You’re probably still recuperating from CES 2014, but it’s never too early to start your PR and marketing planning for next year.
CES is one of the largest consumer technology conferences of the year. If you have aspirations to make your mark at this famous conference, here are a few helpful PR hints to keep in mind:
Everyone is going, so plan accordingly.
CES states that it showcases more than 3,200 exhibitors and opens its doors to more than 152,000 attendees from over 150 countries. So don’t kid yourself, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. If this is a conference you are committed to, spend plenty of time preparing and planning your show strategy so that your news is clearly heard amongst the endless amount of industry chatter.
Press list, press list, press list!
The CES press list is a great tool for scheduling meetings and briefings, but it is also a very big and overwhelming list filled with plenty of press contacts that do not cover your industry or market. So plan to spend a large amount of time editing it down to a list of contacts you know will likely cover your news. Another tip is to create your own list of target contacts so that you can start reaching out early rather than waiting for the CES list. Even if many of your target contacts are not planning to attend the show, you could secure additional phone briefings (before or after the show), which is never a bad thing.
Don’t forget about those pesky holidays.
Many reporters take time off during the holiday season, which unfortunately eats into a lot of precious pitching time. Make sure to start your pitching early so that you’re able to talk with your contacts before everyone goes silent at the end of the year.
Focus on securing phone briefings before the show.
Keep in mind that you’re not the only one trying to convince reporters to meet with you at CES (please reread tip #1). Plus, the CES show floor is very chaotic and it’s easy for reporters to lose track of time and miss scheduled meetings. To ensure that you’re able to secure great meetings with CES press, try to schedule as many as possible ahead of time. You’ll find that many reporters prefer to schedule a phone briefing before the show to free up their CES time to walk the floor. And if they really enjoy the phone briefing, then they just might decide to stop by the booth to learn more.
There’s more?
Yes! There are plenty of additional CES tricks and tips for us to share, so stay tuned for CES Helpful Hints Part 2!