GoKawiilOpinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Key Takeaways Prior to any trade show, ensure the entire internal team is aligned on what the key messaging will be.
When a reporter carves out time for you, make it count. Cap meetings at a maximum of 30 minutes unless the conversation is flowing naturally and they’re clearly engaged.
Once the show wraps, monitor for coverage using free tools like Google Alerts, and compile a results report.
For many marketing teams, trade shows are a necessary evil. Between the booth costs, travel expenses and staff time away from regular duties, the investment is massive. Ask anyone who’s spent the holidays planning for CES, and they’ll tell you: It’s stressful, expensive and often underwhelming.
But the truth is that most companies aren’t maximizing the opportunities in front of them. With the right PR strategy, you can transform your tradeshow presence from a cost center into a coverage-generating machine.
Here’s how to make public relations an integral part of your next show.
Pre-show planning
Prior to any show, ensure the entire internal team is aligned on what the key messaging will be. This should be tightly integrated with what the overall brand of the company is, which should ideally already be communicated through all customer-facing marketing touchpoints. Making sure all attendees are briefed on what the top message will be will not only benefit public relations efforts but also sales and marketing. Create a very short brief that reiterates the main message along with no more than three sub-messages that reinforce the main point. Successful marketing relies on repetition, as does successful media relations.
Next, request the attending media list from event organizers. Most will provide attendee information in the form of a spreadsheet, and if you’re lucky, email addresses too. Without emails, you’ll need to do some digging. PR agencies often use databases like Muckrack, but a Google search or visit to a publication’s website can work just as well. Highlight the key reporters that are top priority for potential coverage.
... continue reading