HOW DO YOU HUNT MOOSE?

Way back in 1985 I was a guest on Robert Schuller’s “Hour of Power.” Schuller is a televangelist who broadcasts a weekly church service from his 10,000-member Crystal Cathedral, in Garden Grove, California.

Dr. Schuller had learned that I grew up with myasthenia gravis (MG), one of the 43 diseases in the muscular dystrophy family. He asked me to share the story of how I managed to live an extremely active and athletic lifestyle despite the effects and limitations of MG. Twice that Sunday morning I stood in front of 4000 people in the Crystal Cathedral’s sanctuary telling my story. It was later broadcast to over twelve million people worldwide. 

Afterwards, while having lunch, Dr. Schuller commented that he thought I could be a successful professional speaker. I didn’t even know there was such a thing! Get PAID to speak?

He laughed and said there were a lot of people around the world getting paid to speak, including himself.

Naturally, I was intrigued by this potential opportunity. But I was definitely puzzled.

“Get paid to speak?’ I asked. “Where do I find people who will pay me to speak?”

He looked at me intently, leaned closer and asked, “How do you hunt moose?”

He saw the puzzlement on my face and laughed again. “That’s not a dumb question, Steve. How would you hunt moose? Would you go to Florida to hunt moose?”

“No, of course not,” I responded. “I’d have to go somewhere north, like Canada.”

“Exactly! You have to go to where the moose hang out. Now what else do you have to do? Would you hunt for a moose using a mouse trap?”

“I’d use some type of moose gun, I suppose. A big one, too.” (Can you tell I’m not a hunter?)

“Keep going,” he said.

“Well, I’d also need to bring some type of moose bait along with me. I could use a moose call, or maybe some food that moose like to eat.”

“Now you’ve got the idea,” he said. “Using this same approach, think about how you would find people who hire speakers.”

I realized this was a very simple approach to understanding what marketing was all about:

• Who is your market?

Dr. Schuller didn’t ask me how to hunt animals. He was very specific about the type of animal to hunt.

• Where does your market hang out?

Again, Dr. Schuller was specific. I’m sure I could find a moose in Florida if I really tried. There might be a couple at the zoos. But my odds were raised by going where they hang out in large quantities – Canada.

• What would attract and catch your market?

I had to figure out what the moose wanted and then develop a way of capturing them.

In the last couple of years, trade shows have really come under the microscope of scrutiny. Attendance figures are off for most events in most industries. Budgets have been cut while costs have still climbed (will we EVER figure out the drayage problem?). Technology has created a multitude of new ways to communicate with your target market.

But despite these problems, the simple fact is this – people are attending trade shows. It really doesn’t bother me too much that total attendance is off. After all, how much is enough? If a show that used to have 15,000 attendees now has 10,000 … well, so what? The question of value for me has little or nothing to do with total attendance. The question of value for me is to ask how many of the 10,000 fit my target market?

Using Dr. Schuller’s simile that marketing is like hunting moose, we can see why this is the correct way to look at trade shows. There might be a lot of animals in Florida. There are alligators, pelicans, flamingos, lizards, seagulls, manatees, frogs, etc., etc. … but no moose.

On the flip side, there are also a lot of animals in Canada – arctic fox, bear, cougar, muskrat, wolf, woodchuck, eagle … and almost one million moose (according to the Canadian Wildlife Service).

When hunting moose, I’m certainly not going to Florida. I’m also not interested in the total animal population in Canada. I am only interested in going to where a large enough quantity of moose are that will increase my odds of bagging one.

The same principles apply to any trade show you are considering. Obviously, you don’t want to exhibit in a show with an extremely low percentage of attendees who fit your target market. But at the same time, you shouldn’t automatically reject an event just because it’s had declining attendance. Those numbers mean nothing.

The only number that means anything is – how many moose are going to be at the show? And if there are a large enough quantity of moose attending a show, you’d better be there! And when you go, make sure you aren’t bringing bait to attract all the other animals – just moose bait.

And don’t forget your moose gun, too.

©2004 Steve Miller