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Abusing Editors

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: The Hand Is Still Quicker Than the Eye

Abusing Editors

Four trade shows in a three-week period. It’s either the height of stupidity or a true test of endurance. But it also gave us a concentrated look at the new mating techniques PR people use to seduce editors, reporters and analysts to visit their companies’ booths. Increasingly it seems to be about body count, not meaningful meetings and newsworthy coverage.

The healthy dose of trade shows gave us ample opportunity to hear from a wide range of editors about some of the “tricks of the trade” PR people are now using in their quest to set up meetings for management.

For most industry analysts, editors and reporters the weeks leading up to trade shows are worse than the non-stop events themselves. They not only have their regular deadlines but they also have to field an unending barrage of phone calls, special event invitations and “please come see me” emails. It’s all thanks to those wonderful people who practice public relations.

Since few PR people have ever been on the editorial side to receive requests from people they never hear from throughout the year we compiled a baker’s dozen surefire trade show seduction ideas you can immediately begin to use.

According to our discussions, PR people who used these techniques really made an impression.

1. Send Them Something Really Special – Send a “celebration” announcement that includes something unexpected like chopped up multi-color foil confetti. Editors love to open these in the middle of their desk and get the confetti all over their paperwork, their cloths and the floor. It’s even more impressive if even ultra powerful vacuum cleaners can’t pick up the little foil pieces thus serving as a constant reminder of your thoughtfulness and creativity.

Send a large poster that highlights your products at the show. People use them to decorate otherwise dreary walls.

Make them feel special by producing your own lanyard press passes. Just because show management gives them badges so you can recognize and grab them as they are walk by your booth. Multiple press passes give them a sense of power and make them feel even more important. They like nothing more than to carry extra forms of identification just to hear your product pitch or get into your must attend party.
2. Show people you’re a part of the Internet generation – Don’t waste time with the US Postal Service. Design an invitation using HTML and send it as an email attachment. Make certain you don’t give them an idea of what’s in the attachment because they like surprises. If they are really lucky when they open your attachment, it might contain a virus that will trash their system destroying several days of work. Be real creative with your invitation. Make certain it takes long time to open and that it doesn’t really say anything. Show them your creativity extends beyond writing confusing headlines and poorly constructed news releases.
3. If your company is a member of the Fortune 500 wait until a few days before the show and then tell them when you want to meet with them – Your company and you are definitely more important than the riffraff participating in the show. There’s no reason to plan ahead and be considerate of the analysts or press. It’s best to wait two or three days before the show before you contact them about your press conference or booth meetings. You shape the industry so they more than happy to adjust their schedule to accommodate you.
4. Don’t rely on just one form of contact with the editors and analysts – If you’re not an industry maker and shaker, don’t trust one form of communications to reach the media who will be attending. Show them how anxious you are to meet with them. Email them once a day for three days in a row. Then fax them a couple of times. Finally call and leave voicemail messages until you finally get a human voice on the other end of the phone line. It’s even better if you have no idea who the reporter is, what he or she covers or anything about their publication. Once you get them on the phone ask them about their publication and beat so you can tell them why it’s important for them to meet with you. Once you have pinned down the meeting, email and fax the confirmation. There’s no reason for them to miss the meeting after all the work you’ve done just to pin them down.
5. Call with a laundry list of subjects – Once you get one of the registered press attendees on the phone, read through a complete list of products and ideas to see which one gets them excited. Since you can’t waste your time reading all the publications that come into the office, you don’t know 90% of the people on the list or their area of interest. There’s no need to deprive them the opportunity to cover your organization. If you throw enough ideas against the wall one or two of them will have to stick. Remember that you’ve got a lot of time slots to fill during the show.
6. Don’t waste time with individual emails – The editors and analysts who are attending the trade show know you’re out there beating the bushes for warm bodies to parade in front of management. Save yourself some time and show them they can have a meeting on a first-come, first-served basis. Draft your show message very carefully and very precisely. Then send one email to the entire preregistered media list. The list probably won’t be more than six to ten pages (single spaced) and they’ll probably want to know who else lost the flip of the coin and had to cover the show. You won’t have to waste time picking and choosing the editors, reporters and analysts who regularly cover your product/service area.
7. Bury the importance of your show announcements in your emails – Don’t waste time developing a short, punchy company and product pitch summary. Send a long, drawn-out discussion of everything you can possibly think might be important to someone, somewhere. They’re reporters so let them dig for the pertinent facts. In addition, they’ll appreciate getting all of the background information before they meet with you.
8. Impress the media with your knowledge of the marketplace and competition -- Start out your email with just a little bit of information about your company and its products/services. Then shift gears and tell the recipient how much better your company/product is than XYC, ABC and MNO. Once they know the facts, they’ll be certain to avoid those other booths and spend more time with you. After all, you’ve helped them analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the competition for their readers
9. Don’t waste time with a personalized email pitch, attach your best news release – They are coming to the show to cover companies and products so why waste your time tailoring your message to their needs. Simply email them your hottest announcement as an attachment. What does it take them? A few minutes to download and open the release? A few more minutes to determine why you thought the release should be of interest to them? A few more minutes to locate the file on their hard drive to delete it? Think of it. You’ve held their attention for 5-10 minutes. You’re sure to receive a lot of appointment requests.
10. Don’t embed the release in the body of the email, give them a complete release including your four-color letterhead – The Internet may be an electronic means of communications but don’t eliminate your creativity. Attach the polished release on your company letterhead. Putting the release in the body of the email means the words have to stand on their own merit. It doesn’t give you the complete power of presentation. When you attach the release just as it would appear if you’d sent it through the smail it will have a lot more visual impact. Content doesn’t really matter it’s the presentation that is most important to the editor or reporter.
11. Do the double whammy – Want to make certain they know you’re focusing on them? Call them first and give them a pitch. If they ask you to send you details on the company and its activities at the show, send them the boilerplate email and attachment. Don’t bother tailoring your note. You know most only ask you to send them an email just to get you off their phone. So shoot the email off while you’re making another call. The more calls you make and emails you send the better the press turnout at your booth. If the media doesn’t show up, it certainly wasn’t because of your lack of activity.
12. Triple whammy – To make a real impression following your phone call, don't limit your email attachment to one news release. Send three or four. Better yet, send the entire press kit. Then just in case they “accidentally” don’t make it to your booth you can be certain they have all of your show news when they start to work on their post-show coverage.
13. Quadruple whammy – Show the members of the media that you really know your way around the Internet. Don’t just send the releases and backgrounders. Zip up and attach the product photos. Imagine how surprised they will be when they get your email? It will probably only take them 10 minutes to download everything – releases on letterhead and a couple of product shots. They’ll have everything they need in one area to write-up your show products. They’ll appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Never lose sight of the fact that one of the prime reasons companies attend trade shows is to spring new products on the marketplace. The only reason members of the media and industry analysts attend these shows is to find out what new products you’re introducing. For maximum effect and impact, keep your products closely guarded secrets until the doors open the first day.

After all if you brief the press prior to the show so they can cover your news before the event the only people you’ll have coming into your booth will be customers. That means senior management won’t have anyone to talk with except these individuals which will be embarrassing for you and a waste of good management talent.

Keep your news a deep, dark secret. Use all of the contact tools available to you to reach and influence every reporter and analyst possible that a meeting is an absolute necessity. Don’t take no for an answer. Hit them again and again. They’ll thank you for your persistence in the long run.

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