Top tips for making headlines with the press at cybersecurity events
Cybersecurity events like RSA and Infosec are a great chance to meet leading industry journalists face-to-face and improve your media relations. Careful planning and preparation are essential to get the best results.
Here are some top tips for ensuring your time at events delivers maximum value.
Set your goals
Much like the decision to focus on securing sales or building your brand at industry events, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with press outreach. Your end goals will shape your outreach strategy.
Consider if you really need coverage to make the event a success, or if building up relationships for future press outreach will be valuable in its own right.
If you’re a known industry quantity and want to make a splash for a new launch or industry research, you might aim for a larger number of shorter meetings to supplement press material.
If you’re seeking to build your brand, you might prefer a smaller selection of longer, more in-depth interviews with your senior leadership.
Set up your media interviews ahead of the event
It also can be a great strategy to set up media interviews ahead of the event, sometimes under embargo. This will help you create a buzz before the main event, so that your prospects and clients hear about you beforehand.
If successful, you’ll automatically see more traffic driving up to your booth during the event, your brand will stand out among the noise.
A journalist’s time is valuable, so try to say something new
Sometimes getting press interviews at a trade show has no purpose other than to demonstrate to internal stakeholders that activity is happening. “The CEO is in town, so they need to have at least three press interviews lined up”. However, trying to secure interviews for the sake of it will not wash with journalists and you will be passed over.
Every interview should have a purpose behind it. Put yourself in the journalist’s shoes and ask yourself ‘Why would I want to speak to this company? What new thing am I going to learn that my readers have to know about?
Think about what the journalist gets by meeting you face-to-face.
Remember relationships are more than just a single point in time
Journalist engagement is a long-term process, and you should be constantly engaging with your journalist community throughout the year. Don’t just do PR projects around an event; think about the long-term
One of the fatal mistakes that we’ve seen companies make in the past is that they just do PR projects around an event and then go quiet for the rest of the year. This doesn’t foster meaningful journalist relationships and won’t help the business achieve its goals from an event
You can find more advice on succeeding at RSA and other top cybersecurity industry events in our eBook “Cracking the Code: Insider Secrets to Thriving at Cybersecurity Events”. Get your free copy here.