Going vertical – the trade show road less traveled

July 30, 2010 by Dave Haynes

Say what you will about the software company Wireless Ronin and the sinking ship it may well be, but its execs deserve credit for identifying a vertical and going after it hard.

The company has clearly laid down sector knowledge and service delivery in quick service and fast casual restaurant markets, and unlike many of its competitors who ALSO say “We do that!”, Ronin is actually going to the trade shows that specifically service that market.

I saw a note saying Ronin is having another of its always interesting financial report releases in a couple of weeks, and that led me to the Ronin site – where it mentions it will be at three trade shows in the space of six weeks.

As far as I can tell they will be the only digital menu board software company at the 51st Annual Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators Conference in Orlando, and will only have Wand Corporation to out-pitch at the Dine America show in Atlanta (though NEC and Panasonic are there, too).

The company is also on its own as the Fast Casual Executive Summit in Chicago.

Is the cost worth the investment? Beats me. But this makes a whole pile more sense to me, to follow the targets to their gatherings instead of placing all the bets on the hope they come to the annual digital signage industry’s gatherings.

The financial reports pretty clearly suggest the Ronin folks have gone about a number of things the wrong way, but this approach, I’d suggest, looks pretty smart.