Pitney Bowes is a $6.3 billion mailstream technology firm specializing in mail, documents and packages. It is using mobile to drive traffic to its booth at trade shows and events -- a goal for all business-to-business companies at such networking expos.

Lenore O'Connor, director of trade shows and customer events at Pitney Bowes, Stamford, CT, talks to Mobile Marketer's Mickey Alam Khan about her company's strategy to integrate mobile into the overall marketing outreach to prospects at conferences. Pitney Bowes' entry into mobile marketing is only a year old, but the company is convinced that the channel works best when combined with an incentive. Excerpts from this conversation:

What is Pitney Bowes using mobile for?
Pitney Bowes is using mobile as an integrated component of our marketing campaigns at key trade shows and events to help drive awareness and foot traffic to our booth.

We have been tailoring mobile and other marketing elements for each venue according to the audience and location. Integrated marketing elements have included text messaging, direct mail, leaflets in registration bags and non-traditional tactics like bus-wraps.

Have the text message efforts worked out so far?
We have received very positive feedback so far from trade show and event attendees.

A few of our key findings include response rates depend on the audience, demographic and what the offer is. There has to be a compelling reason and incentive for the recipient to respond.

What role does mobile play in your customer acquisition efforts?
At Pitney Bowes, integrated marketing is a critical component of our customer-acquisition strategy.

For example, we use a mix of marketing channels to communicate with customer prospects, including direct mail, the Internet, telemarketing and traditional advertising. This helps optimize and manage every touch point to enhance the customer experience and build more effective relationships.

We see mobile as another valuable channel in our marketing mix that can help us reach customers and prospects. It also helps us communicate the wide range of technology, products and services we offer that customers and prospects might not have known us for.

Any recent mobile efforts?
All of our campaigns have revolved around integrated marketing or 360-degree marketing. We incorporated mobile, direct mail campaigns, email campaigns, advertising, inserts and Web, according to the audience and venue, to reach out to our customers and prospects.

At the events and trade shows we focused on incorporating these touch points to help leave no stone unturned and drive attendees to our booth or the event.

â?¢ World Business Forum '07 (New York, October 2007): We handed out business cards, using recycled paper, with instructions to receive speaker notes that were being transcribed by a professional note taker for the 12 different sessions.

Attendees could text us their email address and we notified them when the notes were available and could be viewed.

This campaign was successful not only for the mobile aspect, but once attendees visited the Web site they were able to opt in to receive additional information including Pitney Bowes' editorial advisory publication, "Pivotal Thoughts." This enabled us to continue a dialogue with attendees.

â?¢ GraphExpo '07 (Chicago, September 2007): The target audiences for this show are service bureaus and printers. We developed a program to help drive prospects to our booth with marketing elements including a bus wrap, a handout in the shape of a card and text messaging.

The offer encouraged attendees to text message the words "Graph Expo" to PITNEY and show the acknowledgement to receive a free gift. This helped spark interest in driving people to our booth.

After qualifying prospects and interest, we directed attendees to the appropriate Pitney Bowes subject matter expert to provide additional information and demonstrations.

We received a response rate similar to a typical direct mail program. In this emerging media channel, this is considered to be a good response rate.

â?¢ eBay Live! 2008 (Chicago, June 2008): This is the closest venue that Pitney Bowes attends that is a consumer event. The target audience is the small office/home office.

We utilized mobile as a part of our marketing mix to help drive traffic to our booth and learn about our latest custom postage product.

This product allows users to select images to be uploaded to the Web site and once approved, postage can be printed with the image on it. This is a great opportunity for holidays, graduations, special occasions and events.

We created 10 stamps total, nine were given out during the three days of the show. We had a registration bag insert, an ad in the show program and business cards were handed out at the booth. This enabled attendees to receive alerts prior to us handing out the commemorative postage at the booth.

Why mobile in those cases?
It was an integrated component of our marketing program to reach out to customers and prospects to help raise awareness of Pitney Bowes, our wide range of technology, products and services, and drive attendees to our booth or the event.

Did the efforts cost a lot?
It was consistent with other direct mail campaigns.

What about other mobile efforts, including one done at a Direct Marketing Association event? Lessons learned from those?
Knowing your audience and making sure the offer is compelling enough to drive them to the booth are key components for success.

At the DMA show, we used mobile as a part of our integrated marketing mix to help drive traffic to our booth, and raise awareness of our comprehensive technology, solution and service offerings.

Several of our business areas participated with different customers at the show. Our marketing campaign helped raise awareness and increase knowledge about our expanded offerings.

What's the big challenge these days with trade shows and visitors?
The challenge is getting customers and prospects to the show in general and once they are there, driving them to your booth.

The key is finding effective ways to set your company apart and communicate your value proposition for helping customers and prospects to help solve their business challenges and take advantage of opportunities for their organization.

What are some of the challenges you see with mobile in your trade show efforts?
One of the challenges is adoption of mobile technology and text messaging with different audiences.

At the trade shows and events where we have utilized mobile marketing, adoption varied greatly depending on whether it was a business-to-business or consumer audience.

Also, the location of shows and events seem to have some influence on this as well.

And some of the advantages?
Advantages include helping to drive awareness and foot traffic to your booth and educating attendees on your comprehensive offerings to help solve their business challenges.

Who are you using to help you with mobile?
We are working with The Hyperfactory to help support our mobile marketing initiatives at trade shows and events.

What else would you like to do in mobile marketing or are considering?
We plan to continue to leverage mobile marketing and text messaging as a component of our integrated marketing mix at key trade shows and events this year.

What lessons have you learned from your mobile outreach so far?
Mobile campaigns need to be simple and compelling to be successful.

Also, interest and response increase when you offer an incentive like a premium item or gift at your booth or sending executive speaker notes to attendees after a conference.

When done effectively, integrated marketing can be a critical component to help drive interest in your offerings and overall value proposition.

The key is knowing your audience, venue, location and using the right mix of marketing channels i.e. direct mail, mobile, the Internet, telemarketing and traditional advertising. This can help optimize and manage every touch point to enhance the customer experience and build more effective relationships.