The value of PR in maximising event visibility

By: Ben Morling, Account Manager

Industry events are more than just opportunities to network, they’re powerful tools to build brand authority, drive media coverage and amplify your company’s voice. For B2B businesses, who typically have long buying cycles, trust is critical, and events are a crucial chance to establish relationships and position your brand as a leader. 

Whether your company is hosting its own event, exhibiting at a key conference or has a spokesperson speaking on a panel, events provide plenty of opportunities to amplify your message, and you should be looking to make the most of them.  

Why PR matters at events 

 Event PR should be strategic, and be part of a wider plan, otherwise it will get lost amongst the noise. Here’s how PR can bring tangible value to your business:  

1. Amplifies media presence 

Getting the right journalist and media outlets to engage with your brand during an event is a great way to increase credibility. Most notable events will have a media presence, so having a plan for outreach is a great opportunity to connect with journalists that will already be in attendance – it is a hotspot of industry leaders, and you should prioritise meeting journalists the same way you prioritise networking with other industry peers.  

Maximise your key spokespeople being in different places too. If you have time, reach out to local journalists, and see if they want to speak to you while you are in the area. Remember – they don’t have to be attending the event.  

There are several PR tools that can be utilised at events, media briefings, press releases and transcripts of your spokesperson’s talk, so consider everything to make the most of your time there.  

2. Delivers strategic, on-brand content 

Events are a content goldmine: keynote soundbites, product announcements, customer testimonials, thought leadership insights – the list goes on. Working with a PR team helps you to capture, shape and share in a way that reinforces your messaging.  

From live social updates to post-event blogs and expert commentary in key trade titles, strong PR turns your event into a content engine that can provide repurposed content long after the event has finished.  

If you are hosting your own event or exhibiting at a key industry conference, having a dedicated PR expert means your team can focus on the task at hand, safe in the knowledge that key moments are being captured. 

Whether the objective is to reposition the business, elevate a key executive, or build thought leadership in a niche market, PR provides the structure to make sure that all your efforts are working towards those goals. 

Case Study: Elevating Visibility at ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World conference 

Every year, The Jargon Group client ThreatLocker host their Zero Trust World conference. The event, which takes place in Orlando where they are headquartered, brings together leading figures in cybersecurity for discussions around the latest issues in cybersecurity, as well as providing hands-on workshops such as their hacking labs.  

The conference is a treasure trove of key insight and provided countless opportunities to engage with the media. We reached out to key journalists in the territories we cover to invite them to the conference, for a chance to see first-hand the incredible work ThreatLocker is doing.  

10 journalists attended from the UK and Ireland, along with 15 from the US. We set up a media room where journalists were given a dedicated quiet space to interview key ThreatLocker spokespeople and worked with ThreatLocker’s marketing team to co-ordinate interviews with their key spokespeople throughout.  

The event resulted in 39 pieces of coverage, comprising of news of their latest product launch, interviews and podcast appearances, across a range of national and trade titles like The Irish Independent, GB News, Tech Radar, SC Magazine, CRN and others.  

The scale of the conference was huge, and having such a large media presence meant that the key messages were amplified beyond those in attendance across a range of media that mattered.  

For more information on the event, read this case study. 

Making the Most of Every Event Opportunity 

Events demand significant investment – time, money and resources. PR ensures you get the maximum return on your investment by extending your reach, building your reputation and capturing attention beyond the conference hall.  

Whether you’re planning your next flagship event or gearing up for a major trade show appearance, integrating PR from the start can be the difference between attending and owning the event.