Don't Wait for a Trade Show to Announce to the Press

Should you wait until a trade show to announce a new product?

There are two special circumstances when you may want to do so. The first is when you just can't be sure any earlier that the product really will be ready to announce; the second is when announcing too early threatens to kill off sales of a current product.

Other than those two special circumstances, announcing a little before the show offers you a chance to score an invaluable asset: curious attendees. In an ideal world, they will seek out your booth to see the new product they just heard about.

Show dailies can't help with that; more are thrown away than read and most reading that does occur tends to be (our surveys have shown) read only in the bathroom. The monthlies can't help either, since their publication lead time is so long. To reach show attendees before they arrive, getting to daily or weekly trade-specific publications in advance is the only avenue left.

There is a parallel in a second invaluable asset: curious journalists. We don't suggest counting on the wires for that, since over 96% of the releases over the wires go unread. Sending a brief descriptive e-mail message to selected attending media 1-2 weeks before the show can help alert them to what you have; keeping in weekly touch with them in the weeks to months before the show can be even more productive.

Also consider the extent to which a trade show is a magnet for the media, temporarily creating an enormous geographic coincidence during the run of the show. Reaching those journalists at the right time can do a great deal to enhance your PR presence for the entire show.

To that end, the larger trade shows have developed a coterie of press gatherings, some run by the trade show producers and others conducted by third parties. We have some advice for those considering among such events.

Timing is foremost, and the first night of a multi-day event is optimal. (About 30% of the trade show's credentialed press corps may be in town 2 nights before the trade show opens, about 70% the night before, but 100% by the first night of the show). The best of such events will tend to attract 20-25% of these journalists, and they will tend to share their discoveries with fellow journalists during the remainder of the trade show.

We suggest asking the producers of the media reception event to provide a list of attending press from the previous year's event, and comparing it overall to the list of registered press that is available from the trade show producer.

So, in capsule: start talking to the press weeks before, try to place stories that can compel curious attendees to want to come see you, in any case try to compel the press to come see you, and to make it easy for them to find you, consider participation in a (preferably first-night) media reception event.