of requests to be on, and she's looking, oh, well, we had this already.
00:24:06.904 --> 00:24:07.704
Mark Winter: We had this already.
00:24:07.724 --> 00:24:10.064
Mark Winter: I don't want this because we had this like five times already.
00:24:10.284 --> 00:24:12.304
Mark Winter: I mean, a couple of products she had on.
00:24:12.724 --> 00:24:14.324
Mark Winter: Well, I don't know if they ever were successful.
00:24:15.424 --> 00:24:23.224
Mark Winter: We had one early on where you put this jacket on your dog, and it turns your dog into a boombox, and music comes out of your dog.
00:24:23.224 --> 00:24:24.884
Mark Winter: I mean, it was like a really interesting.
00:24:24.904 --> 00:24:28.684
Mark Winter: I don't know if it ever was successful, but it was a really fun product.
00:24:28.704 --> 00:24:33.744
Mark Winter: So we had them on, and things like that are really fun to talk about because people were interested.
00:24:33.764 --> 00:24:37.744
Mary Tan: Yeah, it's also a great place to meet everybody.
00:24:38.004 --> 00:24:41.524
Mary Tan: Everybody is there who is critical in the pet industry.
00:24:41.524 --> 00:24:47.004
Mary Tan: So there's a ton of distributors there as well, sales reps and that sort of thing.
00:24:47.404 --> 00:24:51.044
Mary Tan: And so, yeah, I can't stress enough to work it.
00:24:51.124 --> 00:24:53.284
Mary Tan: You've paid an investment to be there.
00:24:53.304 --> 00:24:56.064
Mark Winter: I have a tip too for these larger companies.
00:24:56.444 --> 00:24:56.864
Mary Tan: Yeah.
00:24:56.884 --> 00:24:59.384
Mark Winter: I went to these large booths of these large companies.
00:24:59.624 --> 00:25:03.944
Mark Winter: They've got a million people in their booth, salespeople, and whatever.
00:25:03.964 --> 00:25:11.104
Mark Winter: And then we go in to interview people and they're like, oh, our marketing person isn't here right now, so we can't talk to you right now.
00:25:11.184 --> 00:25:12.184
Mark Winter: Can you come back later?
00:25:12.204 --> 00:25:13.504
Mark Winter: We're not gonna come back later.
00:25:13.524 --> 00:25:14.204
Mark Winter: We're there now.
00:25:14.464 --> 00:25:20.744
Mark Winter: So you need to train all your people in your booth that if someone comes and wants to interview you, that you're capable of doing that.
00:25:20.924 --> 00:25:25.244
Mark Winter: You can't just wait for somebody that's off having lunch or something to come back because we're not coming back.
00:25:25.404 --> 00:25:25.784
Mary Tan: Yeah.
00:25:25.944 --> 00:25:28.644
Mary Tan: That is a fantastic point, Mark.
00:25:28.704 --> 00:25:30.884
Mary Tan: Completely forgot all about that.
00:25:30.984 --> 00:25:31.384
Mary Tan: Yeah.
00:25:31.404 --> 00:25:36.384
Mary Tan: You definitely want to train multiple people to be able to talk to the press who are there.
00:25:36.404 --> 00:25:40.044
Mary Tan: Because the show is like five or six football fields.
00:25:40.764 --> 00:25:42.364
Mary Tan: You know, they're not going to come back.
00:25:42.404 --> 00:25:46.844
Mary Tan: So make sure you have multiple people there that are authorized to speak.
00:25:46.884 --> 00:25:49.324
Mary Tan: That is so important.
00:25:49.484 --> 00:25:51.364
Mark Winter: We're only talking to them for like two minutes.
00:25:51.384 --> 00:25:55.044
Mark Winter: I mean, if you can't talk about your product for like two minutes, then why are you in your booth?
00:25:55.064 --> 00:25:57.324
Mark Winter: I mean, how can you sell if you don't know what you're talking about?
