Internet Retailing Online Editor, Chloe Rigby interviews Intershop's Matt Ball at Internet Retailing Expo 2012
I can always tell it’s early April. Those clever calendar things aside, I always receive at least one phone call that goes along the lines of “Hi, we’re going to be at InfoSec this month, and we need some PR.”
It’s worth mentioning at this point, that if a show like InfoSec is of significant importance to your company, you should have started planning the PR way more than three weeks ahead. Your PR team will need the lead time for preview deadlines, to brainstorm creative ideas and to plan resource; particularly if you want the activity to integrate with your lead generation and marketing activities.
Attending a show like InfoSec is a significant investment, and I can understand why it is important to exploit all of the obvious opportunities that come with ‘the package’.
For sure, this might include things like:
- Tracking and pitching for inclusion in show previews and reviews
- Creating press packs
- Promoting the Company’s presence via social media
- Show guide content
- Online exhibitor information and listings.
However, the conversation can sometime go on to explain that the company has a senior executive flying into London from overseas that they need to ‘impress’. Or worse still that they need ‘set up some press and/or analyst briefings while we’re there’. At this point I will ask some pretty probing and direct questions about the caller’s expectations around outcomes, return on investment.
Fundamentally, what is it that you want to achieve in ‘PR’ or communications terms during a show like InfoSec?
- Building relationships with key press or analyst contacts?
- Press coverage?
- To launch a product or service?
- Announce a customer win or story?
All very valid. Although I would suggest that if it is any of the above, spending your precious PR budget on trying to secure press and/or analyst briefings at a big show like InfoSec, can sometimes fail to meet your expectations or deliver any tangible value. Our experience of InfoSec which is a particularly large show, is that press and analyst face time is hotly contested.
The Speed Date: PR Budget Well Spent?
One national journalist admitted to one of the team recently that at InfoSec last year, they did back-to-back briefings, and by the end of the day couldn’t remember the name of most of the companies he’d met. If one of the criteria for a successful PR programme is a sustained and positive relationship with key press contacts, I’m not sure that a trade show ‘speed date’ qualifies as PR time well spent. Not because one-to-ones or ‘buddy briefings’ shouldn’t happen, but because perhaps they shouldn’t happen under the spotlight and pressure of a big trade show.
This doesn’t mean that press and/or analysts briefings can’t be achieved, and neither does it mean that they can’t be successful under certain circumstances; indeed, Team Proud scored four briefings which resulted in two by-lined articles at Data Centre World last month.
My argument is, that if you’re going to spend time and money on PR, think carefully about your objectives before slipping into trade show press auto pilot. Be sure that the conditions are favourable. And, if they’re not, spend that time and effort doing something more fruitful.
Getting Creative: Positive Examples
Sometimes it’s just easiest to illustrate a point with real-world examples. So, here are some of our very own potentially useful examples of PR working appropriately at big trade shows and how it can get creative within the event support remit.
For one consumer tech client in the physical security space at Retail Business Technology Expo this year, we negotiated for free product to be used in the press office. We also created an offer for other exhibitors at the show to receive complimentary samples and sealed a deal with the organisers for this to be communicated to their database of contacts.
For an e-commerce client, we leveraged LinkedIn to encourage appointment setting before the Internet Retailing Expo and Twitter to drive attendees to the Company’s speaker slot. We also tweeted key insights and photos live from the show. It was a very well attended session.
At World Travel Market, we created a short questionnaire for our application performance management (APM) client. The survey was used by stand managers to engage with show visitors and gleaned a sample size worthy of a post-show press release with the findings. It was a big hit with key vertical press.
And finally, at CeBIT this year, Intershop made its most significant product announcement in 10 years. This was news worthy enough for our PR partner in Germany to secure a place on the much coveted CeBIT highlight tour; a ticket to guaranteed coverage as it helps the press attendees cut through the PR ‘noise’ to the show’s biggest stories.
One Size Does Not Fit All
As you can start to understand from the above, no two clients, no two objectives, products or challenges tend to be the same. And so, applying the same formulaic approach to PR/AR at your trade shows won’t always reap results you want.
And, whilst our event services aren’t free (sorry) our basic advice is. Feel free to give us a buzz on +44 (0)1276 679570 for some guidance and inspiration on where to get started. Or email me – natalie[at]proudpr.com.
Or if you have other experiences and questions, we’d love to hear from you.
