Tradeshow season is once again upon us. And this year, Calysto Communications, a global public relations and social media marketing firm focused on the broadcasting & cable, mobile and telecommunications industries, is sharing five public relations and social media marketing strategies that companies can use to get the most out of the dollars they spend at their next tradeshow.
Tip #1: Make Time to Meet with the Media
If your executives are at a show for several days and they do not expect to be fully booked with customer meetings, why not slot out some time to build some relationships with media and analysts? Even if you do not have an announcement to make, pitching meetings based on your executives’ ability to discuss trends can be very effective in getting key influencers to meet with them at a show. Even in the age of social media, nothing builds a relationship faster than a face-to-face meeting.
Tip #2: Think of Media and Analysts as Your Clients
You would never walk into a meeting with a potential customer without knowing what they do, so why would you walk into a meeting with media and analysts without knowing their interests? Calysto prepares in-depth briefing books for its clients in the broadcasting & cable, mobile and telecommunications industries that provide key information on the media, bloggers and analysts that Calysto’s clients are meeting with at the show. Tools such as this can be invaluable in ensuring that executives are prepared for on-site interviews – and that these meetings strengthen your company’s relationships with key influencers instead of weakening them.
Tip #3: Releasing News at the Show is Not Always the Best PR Strategy
Making a key announcement in conjunction with a show can maximize your coverage… or it can kill it, depending on the nature of your announcement. When you release second tier news during a show, your announcement is likely to get lost in the noise. In contrast, releasing big news BEFORE a show can actually drive traffic to your booth. One Calysto client received more than 1 million media impressions within 24 hours and received front page coverage in the Show Daily on day one of a large communications industry tradeshow by scheduling its big announcement the day before the show began. The result: Booth traffic from its target audience – tier one service providers in the optical market – was ten times greater than the previous year’s traffic even though attendance at the show was lower than the previous year.
Tip #4: Request a Preregistered Media List – and Also Create Your Own
Often tradeshows will share the list of media that have preregistered to come to the event, but sometimes these lists are not available. Also, many members of the media and analyst community choose not to register early so they can avoid being bombarded by calls asking for interviews at the show. Instead of relying on an incomplete show pre-registration list, Calysto often pitches show meetings using its own propriety list of media, analysts and bloggers in the broadcasting & cable, mobile and telecommunications industries – a list that Calysto has spent more than a decade compiling. In many cases, this strategy has helped Calysto significantly increase the number of meetings it books for clients. The bottom line is that it pays to have a better list – and to contact those members of the media that you think might be attending the show, but may not have registered yet.
Tip #5: Get a Little Social
One great way to increase your followers on Twitter or to increase traffic for your blog is to write about key events while you are on-site at a show. Remember, you can also use your social media outlets to promote your own giveaways, booth activities or any news you release at the show, thus driving more traffic to your booth. Just make sure of course that the information you post is relevant for your audience.
“At Calysto, we’ve managed hundreds of public relations efforts – both large and small – at tradeshows that have really paid off for our clients in the broadcasting & cable, mobile and telecommunications industries,” says Laura Borgstede, CEO of Calysto Communications. “For instance, one Calysto client, a start-up player in the mobile industry, signed a multimillion-dollar contract as a result of the press coverage it received from its public relations efforts surrounding a CTIA Wireless show. And that’s just one example.”
To find out more about how Calysto can help you make the most of your presence at your next tradeshow, e-mail: kfbennett@calysto.com.