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The business axiom that says a company should focus on one strategy, and do it really well, makes total sense to Sandy Cohen.
Yet Cohen's ability to mostly ignore that maxim is mostly why his company, Sarasota-based Design Marketing Group, has not only been able to survive the recession, but make it 20 years. The seven-employee firm, in mission, is an advertising and marketing firm. It does everything from websites to writing brochures to traditional advertising and public relations.
But one of the company's most notable offerings lies in what it calls tradeshow management. That means DMG will design, engineer and build product display booths for tradeshows and other promotional settings. The firm will also handle all the other aspects of the tradeshow for a client, from reserving space to arranging the delivery and assembly of the booth. It will install the booth at the site, and then tear it down when the show is over.
Says Cohen: “We can produce these bizarre niche solutions.”
A perfect example: DMG is currently working on a 500-count display booth project for Lumateq, an LED lighting company that's a division of Miami-based Taco Metals. The booths aren't for tradeshows. Instead, the booths are for Lumateq to display its lighting products in hardware and specialty retail stores.
DMG began work on the Lumateq booths in early April. It has produced about 20-25 booths a day, with a two-man crew doing most of the work. Cohen says the biggest challenge is to balance all the moving parts. “It has to be safe,” says Cohen. “It has to be slick and clean. It can't be a backyard science project.”
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