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It is easy to think that by planning the budget, booking the space, organizing the stand design, briefing the staff and then turning up is enough to get the most out of your time at an exhibition. However, there is a lot of work that can be done behind the scenes, both before, during and after the show to maximise your presence at the event itself and in the local market. Good PR can extend the benefits and increase return on investment for a considerable time before and after the event itself.
Here are some things to think about.
- Ensure you have completed any and all details on the show website or application forms, especially where you have the opportunity to place a press release or product listing without charge.
- Draft a pre show release about your company, product and what you will be bringing to the show. Contact the show organizers and ask them for their PR agency contacts. Any good PR company will be looking for stories to run on the show and the more interesting the material the better. Do you have a new product to launch? Do you have a deal to announce? Do you have an unusual stand display? Send photographs along with the information.
- Ask the show organiser about the pre show press conference. Some shows will allow exhibitor press releases or brochures to be distributed at the press conference.
- Contact your national trade office if attending a show overseas. Many countries have a trade council affiliated to the embassy. Sometimes they provide country information and statistics to PR agencies and publications to boost trade between the host and home countries. They can include specific company information and also sometimes produce CD’s with company listings in different industry sectors.
- Find out where the Press Office is at the show and ensure you go in and introduce yourself, provide literature to leave in the press office and encourage them to direct any visiting media to your stand.
- Contact the media outlet that is responsible for production of the show daily. Send them information and pictures prior to the event and follow up whilst you are there.
- Try to get contact details of key local media beforehand and invite them to your stand for interviews. If there is sufficient budget, you can organize a press meet at the stand with refreshments. If possible contact them well in advance as key monthly magazines that are likely to cover the show may do a “Show Preview” in which they could include your product details.
- After the show, issue a post show press release on the results of your time at the event, circulate this to media at home and in the show market place as well as to your client base.
Most of these things will not involve great cost but will add value to your investment as well as strengthening your position and branding in that market.
Engaging in a strategic public relations program to accompany your exhibition booking will provide you with an effective way of communicating with your target audiences to create name and brand recognition and help to establish a desired image in what is possibly a new or foreign market.
Apart from the getting your name out there, good PR can also help the sales effort. Articles and public discussions of your product or service will lead to potential customers asking for more information and customers are more likely to give credibility to what they read in respected media. These inquiries can lead to direct sales.
So it pays to tie in your PR plans from the very beginning of your exhibition planning and to ensure that sufficient time and importance is placed on this aspect of the preparation.
As always good preparation and research are the foundations to success.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
