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Breaking Through the Trade Show Noise: Dell EMC and The 2018 NAB Show

Trade shows have evolved significantly since I started my PR career back in the late ‘90s. In a similar vein, journalism and publishing have also transformed themselves over the years and continue to do so today.

“Back in the old days,” as the PR elders like to say, it seemed like trade shows were packed wall-to-wall with reporters. Publications would send every reporter they could to cover the show-related news and meet with the companies that were exhibiting or speaking there.

Today, however, trade shows – and the media relations activities supporting them – are an entirely different ball game for all of the players involved.

For one, with the emergence of blogs, social media and smartphones, it’s easier and faster than ever for PR professionals and our clients to interact with reporters and build personal relationships. The dependence on in-person meetings is much reduced in comparison to the pre-internet days since it’s far more common and easier to reach out with a simple “like,” a DM, or a text message.  

Secondly, publications generally send fewer reporters to cover these events in-person; as such, the journalists that are onsite reporting during a show are tasked with covering the entire event, making their time there for in-person briefings incredibly limited. It’s challenging to meet with companies during a show because journalists are often too busy reporting on keynote speeches and breaking news. This has shaped how and when companies issue news announcements or hold press conferences at trade shows – if fewer reporters are there to attend your live press conference, does it make sense to do it during the event? Sometimes yes, sometimes not.

We recently had the opportunity to support Dell EMC’s presence at the 2018 NAB Show, the annual event for the National Association of Broadcasters, which brings together industry professionals in the media, entertainment and technology industries. NAB is a massive show: More than 102,000 people attended this year’s event from more than 160 countries.

Given the shift in the way that major industry gatherings like NAB are covered by media, we wanted to offer some best practices we learned based on our work with Dell EMC for this show.

Start media outreach early. Depending on how large a show is (100K versus 1,000 attendees) it makes sense to start planning PR pitching efforts at least four to six weeks before the show begins. For Dell EMC, we developed and sent out a “save the date”-style pitch a month or so before NAB that was light on details but allowed us to get meetings booked early with several key contacts. Schedules fill up fast at these events! You can always follow up with more details about show-specific announcements and activities later, after your target media contacts have confirmed their availability to meet.

Keep the conversation industry-level. After the initial save-the-date pitch, we shifted our efforts to focus on Dell EMC’s predictions for both the show, and the broadcast and media industries at large. This allowed us to discuss broader trends and challenges (for example, the industry’s increasing “elastic demand” for resources), and how Dell EMC and its solutions portfolio addressed those. Rather than sending out a salesy, buzzword-filled pitch that centered on Dell EMC’s products only, we elevated the conversation to address higher-level industry-wide issues. As a result, we were able to secure a byline with a key broadcast publication, and a briefing with a key industry association’s publication.

Create and leverage content assets. In addition to media relations, we developed a blog post for Dell EMC around what demos and products attendees could expect to see at the show (“One Technology Provider for All Your Media Pro Needs,” April 9, 2018). Content like blog posts can not only be helpful for PR teams to secure media interest but can be leveraged by sales and business development executives within the organization to send to clients and prospects to secure meetings at the event.  

In total, we secured seven press and analyst meetings for Dell EMC’s media and entertainment team, comprised of both phone interviews and onsite meetings at the show. The resulting coverage included the following: