How hiring a Strategic Marketing Communications agency can increase your chances of success at the show
Would you get ready for the Golden Globes on your own? Celebs hire publicists, stylists, makeup artists and hair designers to prep them for their big event. Think of CES as YOUR big event. It’s a huge platform, you’ll be surrounded by your peers and the best the tech industry has to offer. Therefore, it’s important to make a great impression. In this post, we’ll give you five good reasons why you shouldn’t approach your big day on your own. Hiring a Strategic Marketing Communications agency can help you hone your message, get in front of the right media, ace the interview and garner top coverage. Here’s how:
- Strategic Planning – As the old adage goes, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” This couldn’t ring truer when it comes to prepping for a trade show the size of CES, which showcases more than 3,900 exhibitors and 170,000+ attendees from 150 countries. Standing out in a crowd of that magnitude is no easy feat. It’s important to carefully plan the best timing for announcements, as well as strategies for drawing attention to your booth and garnering maximum interest in your products/services. A Strategic Marketing Communications agency can take things a step further than a traditional PR firm, offering proven strategies using positioning and messaging, PR, content marketing and social media to obtain the best results for your company before, during and after the show.
- Press list access – One of the perks of being an exhibitor is having access to the show’s registered press list. This list is key, because it tells you what press and analysts will attend the show and provides their contact information. You can then pinpoint individuals that you would like to meet with and contact them to schedule an onsite interview. But what if you’re attending the show and not exhibiting? You’re out of luck, unless you have an agency with access to the list. In addition, your marketing agency can help you to choose the right individuals to speak with and schedule the briefings for you. You’re also more likely to secure the meetings you want if you have an agency with pre-established relationships with the top consumer technology media and analyst firms attending.
- Interview prep and on-site media training – Briefings coordinated by an experienced Strategic Marketing Communications agency are more successful because your firm can provide key details such as background and personality information about media and analysts they’ve met with in the past and can help to build rapport between you and the interviewer. Editors and analysts respect companies that come prepared for the briefing. They know that they are more likely to get what they need if a marketing agency that they trust is in the interview and has already helped to guide the client in the right direction. A seasoned agency can also provide on-site media coaching to the company spokesperson(s) on the company “story” and messaging. This ensures consistent messaging so the media and analysts understand the company’s position in the market, and are appropriately articulating it to their audiences.
- Garner and leverage feedback – It’s not often that an interviewer will give honest feedback to a company spokesperson or employee. Nor would the fashion police tell an actress that her dress is hideous right there on the red carpet, they’d politely wait to trash her after the show. An interviewer will, however, provide unfiltered feedback to your marketing agency. This feedback is incredibly useful because your firm can utilize it to recommend creative ideas for articles, speaking abstracts, social media, and other tactics that can be implemented in marcom programs to garner further coverage and visibility. It can also be used for future interviews as you’ll have a better grasp of what each editor or analyst wants and your marketing agency will be able to make more specific recommendations for future opportunities.
- Post-show follow-up – Once CES is over, you may want to kick off your shoes, unbutton your suit jacket and relax. Unfortunately, there’s still much work to be done. But if you have a marketing agency, you can count on them to continue the conversation. They can follow-up after the show with the editors and analysts to secure coverage or take care of action items on your behalf.
Look for an agency with strategic thinking, established relationships, expertise and experience, to provide full on-site support to garner the best ROI at CES. A good firm will leverage their relationships with media and analysts to allow for the best outcome to build awareness and increase value for your company at the show and beyond.
Want a Strategic Marketing Communications agency with more than 18 years of experience representing clients at shows like CES? Contact us.</p