By Keira Shein and Leah Wilkinson
For many companies, tradeshows play a central role in product-planning as well as sales and marketing programs. For PR pros, trade shows offer a prime opportunity for
augmenting clients' PR campaigns and playing a key role in meeting the company's business objectives.
In order to obtain significant ROI on your client's trade show investment, trade shows should be viewed as a unique opportunity for publicity, not just a venue for issuing
press releases. The key is attracting the attention of the attending press and analysts over the hundreds of other exhibiting companies and setting your client apart from the
hundreds of other exhibitors.
Here are 15 quick and easy tips for securing pre-show publicity opportunities at industry tradeshows:
1. Prepare company announcements for release during the event.
2. Register your company's PR contact with the trade show's PR staff to ensure receipt of the pre-registered press list and other timely information.
3. Submit news releases to the conference PR team for distribution to the pre-registered press and analysts and/or for posting on the tradeshow's Web site.
4. If applicable, submit an entry to awards program(s) sponsored by the event organizers or industry publications.
5. Submit news announcements to key trade publications to be considered for inclusion in pre-show issues.
6. Capture the attention of the attending press and analysts, distribute "real news."
7. Only contact the press and analysts that cover/are interested in your company and its product/services.
8. Arrange pre-briefings with key press and analysts prior to the conference.
9. Begin contacting the attending press and analysts approximately one month prior to the show to arrange on-site interviews.
10. Prepare press kits to be displayed in the on-site press center. Avoid odd-sized folders - they may not fit into the press kit display.
11. Invite key members of the press and analyst community to social events.
12. Take advantage of the publicity opportunities generally available to exhibitors by submitting new product releases, company news, etc. to the show daily office to be
considered for inclusion in the daily news publication distributed during the trade show or conference.
13. Provide printed copies of press releases distributed during the show to the Press Center staff for posting.
14. Distribute news releases through the official show wire service. Both BusinessWire and PR Newswire often partner with tradeshows and usually have a representative on-site
at the show.
15. Post your press kit and news releases on Virtual Press Office (http://www.virtualpressoffice.com), an online source for
trade show news and press kits, designed to help exhibiting companies make their information readily available to the press. Contact:
Keira Shein and Leah Wilkinson are the partners and co-founders of WilkinsonShein Communications.
Keira Shein can be reached at [email protected] and Leah Wilkinson can be reached at [email protected].