Make the Most of One-on-One Media Conversations
You’ve implemented a thoughtful pre-show marketing communications campaign to talk one-on-one with your customers, prospects and the media to let them know what you’ll be featuring at the show. In this blog, we’re going to focus on one of these audiences – the media.
Tradeshows are an efficient way for media sales reps to make a lot of contacts. They’ll no doubt hit you up and try to sell you an ad schedule. It’s their job. Take the time to brief your booth staff about any appointments that may be set and how to handle reps that just stop by. If you have a marketing person working the trade show booth, media reps should be directed to them.
Listen to their pitch but don’t make any commitments at the show. Ask for follow up with specific details so you can make an undistracted decision and take into account your overall marketing budget.
If a media rep reaches out to you ahead of the show to make an appointment, ask them to bring an editor along. You can leverage your investment in advertising with news about your capabilities that they decide will benefit their readers – your target audience. You can say whatever you want in your ads because you paid for them. Editorial coverage brings credibility to your advertising message.
Have the press releases you sent out before the show available in the booth to use as talking points. Be sure to focus on the benefits of your products. An editor’s job is to report news that will be of interest to their readers. Show demos and if you have videos, offer to share them to make it easy for them to use them for their publication’s online content.
For more information on getting the most out of one-on-one media conversations at your next trade show, contact World Class Graphics & Displays today.