James Kelliher chairman and CEO of the B2B communications agency Whiteoaks shares top tips to attract exhibition publicity.
The hall echoes like a mausoleum and the exhibitors look as if they have just met the Grim Reaper. It’s the kind of tombstone event that any organisation can avoid if it uses the right kind of publicity. That’s why the number one objective for any event PR is driving registrations and visitors.
However, to get the best value from their PR, organisers must recognise this is more than just a numbers game. Truly maximising the impact for any exhibition takes expertise, ensuring the right messages find their targets and are not lost among the novelty giveaways.
Pre-show, you need to drive relevant traffic to your event website and boost registrations:
- Start PR and social media outreach early. Alongside your sales and marketing activities, generating a mixture of paid, owned and earned media opportunities will drive relevant traffic to your website, increasing the window for online registrations
- Get exhibitors involved. A good way to do this is to poll them in advance about what they expect to get from the show. Running monthly exhibitor drop-in sessions to discuss their themes and new initiatives also generates insight to feed editorial and social opportunities, maximising publicity and instigating interactions
- Hold a preview press event with key media, bloggers and industry analysts. This gives influencers insight into major announcements and an opportunity to meet with key exhibitors and speakers. As well as securing editorial and social coverage before the event, press events also give exhibitors and sponsors more bang for their buck
- Maximise speaker publicity. This is a great way of attracting high calibre influencers and visitors to your show. Publish a ‘preview edition’ of your event title, with articles and news from the exhibitors, sponsors and speakers to drive further interest levels and attendance
- Review your social channels and fanbase. Make sure you’re following exhibitors, speakers, sponsors and key press. Joining groups and circles that your audiences are active in and sharing updates will also help generate loyal followers. Incentivising exhibitors and visitors with competitions also works well on social media and drives event attendance
At the event for media management and social buzz:
- Organise on-site management of the ‘media zone’. This is vital to maximise publicity for the event and exhibitors. Having uninterrupted access to the web and online press packs helps influencers to find the right information to publish while at the show
- Managing video briefings. Interviewing influencers and speakers, exhibitors or sponsors to generate ‘from the show floor’ coverage is another good way of generating excitement that can be amplified socially. To reach more people, ask top bloggers to follow your event with a video diary throughout the show
- Encourage use of your event hashtag. You can also promote social updates during the event via a live video wall showcasing on-site chatter
Post event, you should:
- Capitalise on positive feeling. When the event closes, the opportunity for repeat bookings is rife. This is the best time to remind audiences why the event should be in their calendar every year
- Create case studies about exhibitor ROI. These will be strong assets for the sales team to use to secure bookings for the next show
- Keep the momentum going by continuing to publish your ‘show title’. Keep it up-to-date with meaningful content linked to event themes. This too will help maintain interest levels and get more people booking for next year
- Do not switch off your social channels. Continue to grow your fanbase and build interest between shows by connecting with the exhibitors, sponsors, speakers and press who were involved in the event and sharing related news and updates
This was first published in the August issue of EW's sister publication Exhibition News. Any comments? Email Annie Byrne
