Let’s Go On With The Show

2012-02-14 10:53:33 by Craig

Exhibiting at a trade show or exhibition is a great opportunity to meet the press, and an ideal focus for a solution launch, isn’t it?  It certainly can be, but it’s important that you approach it in the right way.  Let’s have a brief look at an exhibition from the journalist’s perspective.

A typical trade show may have 50, 100 or more exhibitors.  Journalists may be attending the show for just one day out of the two- or three-day duration, which means they cannot hope to meet with every exhibitor to get their news.  As a result, the press will be selective about who they meet, and will be under pressure from their editors to justify their time out of the office.

So if you’re thinking of trying to set up press meetings at an exhibition, ask yourself these questions:  what news do we have to share?  Is it genuinely big news – such as a brand-new device – or just a relatively minor update to existing solutions?  Also, who will be available to brief the journalists?  If it’s big news, you need a senior person to deliver it – not whichever sales or marketing person happens to be available to attend the event on the day.

Even then, launching a product at a show can be fraught with issues, many of which are beyond your control.  If you’re at an exhibition with, say, Microsoft, and they choose to make a major announcement that clashes with your launch, the media at the show will inevitably go to the Microsoft launch, not yours.

So to make the most of a show’s PR opportunities, why not take a broader view and look at briefing journalists in the weeks before, or even after, the event?  Most of your fellow exhibitors will be so focused on the show itself that there’s something of a ‘news vacuum’ in the run-up to and aftermath of the event.  Journalists welcome good, hard news stories during these times.

Alternatively, pre-brief the press on your news in the days before the event, so the story can be prepared ready for publication on the show’s first day.

While exhibitions are an important part of the marketing mix for companies, it’s important not to let them totally dictate your PR schedules.  By thinking around the event, you can make the most of media opportunities while going on with the show.