Can I Buy You a Drink?

There have been many articles written on trade shows. I've certainly written a few of them myself. But here is one from a different perspective.

The headline of this article came from time spent in the lounge of my hotel while at the PPAI Expo. It was extracted from a conversation I had with Promo Marketing editor, Kyle Richardson. I've worked with Kyle for a year. While we have talked on the phone several times and are always connecting via e-mail, I had never met him personally.

While visiting with an old industry friend, Anthony Stover, he mentioned that Kyle was on the other side of the room. I wanted to meet Kyle at the show, but time was getting eaten alive with everything I needed to do. Anthony noted that Kyle has four earrings in one ear and two in the other. It was a bit odd to walk through the lounge looking for earrings on someone... and trying to count four and two of them (it's Vegas, so it isn't like this is too far out to see). Anyway, Kyle and I ended up meeting face to face and had the chance to spend some quality time together.

We discussed the challenges of being in the promotional products business these days. I was curious to learn how this young, hip guy got into our industry. It was good to get to know more about the editor who has been a pleasure to work with. I also wanted to know how my "Jeff's Rant" articles compared to others in terms of views and comments. It was nice to discover I am among the top blog posters.

In our discussion, Kyle explained that opened articles are driven by catchy headlines, something that could be perceived as controversial, including numbers... like "5 ways to ??," or headlines that ask a question. Through this conversation I decided to entitle this piece "Can I Buy You a Drink?" This is good information to know as you reach out to your clients. To grab attention in your correspondence, consider using a strong headline.