Creating a Trade Association Or Professional Networking Group on LinkedIn in 30 Minutes
About 15 years ago, I led the restructuring and re-launch of a small product division of a company in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (that is, the "HVAC") industry. Talk about an industry steeped in tradition. It's the domain of plumbers, electrical contractors and a/c installers, many of whom who spend decades in the business - and many come from several generations of HVAC contractors. I was the new guy to the industry, so I simply followed many of the traditional tactics to launch and introduce the new products we created: booth attendance and meetings at regional and industry trade associations, traveling to meet and train our wholesale product distributors, taking customers to pay golf, distributing product flyers at HVAC supply shops, and the like. The main tradeshow was the ASHRAE Conference (sponsored by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, founded in 1894 with over 50,000 members). Held annually, Conferenc...