Ecobuild – top tips!
Dragonfly PR has supported clients attending Ecobuild for eight years now, so here are some top tips to ensure you get the most of out #ecobuild 2015!
- Use the online press room
Don’t forget ecobuild doesn’t have a physical press room, so don’t waste time and effort printing lots of press kits. In the true spirit of sustainability, the press information is hosted online. All you need to do is to ensure you use the logins which you should have been assigned to upload the latest press releases to your online portal of the website, for journalists to access.
- You need to launch something!
ecobuild is one of the largest construction shows in the world, with literally thousands of exhibition stands. You therefore need to make sure that yours stands out from the crowd.
Launching a new product or service is a great way to do this, but it’s important to be creative! Think of ways that your product or service could be demonstrated – it doesn’t have to be on display physically. For example, you could show it via videos on large screens or through an interactive App that visitors could trial on ipads when they visit the stand. You could also invite a special guest, VIP or celebrity to launch the product or service. This then becomes the talking point for your company at the show. Remember one hard hitting message is easier for visitors to recall than dozens of smaller messages – so think big!
- Put your products forward for the Big Innovation pitch.
For the first time ecobuild has introduced this in a bid to unearth sustainable innovation across its exhibitors. ecobuild is a great platform for exhibitors to showcase their products and services for the next generation. But you must hurry if you want to be considered for this as first round entrants must be available to present their solutions in London on 10th February. This is sponsored by M&S, which is looking for ‘retrofitable, scalable technologies’ that represent a good return on investment and are able to be applied to retail shops. The deadline to apply for this is 28th January.
4. Pre-plan your conference programme
ecobuild has some fascinating and enlightening speakers and it is very worthwhile to identify seminars beforehand that you would like to attend – and book in early. The programme this year covers Good Design, Delivering Sustainable Building and the Future of the Global Built Environment. A number of seminars at this year’s ecobuild are accredited CPDs, so this adds to your professional learning – another good reason to attend!
5. Use social media to maximise your presence at Ecobuild.
The hashtag #ecobuild is already being widely promoted. Prepare a series of relevant tweets leading up to the show and afterwards using the hashtag and you will be surprised how many retweets you receive, maximising interest in your company.
Obviously make sure your tweets are not ‘sales based’ but are conversational, topical and relevant. Also ensure you have access to Twitter, Pinterest and Linkedin during the show too, so you can post regular updates from your stand and photographs of any special visitors – which helps to engage people and drive them to your stand.
- Start promoting your presence at ecobuild early!
For many of our clients, we start promoting their attendance at ecobuild six months before the exhibition. This includes working with them on preparing technical information and literature for product launches, creating press information, organising suitable architectural photography and identifying key journalists we’d like to invite to their stand. We also ensure we secure inclusion in ecobuild Previews and Reviews by sending relevant press information to the key magazines that cover the exhibition. It’s always worth keeping a small ‘colour separation’ budget to one side to support the key construction magazines that attend ecobuild.
It is very important to meet as many journalists as you can at ecobuild, which is a great place to do this as most editors on construction and built environment publications attend. However, you must be flexible and fit around them, as they often only attend the show for 1-2 days and have literally dozens of appointments. If they say they don’t have time to visit your stand, offer to meet them at their company stand and it’s a good idea to send them a link afterwards to your area on the ecobuild site where they can find out more information about what’s new and exciting from you at ecobuild.
If you would like more top tips on maximising your presence at ecobuild and other similar events, contact our PR team on 01709 300130 or email: hello@dragonflypr.co.uk.