When you’re starting a business and budgets are tight, getting free exposure for your products and services is not something to be sniffed at. Product launches, website openings and service demonstrations can often be enough to warrant a press conference, and providing you have a unique and imaginative product you don’t have to be a huge multinational to secure a journalist’s attention.
So, you’ve started your company, developed a life changing product and invited the press come and see it for themselves, but where do you start when it comes to hosting a press conference?
There are many considerations that need to be made when inviting the press to your event but a few golden rules will get you off to the right start. Here are the three key considerations for any press conference:
Choose Your Speakers Carefully
You might think that as the company director it is your job to court the world’s media and be the sole spokesperson for your business. But you should think carefully before nominating yourself as the face of the press conference.
Whatever your news, it is the people who tell it that will make the biggest impression, so your speakers should be confident and have something interesting to say. Think like a journalist, they will have gone to countless press conferences in the past so you need something to make yours stand out from the rest.
Does a certain employee have the type of personality that gets everybody listening? Is someone else closer to the project than you and can therefore handle questions with more authority? Is there somebody in your company who can organise and host a successful event seamlessly?
Ideally there should be a panel of representatives from your company who are equipped to handle every aspect of a press conference. There should be a host to direct the event, an expert on the issue that will answer questions and a master orator to deliver your flawless presentation. Having a company director on hand to answer questions is always advantageous, but think carefully about whether others in your company might have more to give.
Location Location Location
When choosing your location, bear in mind the amount of journalists you are expecting and what their requirements will be. You also need to make a great first impression, so if you are working out of your bedroom then inviting them round to your front room probably won’t grab their immediate attention.
Hotels and conference venues specialise in hosting press events and will have the required presence to leave a good first impression with journalists. You also need to make sure that reporters have all of the services that they might need, so ensure that there are plenty of power points, the acoustics in the room are good, there is free WI-FI and ISDN connections if you are expecting television or radio coverage.
The Press Pack
If you are thinking that printing out a transcript of your presentation and putting it in a bag will do, think again. Press packs have become a vital part of modern press conferences as they give journalists important information that you might not have time or scope to cover in your conference. This should be seen as your opportunity to court the press, make some vital long term contacts and establish yourselves in their minds as an industry authority.
Make sure your press pack contains background information, contact lists and any relevant quotes to hammer home your message. They should be professionally presented and also include brand consistent promotional gifts to provide a lasting reminder of your company.
A press conference should be seen not only as your chance to promote your latest product or service but a chance to establish yourselves as an industry source by gaining vital press contacts who may approach you for stories in the future.
Get the basics of your press conference right and you can set yourself up as a leading industry voice for years to come, guaranteeing a steady supply of free publicity from an authority source for your company.
This article is a guest post by Alan Grainger who writes articles for The Promotional Gifts Company. They cover issues surrounding the promotional gifts industry including marketing, advertising and PR.
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