My 7-Step PR Checklist for Trade Show Preparation

We’ve been gearing up for the upcoming co-located Intersolar and SEMICON trade shows, taking place at San Francisco’s Moscone Center this week, July 12-14. I’ve spent a lot of time reviewing the websites of exhibiting companies and it’s got me thinking about the steps companies can take in advance of the show to help achieve a bigger PR bang.

1. Determine your show news well in advance. Start developing your press releases at least three months out. That may not be realistic, but at least get a discussion going so you’re not playing catch-up. You’ll need to know what your news is if you want to interest the press in scheduling a booth visit. Moreover, show award deadlines are often three to five months in advance.

2. Conduct outreach to the media ahead of time to schedule booth meetings and spur coverage of your news. If you believe that reporters will simply stumble across your booth, you’ll be very disappointed. Sure, there may be a few who do that, but in general they determine an itinerary in advance of the show to ensure they hit the must-see companies and the far-away corners. To get on their schedule of booth visits, you should initiate contact at least six weeks out, and then reach out again just before the show to make sure they’re still going and to reach any targets who prefer to register late. Ask your trade show contact if there’s a pre-registered press list available to exhibitors.

3. Submit your news to the Show Daily. The “Show Daily” is typically developed by different media organizations, depending on the trade show. At CES, for example, it’s published by TWICE (This Week in Consumer Electronics) and at Intersolar it’s organized by Solar Industry. One thing they have in common is that they develop much of the content weeks in advance. The deadline will appear with other important dates in your exhibitor media kit, but in general, it’s at least four weeks prior to the show. The easiest thing is to submit your embargoed press release, but if you don’t have a final copy, you can also submit a few paragraphs on the key points. The editors will review the submissions and assign reporters to develop bigger trend stories that include bits of the submissions. They might also request interviews to develop solo pieces.

4. Take advantage of the opportunities the show offers exhibitors for wire services and media outreach. Show organizers usually partner with one of the major wire services to offer exhibitors a trade show discount. If you don’t have your own account, this might be something for you to leverage. You need to check the distribution circuit, as it’s generally a broad (i.e., expensive) one, but this might save you money if you were considering a national distribution. There’s also often a “Virtual Press Office” where, for an extra fee, exhibitors can upload collateral and news releases for media attendees to view.

5. Set expectations for off-site media meetings. It’s critical that you set expectations with the media for any off-site meetings you may have. If you are luring a reporter to a hotel “whisper suite” or a restaurant, be straight with him or her about the topic of discussion. If they’re expecting an exclusive story, or hands-on time with a product, you need to deliver. Time away from the show floor is time lost, and reporters will get very grumpy if they feel the trip wasn’t worth the time. (I posted a story on this topic related to the Consumer Electronics Show.)

6. Develop a good online newsroom. A trade show is a huge opportunity to improve your site traffic. Customers, partners and prospects aren’t the only ones checking out your website. Reporters and analysts will see your booth or your press release and go onto your website for more information. Make sure they aren’t disappointed, and ensure you make it easy for them to find the information they need to draft their stories. My colleague Kawika Holbrook posted an article on this topic last week, with his top seven online newsroom mistakes.

7. Be “green” with your show collateral. Instead of printing out hundreds of brochures and copies of press releases, you can use new QR-Code technology for mobile devices. Reporters don’t want to be burdened with reams of paper and their smartphone usage is nearly universal. There are dozens of QR-Code Readers that you can download for free; our solar infrastructure client Unirac offers one for the iPhone. Show attendees can simply point their phone camera at the QR Code you have on your ad or trade show display and instantly download your collateral to their device.

These are only a few of my top-of-mind tips, based on my 13 years in the biz … anything else you want to recommend? The Comments are open!

Lisa Hawes can be reached at lhawes@sterlingpr.com. Follow Lisa on Twitter @lisakayhawes.

Photo: Courtesy Morgue File http://www.morguefile.com