00:25:58.004 --> 00:26:02.164
Mary Tan: And to be honest, I find a lot of the salespeople really good speakers.
00:26:02.324 --> 00:26:04.424
Mary Tan: I mean, that's in their nature, right?
00:26:04.504 --> 00:26:07.224
Mary Tan: And I've had that happen to me before as well.
00:26:08.184 --> 00:26:12.304
Mary Tan: But yeah, this is just amazing and it's such a fun time.
00:26:12.584 --> 00:26:16.464
Mary Tan: What other tips and tricks do you think, Alex, that people should know out there?
00:26:16.864 --> 00:26:18.884
Alexane Ricard: Well, I think we did quite good.
00:26:18.904 --> 00:26:27.224
Alexane Ricard: So we told them to be special about their booth, bring something unique, either something alive or not alive, just some colors or something, a free sample.
00:26:28.604 --> 00:26:34.944
Alexane Ricard: Reach out to the press beforehand or to anyone you want to talk to, schedule meetings so you don't waste your time.
00:26:35.244 --> 00:26:38.264
Alexane Ricard: Go out there, don't stay just sitting on your booth.
00:26:38.284 --> 00:26:45.524
Alexane Ricard: No, no, no, just get up, go talk to people, walk around, try to make connection, attend all of the events that you can.
00:26:45.864 --> 00:26:49.024
Alexane Ricard: And yeah, just make the most of it and have fun.
00:26:49.044 --> 00:26:51.004
Alexane Ricard: I think that's really important as well.
00:26:51.244 --> 00:26:59.724
Alexane Ricard: Show that you're having fun and that you're passionate about your product and that you have to also show people that you're excited about it and not just...
00:27:00.204 --> 00:27:01.584
Mary Tan: Yeah, absolutely.
00:27:01.584 --> 00:27:07.724
Mary Tan: And then one last thing, don't forget that you can put press releases in the press room.
00:27:08.044 --> 00:27:19.644
Mary Tan: So you don't need a press pass to walk in there and just you'll see there's a whole bookcase of press releases and some companies even leave tchotchkes and different things like that.
00:27:19.964 --> 00:27:31.324
Mary Tan: We generally recommend you put the tchotchkes at your booth because we kind of give it, we kind of give the free samples and different things as a reward for going on our booth tours.
00:27:32.624 --> 00:27:42.624
Mary Tan: And so yeah, so also when you attend our booth tours, it's going to be the marketing person or the founder at each booth who gives a 30 second spiel.
00:27:42.844 --> 00:27:51.184
Mary Tan: Keep it short and tight because our booth tours, we only have a limited amount of time with these reporters and digital creators.
00:27:51.204 --> 00:27:55.204
Mary Tan: So you really need to have your ducks in a row with what you're gonna tell them.
00:27:55.524 --> 00:27:57.704
Mary Tan: And then what you should also be prepared.
00:27:57.704 --> 00:27:59.544
Mary Tan: What do you want out of it?
00:27:59.624 --> 00:28:00.524
Mary Tan: And that sort of thing.
00:28:00.544 --> 00:28:02.244
Mary Tan: And of course, we help you with that.
00:28:02.564 --> 00:28:06.144
Mary Tan: But anyways, that is a wrap for this show.
00:28:06.344 --> 00:28:09.084
Mary Tan: We're so excited to be doing this for all of you.
00:28:09.104 --> 00:28:15.024
Mary Tan: We hope that you found this useful and got the question that you want us to answer.
00:28:15.044 --> 00:28:20.044
Mary Tan: Reach out to us on Facebook or Instagram under the Whisker Report.
00:28:20.064 --> 00:28:24.124
Mary Tan: And we're gonna try to answer your questions in a future podcast episode.
00:28:24.144 --> 00:28:28.704
Alexane Ricard: But as we always say, bark loud and purr smart.
00:28:29.644 --> 00:28:30.524
Mary Tan: Bye everybody.
00:28:31.904 --> 00:28:32.924
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