Melanie Johnson – Account Manager, éclat Marketing
It seems as soon as we wrap up one event project (Mobile World Congress) we are heading straight into preparing our clients for the next big event in the calendar…IPTV World Forum and InfoSecurity Europe!
Events are an important way for many companies to showcase new products, brands and generally get their name out to a captured and targeted audience. With all the pressures on the marketing team to get the stand, collateral and promotional gifts ready, it seems that getting the organisations key messages prepared and out to the media can take a back seat.
Media activity for major exhibitions and conferences can start about six months prior to the event happening. For example, with InfoSecurity Europe, which takes place in April 2010, exhibiting companies were asked to submit speaker submission ideas in October ‘09 for a European press conference that took place in the January ’10. This means that it is more important than ever for companies to get the messaging finalised well in advance so that they are in a good position to successfully approach and pitch for space in relevant publications.
We see far too many companies discussing in detail what news they will announce during the event, but what about the news running up to the show? Many publications that look to cover exhibitions and conferences relevant to their readers will always run previews. These are a great opportunity to create noise prior to an exhibition/conference and drive visitors to the stand. Companies always think that it has to make its biggest announcement of the year during an event. In fact, these news stories will simply get lost and gain no coverage.
If a company does want to announce something during an event and gain coverage, it must make sure that an approved release and confident spokesperson is ready to go before the show. Trust me when I say journalists are bombarded and stalked (at times) by PR’s wanting to get them to meet with their client. A pre-event tour can usually resolve this matter and offers the journalist time to get the news before they drown in all the other stories from the show. Journalists will usually honour an embargo on the news and put it straight up on the publication’s web site when the embargo is lifted, gaining immediate media coverage for the organisation.
With copious amounts of product releases distibuted at exhibitions, journalists always like to get their hands on a new win announcement. If a customer is willing, put them in front of the press to make an independent endorsement on the product that has been worked on so hard to get right.
The right spokesperson is key to any successful PR activity. What annoys journalists more than anything is if they are sold an interview with a specific person and they turn up to the meeting and that person isn’t available, particularly when their time is like gold dust. We understand that shows can be a tough time for all, and meetings are arranged last minute, but what discourages coverage more than anything is if a journalist is messed around. Always make sure that when a spokesperson is confirmed that their availability is secured for media briefings. Many press interviews and coverage has been lost by last minute changes that make the journalist feel unimportant.
The event season is always tough but it also opens up great opportunities to maximise the awareness of a company’s brand. Planning is crucial and it seems that companies need to be on top of messaging and announcements earlier than ever before. Creating the right noise before an event can produce the right leads and make the show a real success.
éclat Marketing is running a seminar on Thursday 1st April at 3pm UK time, about how to gain maximum PR exposure in the security sector. Our very special guest speakers, Dan Raywood – Online News Editor for SC Magazine UK, Dale Pearson – Blogger for Security Active and Ed Rowley – Product Manager EMEA for M86 Security, will all be talking about their experiences working within the security market. Even our very own MD, Peter Shackleton will be discussing how to make an impact at a major exhibition.
To join in the fun register here:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/118397041
Right then, back to grind, what’s next…IPTV World Forum. Bring it on!
One of my friends already told me about this place and I do not regret that I found this article.
im generally surfing across the net most of the time hence I have a tendency to read quite a lot, which unfortunately isn’t typically a good factor as almost all of the internet websites I visit are composed of unnecessary garbage copied from different websites a trillion times, on the other hand I gotta give you props this webpage is in truth decent and also contains some genuine substance, for that reason many thanks for splitting the pattern of just copying other individual’s sites, take care