Showcase: Your Complete Guide to Maximizing PR at Events
How to Leverage PR and Marketing to Promote Your Company's Event
Introduction
Garnering positive press for a company event is one of the best ways to capture brand voice and attention. PR supports that effort by telling your company's story and its value to customers or stakeholders. PR and marketing experts like us help create awareness of your event, ensure messaging is amplified, and corral all those journalists attending.
If you operate in the Beltway like we do, then there are dozens if not hundreds of events taking place daily. Or you're hosting an event for the first time and you need ways to generate positive messaging. Either way, maximizing PR at events can be a challenge if you don't know what to do.
Just last month our team staffed Potato Expo 2024 in Austin, TX providing PR and marketing support for our client The National Potato Council (NPC). It was a massive hit with more than 2,300 attendees and 200 exhibitors in a 100,000 sq. ft. convention center, all record-breaking numbers.
The PR and marketing we led around Potato Expo 2024 resulted in an Advertising Value Equivalent of more than $900,000.00 for our client. This was the result of several PR and marketing tactics we used to support client events. And we're going to share those with you.
The Groundwork
You need media attention to generate excitement and spread the word. You need marketing materials to ensure others promote the event. Lastly, you need these to continue PR amplification after the event. Because news stories, social posts, and engaging pictures guarantee those who didn't attend will wish they had.
Evocati PR held a strong presence at Potato Expo 2023 and 2024 supporting NPC. We were involved in the ideation, planning, and execution for 365 days leading up to both events. But what did that look like?
Let's dig into the meat and potatoes on how to leverage PR and media to amplify your event.
Tactics to Leverage PR and Capture Media at Your Event
Whether you have an in-house team, a major firm, or a Small PR Giant like Evocati PR, leverage their expertise. Staffing a major event is like being in Hell's Kitchen to PR Pros, so let 'em cook. If you have an in-house team, lean on them to activate one or two tactics listed below.
Here are some ways you can boost your PR and marketing to support an event.
1. Host a Media Roundtable
Evocati PR’s CEO Mark Szymanksi (Standing Left) briefs industry trade reporters and media during a roundtable discussion at Potato Expo 2024. (Source: Evocati PR)
Gather relevant media members to hear from the major players hosting the event. Ensure that any media attending is identified in advance and invited to attend. At these roundtables, present high-level talking points or key takeaways you want the public to know. Invite media to interview attendees to learn why they attended your event. Media gain valuable insights and quotes that make their stories more relevant and boost the credibility of their articles.
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2. Send Media Advisories
Media Advisories serve as invites to attend and/or cover events and feature all the necessary information the media needs to know. These alert media of your event in advance (usually two weeks out) like we do for our client Soldiers' Angels' Military and Veteran Food Distribution, or they can be for a media roundtable as stated above.
Media advisories are sent to all relevant media contacts and can be around a wide variety of events, as long as they are newsworthy and relate to the journalists you send them to. Media advisories should list the who, what, when, and where of your event, identify any VIPs participating, and provide a point of contact to confirm attendance.
3. Organize Local Media Activations
NPC CEO Kam Quarles (Far Left) participating in a live local news segment at Potato Expo 2024. (Source: Evocati PR)
We love capturing local media. The viewership is generally more dedicated, and there's just something nostalgic and fun about a local news segment. We constantly seek local media attention: Soldiers' Angels appears frequently on San Antonio's KSAT, and NPC just went viral in December and was featured on local news outlets across the country.
READ MORE: Mastering the Art of the Perfect Local Media Pitch: Tips from the PR Experts — Evocati PR
We planned two LIVE local news segments during Potato Expo 2024 including one LIVE cooking segment. Local news is always seeking new and novel things happening in their community. That may just be your event.
4. Record a Podcast
An Eye on Potatoes Podcast Recording at Potato Expo 2023. (Source: Evocati PR)
Or seven, if you're ambitious. The Eye on Potatoes Podcast recorded seven episodes in Austin featuring members across the potato value chain and various speakers at the event such as Steve Lerch, Founder and President of Story Arc Consulting. All seven of those podcasts were organized by Evocati PR. One podcast was recorded before a live audience. A podcast is a great way to capture evergreen content and gives the public an alternative, and popular way, to learn about your event.
5. Distribute a Post-Event Wrap-Up
This will very likely include emails to media members who were in attendance, a press release, and posts on socials. This boosts positive stories about the successes and highlights of your event. It's a brilliant way to bookend your event and give media another story to tell.
Make sure it includes positive quotes from attendees on how well the event went. After all, an event is only as good as people say it is. Here's the wrap-up press release we sent after Potato Expo 2024 to give you an example of how to frame your post-event wrap-up.
6. Amplify Social Conversations
Evocati PR’s President & Founder Barrett Y. Bogue takes a break from live-Tweeting on the Expo floor to capture a team selfie at Potato Expo 2024. (Source: Evocati PR)
Social media is simultaneously the most attractive and most difficult marketing piece of an event. If you were tuned into @PotatoExpo on Twitter in mid-January, you saw the hard work of Evocati PR. What you didn't see was all the running around the Expo floor to capture every moment and speeding back to the office to turn it around for socials. Those 10,000+ steps each day and hours of editing and scheduling are the grunt work of social media.
You should identify one to two people at your event whose sole responsibility is to post on social media. Capture short quotes or videos to feature across social channels. Most importantly, focus your social outreach featuring the people attending—demonstrate why they're having fun, what they're learning, and why they chose to attend. Give followers a live look into the experience.
You Got This
These are essential tactics any team or PR firm can employ today to maximize PR and marketing for your event. It's not an exhaustive list, but a few things you can do now to ensure your company gains positive brand recognition.
PR Pros like us may not like event planning or management, but we love the storytelling opportunities they provide. If you'd like to talk more about how to capture that sweet PR for your event, contact us today.
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