I attended the recent Outsource World New York 2007 trade show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. Outsource World was co-located with a larger tech industry show called Interop.

In addition to our U.S.-based clients, my company, Mitra Creative, works with a number of overseas business enterprises, principally in the technology field. To date, our international clients have hailed primarily from Asia, including India, Taiwan, Mainland China and Bangladesh. I attended this year’s Outsource World show to see if we might find potential new clients and partners.

I started my Javits Center visit at Interop, where the principal representation was from very large IT companies. As stated on the Interop website, these included “APC, Cisco, Citrix, Foundry Networks, IBM, Juniper Networks, Microsoft, Nokia, ShoreTel and Siemens.” I saw leading telcos, additional manufacturers, but few VARs/integrators. Almost all were big name brands that did not have to work very hard to present their identity. From a “buzz” perspective, the show achieved its usual success.

When I migrated to Outsource World, virtually all of the providers, from Asia, Europe and Eastern Europe, South America, etc., were, as I expected, software, application and web developers. Though a highly professional and well-organized show overall, I confess it was not very well-attended. As my eyes swept around the room, I realized why.

Trade shows, in the current day, are “consolidating”. That’s a polite way of saying that they are still vital parts of the marketing and sales canvas, but the most successful shows present brands which are very clearly defined. Branding of that level of effectiveness usually comes from household names with big budgets. Smaller, earnest, independent brands struggle to compete with such powerful identity.

The exception to the rule is the provider that, even if on a start-uppy, grass-roots level, can articulate their NICHE FOCUS. At a different, recent NYC trade show, I saw a still enterprising, still young-ish company called OOMA, that has been quite successful in articulating why their technology — a broadband telecommunications device — is special. They have a succinct elevator pitch, and are very clear in demonstrating how their machine stands above the VoIP pack. “NO CHARGE for calls in the US! Instant Second Line™ Broadband Answering Machine™”, etc. Powerful stuff, including their own, branded, value-added offerings–a simple pitch that has broad appeal. One of our clients, Annet Technologies, a custom software and application development/customization firm based in India and the U.S., has — through their own hard work and our help — done something similar. They have found a unique voice. Though their offerings are far broader than OOMA’s, and certainly similar to those of many competitors, their uniqueness comes from having obtained deep industry experience in the Real Estate vertical. They have invested in niche focus while still delivering powerful cost-controls for their clients; therefore, making themselves special.

This, I confess, was what was missing at Outsource World. All of the offerings seemed similar. I had a lot of difficulty finding in their marketing materials that “magical” niche focus — vertical industry expertise, a very specialized development focus, etc. — that would grab my attention. Often, the same situation exists for VARs and integrators in the U.S. They have had years of entrenchment with long-term clients, and can show past success through direct sales relationships, but they are missing any kind of messaging and differentiation that can pull them away from exclusive reliance on the “books of business” of existing and new sales teams. These companies may have done remarkable, unique things for their financial services, medical and legal industry, media and entertainment, public sector, retail, education and other clients, or they may have very special partnerships with IT manufacturers with numerous levels of differentiation, but articulation of this is nil.

Custom software development firms in the U.S. and throughout the world, VARs, integrators, etc.–FIND YOUR VOICE! For U.S. IT service companies with access to MDF monies from leading manufacturer partners, don’t leave these funds on the table, use them to bring out your organization’s individualistic qualities. For enterprises without benefit of such partner relationships, spend your marketing budget wisely–come to trade shows, etc. with a strong story to tell about the unique things that you do. For all of the companies described here, these practices will, without a doubt, make B2B clients take notice and, subsequently, will create profitable new business opportunities for you.

I have worked in the High Tech industry for more than a decade in marketing, communications, consulting and business development roles. The most consistent trend that I’ve observed while serving in these positions is the shift in the reseller and integrator environments, in terms of brand equity, mission and sales focus, to the IT business solution.

In the new millennium, small, medium and large business enterprises have de-emphasized the value of purchasing technologies as commodities. Today, vertical end-users and CFO’s are more often final arbiters on technology purchases, forcing reseller channels to retrench their client outreach. This puts critical business issues (CBIs) at the forefront instead of bits, bytes and service cost reductions alone. Solving real business problems, in terms of how a client raises their shareholder value, how they interface with their customers, how they comply with regulations, how they reduce real estate burden costs by virtualizing technologies, etc., gets the power-sponsor to respond and sign a deal.

My current firm, Mitra Creative, supports the marketing needs of a number of reseller, integrator and custom software development company clients. We are building new branding, communications, salesforce automation and digital/print advertising and promotional solutions every day that respond to the needs of high tech companies to sell to business end-users. We will delineate these trends and some of the solutions that Mitra Creative and others have devised to respond to the current requirements of tech marketing and business development in coming entries. Stay tuned!