The likelihood is you are attending UK Security Expo because you want to secure more sales, meet potential customers and build new business relationships. A well-designed stand, new marketing brochures and a well briefed team, together with a new product, system, service or concept are the key components to a successful event.
However, every other exhibitor, including all your competitors, will have exactly the same plan. So, how do you get that little bit of extra leverage to make sure your company stands out from the crowd. People buy from people who they know and trust, you need to accelerate that feeling of familiarity and security. By being visible. By being everywhere your target is and saying interesting thought-provoking things that resonate with them.
Essentially, you have three key ways of going about this around an exhibition:
1. Presentations – enable you to interact with the audience, observe reactions, gauge understanding and emphasise key benefits – however the audience only gets to hear the message once, not everyone you want to attend will be able to attend, detailed background info can’t (indeed shouldn’t) be used and the pace is set by the speaker. The success of the presentation depends entirely on the effectiveness of the speaker. The key limitation therefore is bandwidth.
2. Webinars – allow you to tell your story on your own terms, time-poor individuals may find it easier to dial in, there are no capacity issues and it can be recorded for later consumption. On the downside – body language, the primary way we build relationships and trust is absent, internet speed must permit multiple simultaneous participants, audio must be to an acceptable standard as any technical foul-up may result in an irritated and frustrated audience compounded by technical restrictions and audience environment challenges and disruptions.
3. Editorial – presents your message to a potentially wider audience by an independent third party which is more credible and trustworthy than paid-for communication. The risk is that once you’ve released your message, you have limited control over how you are portrayed in the media and there is no guarantee the press will run your story.
If you want to leverage Editorial at UK Security Expo do these six things this week:
1. Decide on your proposition or key message and then ask yourself: why should anyone care?
2. Contact the press office and ask for a list of media partners and registered press contacts
3. Secure the details of whoever is running the Show Daily
4. Decide what three news stories you are going to promote
5. Agree who your spokesperson is going to be and check if they need media training
6. Start thinking about what photographs and imagery is going to best capture your audience’s attention.
Be visible.
