When executed properly, a great public relations strategy enhances your company’s image at any trade show or event. It can be an influential marketing tool that helps build traffic, targets key customers, generates qualified leads and increases sales which ultimately lead to a better show. Having a public relations strategy to inform more people about your presence at an upcoming trade show is important but not as easy as simply typing a general email to send to every media contact you have.
If your company does not have a public relations department and you want to take on the task of crafting a press release, use these tips:
- Seduce the journalist and quickly: Journalists get hundreds of press release every day. You have to make your release stand out.
- Stick to the facts: A journalist is not going to run a press release filled with marketing fluff or industry jargon. Remember they are reporting news, not trying to increase sales for your company.
- Find an angle: Focus on new products or services that will be present at your trade show exhibit. Product differentiation is a good angle as well as promotional giveaways (as long as they are good giveaways) or contests. You can even focus on general sessions if someone from your company is speaking.
Now that you have crafted a press release to let the world know your company with be exhibiting at the XYZ trade show, you need to try and get the press to run it and hopefully get them to your booth for an interview.
- Ask for a list of pre-registered press attendees from show management. Please note that not all show management companies are willing to provide you with this list. If this is the case, you will need to do some research. Start several weeks before the show opens, look for which publications have attended the same trade show and wrote articles about it in the past.
- Send the message to the masses along with the carefully selected journalists previously identified. Getting the information to the masses is important and part of the reason you are starting a public relations campaign. You can accomplish this by using an online newswire service, such as prnewswire.com, bussinesswire.com or freepressrelease.com. Some of these are paid services, while others are free. It’s important to note that the paid services give your press release a better chance of making it to the editor’s desk while the free services are better for search engine optimization (SEO).
After sending out the initial press release, following up is crucial.
Call each journalist you directly sent the press release to and pitch interview opportunities at the show. Ask if they plan on running your release. The more information you have the better. If you are going to send out a press release, you must also make a comprehensive media kit to hand out at the show, as you never who is going to show up. Your media kit should include background information about your company while outlining or highlighting new products and services.
Don’t get overwhelmed, you can enlist Apple Rock to help craft your trade show public relations strategy. Contact us today to see how.
