Beyond ROI: Taking Advantage of PR

In today's be-accountable, do-more-with-less business environment, tradeshow expenses can be subject to intense scrutiny. Companies want to justify the expense with hard numbers. Yet tradeshows provide an often-overlooked opportunity to implement a public relations campaign and provide exposure for a product, service, company, even an individual executive, in a cost-effective way.

As Beth Blake, public relations director for Reed Exhibitions, explained, "(When) show managers or exhibitors look at a show, they look at a ton of metrics. One of the metrics they should be looking at is the number of press at the show."

Savvy marketers know that press coverage means free publicity, and Blake encourages exhibitors to take advantage of that. "Press at tradeshows, especially trade magazines — their job is to explain what's happening in the business to their readers. What are the new products? What are the innovations? Their job is to process and interpret it for their readership. If you're not leveraging that, you're missing an opportunity at a tradeshow."

Of course, to get attention from the news media, it's important to actually make news. Public relations pro Jeff Blumenfeld uses the old man-bites-dog story to illustrate. "You've got to go out and bite the dog," he said. "You have to answer the 'so what?' question. You have to do something different at your booth to create media interest."

Blumenfeld said the most common PR mistakes he sees by exhibitors are, "not thinking visually, not demonstrating anything, not thinking what makes a great picture, not doing any sort of promotion in your booth. Just waiting for people to show up and come to you is not a great strategy."

So Blumenfeld tells his clients to always think visually when they plan their booth and presentation. "When I'm working at a tradeshow and a TV crew shows up, they say, 'We have 10 or 15 minutes; what's hot and what's visual?' When you have something that's visual, you get exposure."

Some exhibitors resist talking to the press. "There's the fear that something will get exposed that we don't want exposed," said Blake. "People think, 'If I don't say anything, it'll be better for me.' I think the opposite is true.

"That's a shortsighted view of working with the press. The more you give good information, (the more) they can write an informed story. When you don't give them information, that's when they go digging."

Christen Graham, of New England-based PR firm Warner Communications, solves that problem with a little media coaching. "We remind our clients that they need to be in control of the interview and what is said and what's disclosed," Graham said. "So you need to go into it prepared. You need to vet the skeletons in your closet so you have an appropriate answer. But it's not an occasion to avoid publicity."

Even among companies that don't have an objection to talking to the press, there can still be a feeling that it is simply going to be too much work, a distraction from the real work of writing orders.

Like many show managment companies, George Little Management is careful to reassure exhibitors that it will take much of the media work upon itself. GLM surveys exhibitors about their products, then provides editors and reporters with product highlights and lists of in-booth activities. "We also have awards for products at our shows," said GLM media manager Cate Doyle. "Typically, the award-winning products are displayed in a showcase at the show. That's high visibility for those products."

Ironically, enhancing PR opportunities at a show sometimes means shielding exhibitors from the public. Mia Eng, corporate communications director for dmg world media, points to Surf Expo as an example of a show that could easily generate a flood of consumer traffic when what exhibitors want is a floor full of qualified buyers.

"We run into that with shows with a huge consumer appeal," said Eng. "We can get throngs of people at the door, but they're not the people we want." Instead, dmg helps exhibitors get access to consumer press that can create a demand for their products.

"Our job as a show marketer is to know what's going on on the floor, what are the hot new products? We do know what's being launched and what's hot in the marketplace, and we do go to the media and ask them to cover that."

Tradeshow exhibitors sometimes limit their PR activities to promoting sales and building brands, but companies can get value from a tradeshow by participating in conferences or simply having a major executive quoted in the press. "One of the best ways to position an exec as a leader in the industry is to have them speak at a tradeshow," Blake said. "If you're a publicly held company and your CEO is talking as an expert in the industry, the financial press sees that and reports that."

Blumenfeld always encourages his clients to participate in panels. "It's what a leader does," he said. "A company that wants to lead in the industry or set the pace in the industry needs to be visible. Being on a panel demonstrates your leadership in the business. If you're not yet a leader, being on a panel helps you become one."

Graham also reminds her clients that PR isn't limited to working with the media. "One thing we recommend is guerilla marketing and guerilla PR on the floor, so you can target your prospects in a way that directs them to your booth. That's another way to get metrics."

One client, flower-essence maker Nelson Bach USA, sent people around the Natural Products Expo West showfloor with jet-pack style backpacks and samples of its Rescue Remedy product. "When you generate a positive buzz on the floor, that drives bodies to your booth," he said.

"If you haven't done any press work, you haven't maximized the value of the expense of your tradeshow participation," said Blumenfeld. "A little bit more effort can generate a lot of buzz."