PR 101 - Effective Trade Show PR
As a writer I have attended a number
of different trade shows, and have a litany of complaints about the
way members of the press are treated. Trade shows are closer to an
endurance test than any other form of human activity, and writers and
other members of the press are just as human as everyone else. But
they seem to be treated like afterthoughts, when you'd think that
getting some ink was at least part of the reason to ship half your
staff half-way across the country.
A few quick tips for better PR
results at Trade Shows:
1) Tell the caterer to avoid crab,
shellfish and peanuts, okay? (I'm not Jewish myself, but a kosher
plate wouldn't hurt either). We're human too - some of us have deadly
allergies and a low budget for food when we travel. If you want to
make us happy, feed us) If you want to make us cranky, serve
expensive food we can't eat or make us sick.
2) If you are not IBM, Apple, or Sun
Microsystems, then for GEEK's SAKE put what you do into a sentence or
two and slap that on the front of your press kit. I don't even open a
press kit if I don't immediately recognize the company or at least the
product anymore. When I worked for a dot.com with a big budget I sent back 50 Lbs of paper courier express
- now I am freelance and will not have the budget to take home
anything.
3) If you are writing your own press releases - see http://www.buzzwhack.com/
or http://www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html.
If you have used more than 5 of these words in the first sentence I
won't read the rest of it, unless of course you use so many that it
becomes inadvertently amusing - then it might become a form of
"accidental viral marketing" as I share it with other
writers who need a good laugh. It won't make any ink, though, I can
pretty much guarantee that.
4) Bring your PR people along. I don't know how many booths I have been to packed with clueless sales
people who don't know the difference between a sales list and a press
list, and who don't want to look at us because they know we aren't
"buying". If you can't afford to send along PR or media
relations people then at least train your sales people to understand
that a press contact can be many times more valuable than a sales
contact - we can generate sales if we end up writing about you.
5) Don't automatically dismiss a writer who
freelances out of your area, or who fails to meet
"corporate expectations" for physical appearance. At Comdex,
I am a chubby, tired-looking middle-aged female in casual clothing and
comfortable shoes, but I have written for the Toronto Star,
Toronto Computes! and Boardwatch. The treatment I get DOES impact
who I'll choose to write about - treat me like dog food and I may
assume you may treat one of my readers that way.
6) Find out about the after-show
events like ShowStoppers,
ImageScape
etc. Next time I do Comdex
Vegas I may skip most of the main show floor and attend only these events.
They are smaller, much less stressful, and the ratio of clued-in to
clue-less is much better there. If you have the budget and a large
enough private press list, rent a large room and throw a small
gathering, or rent a hotel room, and hold daily press greetings there. Most of the attendees will likely be freelancers who are
sniffing around for goodies to take home. T-shirts, pens and other
giveaway goodies are far less important than evaluation products and
good story pitches. You'd be surprised how much coverage you can get from these folks if you can
keep them supplied with interesting stories.
7) Speaking of interesting stories
... it's really reviews most tech companies are after. The unveiling
of Version 87.605a is generally speaking a huge yawn to the average
staff or freelance writer, unless there is some software attached for
evaluation purposes. If you can't bring evaluation product with you,
take business cards and have it shipped out after the show (actually,
that is better - saves luggage space for everyone). If you are not
able to provide evaluation products, you are going to have to get more
creative in your story pitches, and more selective in the journalists
you seek to court. You can try a giveaway or something to get them
into your booth or room - but that won't make them write about your
product. I won a DVD player at one press room - for a video card maker
whose products I can't remember. If I'd gotten a card, I might still
have it - and they would certainly have gotten a review. Without
access to the card, what could I say about the product? I have long
ago learned not to believe a blessed thing I read in a glossy product
sheet until I have tested it myself.
For the price of some giveaways I
have seen handed out at press conferences, the company could have
given every writer in the room a printer, video card, digital camera
(or whatever doo-dad it was they were promoting). They would have
saved time and money, it would certainly raise attendance, and it
would give them a much better shot at getting the product reviewed. It
is the rare writer who will review a product based on marketing bumphf
alone. We need to see it, touch it, play with it, install it, and
knock it against the digital walls. And yes, we want to keep it -
because 2 years down the road some reader is going to email us to ask
"Does Version 87.605a come with software for Mac and PC?"
There are some publications that
forbid free evaluation products to their staff writers. Major media
outlets like CNN cap such "evals" at $25.00 value - some,
like Consumer Reports, forbid them entirely. If you are playing in
that ball-park, have your PR people do their homework, and tailor
press kits to these select publications if you can. If you can't -
make an announcement or include a card in your kit that indicates that
"evaluation products are available on request" and let the
individual reporters decide whether or not it is appropriate to take
you up on the offer.
8) Don't expect entirely positive
reviews just because you have given a few goodies away. I have on
occasion found a product so bad I could say nothing good about it - so
I chose not to write about it. Most of the time, there is some merit
or appeal in a product, but there is also room for improvement. The
fact that a company has provided a free evaluation product will not
change what most writers will say about a product. Cutting off a
writer because they gave you one critical review may be an incredibly
bad idea. Version 87.606 may address all of their criticism, and you
could get a glowing review the second time around. In fact, if you got
some bad reviews, presenting a new kit with your updates highlighted
could be an opportune way to get your product back in print. It offers
a good excuse to reconnect with that writer, to build a relationship,
to show good faith, and respect for their feedback.
9) Book Comdex Vegas and Internet
World New York at least 4 months prior to the events - they are so
popular it is difficult to get hotel and travel tickets at the last
minute.
