5 PR and Social Media Tips for Gaining Visibility at Trade Shows and Events
February 25th, 2010 by Paula Slotkin
In what may be a good omen for the economy, new trade shows, events and conferences seem to be popping up in just about every sector, and many of the more established ones still continue to attract attendees and generate buzz year after year.
 Scuderi Group, a Topaz Partners PR client, unveiled a prototype of their innovative split-cycle Scuderi Engine at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit in April, 2009 |
Travel budgets may be tighter these days, but social networks and the web make it easier than ever to identify local and free opportunities (check out Topaz’s Tim Allik’s recent post on BostonTweetup for some events ideas around Boston). If you end up traveling, social media platforms like Twitter and Foursquare enable you to make the most of your trip and meet with prospects and influencers on the fly.
Many of our clients are taking advantage of the gathering of media and analysts to get out there and present new products and services.
Here is a list of five PR tips for events, trade shows and conferences that almost always pay off:
- If a show or conference is important, try to attend, even if you can’t exhibit. From a PR standpoint (and particularly now with social media) Topaz has found that there are PR opportunities whether you exhibit, present or just attend the event.
- Use social media to extend your reach and leverage the content you are developing for other PR activities before, during, and after the event. Blog, Tweet and podcast, and look for opportunities to capture and distribute video through online channels. As early as possible, follow and engage with the event organizers on Twitter, and follow the people who are following them as well.
- Have a plan and prepare ahead of time, especially if you are interested in arranging meetings at a show or conference. Make sure you know what your message is and who you want to reach with it, and be disciplined about sticking to the plan (even though it is counter-intuitive to repeat the same messages over and over again).
- If you are interested in speaking opportunities and article placements, start early, identify relevant and current topics, and craft compelling content that both informs and extends your value proposition.
- Try to “bookend” shows and conferences with outreach to media, analysts and online influencers before and after the event. (Social networks are invaluable for this).
If you need guidance and support implementing these suggestions, Topaz has a track record of expertise and achievement that you can use to maximize your event ROI. Let’s talk about what you have in mind and I’ll be candid with you about what I think.
You can reach me directly at 781-404-2415 or email me at pslotkin@topazpartners.com.
In the meantime, below is a list of events that our clients have attended in recent weeks or plan to attend over the next few months. If one is a suitable fit for your company or for your product launch, let’s explore together how Topaz can help you.
- Storage Networking World www.snusa.com is the largest conference focused on storage, infrastructure of the data center and other IT management topics
- CTIA www.ctiawireless.com and Mobile World Congress www.mobileworldcongress.com both encompass the mobile communications realm (and are where you’ll find Topaz clients Acision and Novarra)
- The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) www.CES.org is the well-known consumer electronics mega-show – The RSA Conference www.rsaconference.com focuses on IT security
- The Sales 2.0 Conference www.sales20conf.com is a sales technology event (where you’ll find Topaz client Infogroup’s OneSource)
- SaaScom www.saascon.com deals with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technologies, a market growing in both size and diversity
- DEMO www.demo.com showcases a broad spectrum of emerging technologies
How would you describe your experience with events, either as an attendee or as a presenter? How has it changed over the years? Do you still see value in face-to-face interactions with prospects, peers, and influencers?
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 6:47 pm and is filed under PR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:12 am
Tim, to your question re is there still value in f2f meetings? Emphatically, yes. The most valuable currency we possess is our time and attention. If we spend it attending an event, the people we meet there have spent it too, which doubles the motivation to jointly work to find value in such contacts. People generally invest more time and attention in people they’ve already met than in strangers. And the potential for better conversation and reaching agreement is higher in person.
Here’s a curveball tip: attend events that have nothing to do with your specialty area. Why? b/c often your expertise is not germaine to other markets, which means you’ll be the resident expert at those oddball events – great for (a) prospecting; (b) developing additional “side door” referrals into existing prospects, and (c) gtting a better rounded education.
There’s a digest of a month-long discussion thread summarized in an article on my FanFoundry blog which people may find interesting. Just google “are virtual trade shows worth it” and you’ll find a host of references including that blog article.
Regards to Tony and Paula.
Ed
February 26th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Ed, you make some excellent points. But I’m just the “Tweeter” here (the most ridiculous term imaginable BTW. In 10 years it will be used to mark our time in 2010 but it will sound dated and quaint – that’s redundant of course; it already sounds quaint). Paula and Tony have probably done 100X the events I have done, and I’m not stretching it when I say that. I help out on the social media side – but the fundamentals in the business never change, and as someone who spent most of his career in another profession – journalism – they are both still teaching me on those. The more I witness, the more I think this business (PR, social media,digital content, communications, whatever you want to call it) is like modern art. All the crappy modern artists never learn to draw from sight, but the best ones always did – Pablo Picasso and Andy Wharhol to name a few – building themselves the right way – from the ground up.
March 2nd, 2010 at 4:05 pm
The website for the International CES is CESweb.org. You have it listed as CES.com. Thanks for updating your post with this correct info.
March 2nd, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Tara, sorry about the bum link. I’ll correct it right now.