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The powerful comms combo between strategy and creativity
As communications professionals, our work requires both strategic thinking and creativity in a world where so many have something to say. ...Read more
As we head into March, many PR professionals will be thinking about the various trade shows that take place across the UK. They are great for meeting prospective customers, current customers, journalists and partners. But how can you make the most of the opportunity?
Before you even start any planning or event management for any show, you must first consider your business objectives and what you want to achieve from the show. How does this event link in with your long term business goals and what do you want to see as an end result?
Getting the basics right from the get go is essential and we have a formula for that. Inspired by the 7 Ps of marketing, we have our very own 4 Ps of trade show PR success:
The pitch you give to media, prospective customers, current customers or general consumers visiting your stand is vital in how your product or service comes across. Remember you need to be sure that your pitch is relevant to your audience - ie a journalist will have a different interest to a prospective customer.
You might say it can revolutionise the future of your industry, but why not show them how it can? Reckon you’ve got the fastest widget in your industry? Show them by comparing it to your competitors.
I once attended a stand at a hospitality trade show, in which I was given a thoroughly boring talk about the uses of VR headsets in the hotel industry. It only got interesting when they let me put the headset on. Incorporate your sales/marketing pitch with a live demo and you’ll wow them every time, showing the full range and capability of your offering.
[caption id="attachment_9252" align="aligncenter" width="590"] The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, as seen at CES 2015[/caption]
Our tips
The best spokespeople for new products are often the people who have made or developed the product themselves. These are the people who lived and breathed the R&D of your product on its journey to the market. They’ll know every single detail, ranging from niche technical features to the main benefits. And because it's been their life for the past 18 months, chances are they'll have something that always appeals to the media: passion!
The media are very different to speak to compared to your customers, so you need to consider what journalists want to hear. They’ll want to know make it into a story for their readers so will focus on the newsworthiness.
Our tips
One thing to always have available, if possible, is product samples for the media to take away with them. Journalists can be very competitive when getting samples, and like to have products over a good period of time in order to test them out and provider a view that would resonate with their readers. From a reviews perspective this is particularly helpful as you can do a bulk of your sampling at a trade show and have reviews hit not long after.
Our tips
Your patch (i.e. your stand) is key to drawing people in and you need to stand out from the crowd. Trade shows are busy and being bland risks you just blending in. It’s worth remembering that your stand is a prime piece of PR estate, giving you the chance to conduct some PR research, surveying people to create a story after the show. With high people traffic to the stand, it’s a good opportunity to catch people you might not always get much face-time with – i.e. company executives and customers.
Our tips
You must always remember to think back to your business objectives in your planning. Any PR around the show must contribute to your business goals otherwise you risk a wasted opportunity to make vital sales, vital connections or secure top tier, attention grabbing coverage.
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