How to maximize media coverage at trade shows
A trade show is not only a platform to meet new potential customers and business partners. It is also a great way to get coverage from the media. Here are 8 tips on how to maximize media coverage for your company. Are you worried how to manage all that? Just contact us! We can take care of that for you.
- Issue a preview of your show highlighs
News reporters always want to cover a story as soon as possible. One good way to be part of that story is to help them be ready for the show: If you introduce a new product or technology at the show, send out a preview press release a few weeks ahead of the event. That way, editors can prepare their coverage and will be able to release their articles as soon as the show opens its gates.
Many magazines and online media even publish a preview themselves to help their readers plan their visit by recommending highlights visitors shouldn’t miss. To mention you, they need to know what exciting new products and demos you’ll showcase. So be sure to inform them upfront. If you target a print magazine to be released at the show, you should release your preview at least 4 weeks (rather 6) before publication so the editors can consider your product without missing their production deadline.
- Don’t disclose everything at the same time
As important as it may be to release your preview, don’t shoot all your ammunition at the same time! If the media and their readers know everything about your great innovation weeks before the show, why should they come and visit your booth? For example, tease your show highlight in your preview by disclosing the key facts at a high level, but don’t disclose all the technical specs. Interested visitors will want to learn more and have an incentive to come to your booth to pick up a datasheet or get a live demo of your product.
Editors are always looking for what’s new. So if you release information step by step, they will always have something new to report. You may also not include all the highlights in your preview and keep a surprise announcement for the show itself. Don’t push it too far, though, or you could end up annoying your media contacts. It’s all a matter of finding the right balance.
- Release a second press release at the show itself
During and after the show, editors will need some new information they didn’t have in their preview coverage. So make sure to distribute a more comprehensive press release providing more details on your new product or technology. If you have a lot of new products, you may create a press kit that includes several press releases, one for each product.
Be sure to use the distribution channels offered by the show itself: online media room or media lounge for editors during the event.
- A picture is worth a thousand words
Editors need to fill their pages with attractive content. Interesting text is good, but good quality images increase your chances to be published significantly. Good quality means:
– High-resolution (300 dpi for print media)
– Editorial feel (avoid including advertising slogans and graphics)
– Good lighting
– Clean product (no dust particles visible)
– Easy to crop (e.g. white background)
– Interesting perspective
We recommend investing in a professional product shooting. Ideally, provide a selection of different product images editors can chose from. You may also consider 3D renderings of your product or infographics that explain a technology. Good iconography is important for editors. The more they get from you, the likelier they will be to report on you.
- Submit your innovation for the award
Quite often, an innovation award is organized as part of the show. Awards are a great opportunity to get additional media coverage. So, if you have a really game-changing product, apply!
- Invite editors to your booth
Many editors actually walk the show and attend the conference. Contact your key editors ahead of the show to make an appointment with them at your booth. That way, they can experience the product live, ask questions or interview experts. This will help them write a more individual story than just copying your press release.
- Organize a press conference
If you have a very big announcement to make, you may organize a press conference at the show. A press conference is a meeting where only the media is invited. It includes a short speech or presentation and a question and answers session. The press conference should be held by senior management and/or technology experts. It is a big time and effort investment for you and the editors so only use it for major, groundbreaking announcements – for example a big game-changing innovation, a merger or acquisition or a big investment such as building a new factory. If you invite editors to a press conference, they will expect something big. Don’t do that if you only have a me-too product.
Be sure to have a press kit summarizing the content of the conference on site for participants to take away.
- Submit a technical paper or case study
After the show and after your product announcement has been published, editors may be interested in a more in-depth technical article describing a specific innovation of your product. This is not an advertising piece for your brand new device but a technical paper explaining how a new feature works or introducing a new technology that is used in your product. If you already have customers using your product, an application case study explaining how your product helped them solve their problem is also a good idea. Editors and their readers love real-life example of how technology is implemented.
Use your meeting with editors at the show to discuss such a technical article with them, this will give you a good opportunity to follow up after the show and get additional coverage.
Admittedly, when you are in the rush of organizing your booth and have limited resources, doing all that is easier said than done. We at Vision Markets have the expertise and media contacts to define a PR plan with you and help you implement it. Don’t hesitate to contact us!
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