Maximise your press and promotional opportunities
REMEMBER: 90% of exhibitors fail to take advantage of press and promotional opportunities. Don't join them. Get in touch with the organisers as soon as you are committed to the show.
Top tips for producing your press release:
- Encapsulate the whole story in the first sentence
- The release needs a date (and an embargo date, if applicable) a contact name and telephone number (work and home) stand number, and address.
- Press releases should be double line typed, on one side of an A4 sheet.
- When compiling Press packs, don't just stuff them full of the standard range of brochures and catalogues; they will be ignored by Press Officials already bogged down with literature. Think about a free - and useful - gifts; one company put business card holders in the Press Office for the Press representatives, with the Press Officer's card already in place. It was a huge hit.
- If you're proud of your stand, put a picture of it in the Press Office. Alternatively, a new product, being demonstrated by a celebrity gives them something on which to hang a story. A few digital photos on a CD would be very useful to include.
- Put yourself in the journalists position. Find details of a huge order, or something controversial said by the MD. Make it genuine news.
If you can, visit the Press Office daily, hopefully with fresh news. Let them know your view of the show - but keep it positive.