Trade shows like Mobile World Congress 2020 in Barcelona are an important way many companies, large and small, get publicity for their new 5G wireless products and services like smartphones, tablets and apps. Now that MWC20 is cancelled, what are other effective ways companies attract attention to what they are introducing this year? Smart companies already know.
The wireless industry has been and will continue to be a loud, fast growing and always changing space. 5G is only pouring gasoline on this already burning fire. And that flash fire will last for years. This is the noise level you must rise above to get your message heard by users, investors, workers and more.
As an industry analyst for 35 years, I have watched the wireless industry grow and change in different ways. Some companies get seen and heard and get their messages out. Others struggle to be noticed.
However, if every company would learn lessons from the leaders, they would be very happy with their ability to get their messages out into the marketplace.
Companies must find new ways to punch their way onto the radar with public relations
Over the last three decades, I have learned there are many ways successful companies can punch their way onto the radar.
Whether the company is large or small, new or old, selling products or services, certain executives think differently. This different way of thinking about marketing, advertising and PR is what helps them get noticed and helps make them successful.
Sometimes executives of successful firms take on a Superman air. They no longer think they need any help from anyone, and they make that clear with their arrogant attitude. That is a mistake.
When tough times come, and they always come, these are the companies who really need help. Yet, they have not spent the time and energy over the years building their brand and relationships with key people who can help.
This is when their arrogance can turn around and bite them.
Plan for marketing success or failure in wireless and smartphone makers
Over time, there have been many companies I have seen experience this kind of panic. Let me just give you a few key examples.
Motorola lead the wireless world for decades. That leadership position made them think they would always be successful. However, they suddenly fell off the fast-track in the mid 1990’s when the wireless handset industry moved from analog to digital. They never recovered their leadership position.
Blackberry and Nokia took the lead from Motorola in wireless handsets and hung onto it for the next decade. However, they too lost their way when the first Apple iPhone and Google Android hit the marketplace. That sent them to the bottom of the list of competitors virtually overnight along with Motorola.
While these companies are still around today, and they are not leaders like they were. They are a shadow of their former self. Sure, that could change, and I hope they stick around and do better.
However, it has already been a decade or two or three. That’s the price they pay for thinking they were Superman. They never built relationships with people who could help them, and they are paying the price.
How do successful companies stay successful with marketing and PR?
Instead, true long-term success leaders act more like an Octopus with many arms. They know they are successful, and they want to stay successful. They fear falling off the edge like other past leaders have done.
Executives who run these companies never let success go to their heads. These companies strike up long-term relationships with a wide variety of people and companies who can help them stay on top.
Some of this is advertising, marketing or public relations. Today, these terms encompass so much more than they did a decade or two ago.
Influencer, key opinion leader, PR, advertising and marketing agencies
There are plenty of specialists in these areas. Some are individuals, social media influencers, key opinion leaders, advertising agencies and marketing companies, media and more with big idea they talk about every day.
They tackle questions like, why is Apple so successful with the iPhone, iPad tablet and more? Why does AT&T lead the wireless carrier innovation space? How did T-Mobile, a company on the brink of failure, recover and grow? Why does Qualcomm lead the 5G transformation space for networks? And countless others.
Why are Apple iPhone, Google Android, AT&T, Qualcomm and T-Mobile successful?
Some companies show strong growth. Others not so much. What’s the difference?
There are so many stories of successful companies. These are all companies who are successful and building their brand and their presence in the industry. However, each of these are doing it in different ways.
The wireless industry is loud and raucous. It’s difficult for brands to rise above this high noise level and get their messages heard. I can be nearly impossible for smaller, lesser known companies to do so.
If that is the key to long-term success, what’s the secret to success?
Every company should take a lesson from the ultra-successful companies who not only cracked the code, but continually focus on learning more and new ways to continue to build their influence and to grow.
Companies, even successful companies must remember, this is a continual struggle. The work is never done. There is no break. No time when you reach it where you can just sit back and relax.
When you become successful, you should never sit back and relax. Relaxing is a recipe for disaster. The battle has to be fought every day. The day you stop fighting is the day you stop growing for the long term. Period.
Three different company types: Growing, cresting, struggling
With that said, I have watched how successful companies got there and stay there. They are still on the growing side of the growth wave I frequently talk about.
Other companies get there, then seem to forget how they did it. They tend to grow, then crest and eventually fall. If they are not continually stoking the fire, it tends to die down.
Then there are companies whose attitude is, they don’t need to do any of this. They think they are better than the rest and the world will eventually learn all about them and they will be successful. These companies typically never make it to the big time.
Continual success means always feeding the fire to keep it hot and burning
Success means having a great product and service. Success also means being able to tell the world about it.
It means creating the next growth wave before the current one crests and falls.
So, let me ask you an important question. Which category does your company fall into? Are you growing, cresting or struggling?
That’s the most important question you should be asking. Make sure your company and executives are on the right, long-term path for success and growth.
Especially now that Mobile World Congress Barcelona is cancelled. You must find other ways to have your messages rise above the noise of the industry.
Since MWC20 is cancelled, I think we can expect many others over the next year or two to be cancelled as well.
This is a great opportunity for every competitor to learn new ways to reach out to the world and be heard above the high industry noise level.
That means companies need to take their marketing, advertising and public relations on a new path if they want to continue to grow and to be successful. Follow the way other successful companies do this. If you do it right, you will succeed.
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