Why You Need PR for Tech Events
Whether you’re an established technology firm or a fledgling tech startup, PR for tech events can be an important ingredient in your promotional mix. By approaching events, appearances and other opportunities from a strategic PR perspective, you can achieve several important wins for your business and significantly raise your company profile among prospects and industry insiders.
For most tech companies, leveraging internal resources to perform PR for tech events is challenging, at best. Although your company’s marketing team may be passionate and enthusiastic about using public relations tactics to amplify your event presence, PR for tech events is a specialized skill set that usually requires the assistance of an experienced tech PR firm like Walker Sands.
Types of PR for Tech Events
One of the reasons why it’s important to leverage external expertise for PR for tech events is because there are several different types of events that can benefit from public relations strategies—and each type of event involves its own unique set of desired outcomes and nuances.
- End-User Conferences. Conferences for technology end-users are opportunities that are ripe for PR for tech events. Although the goal of these events is to forge or deepen connections with customers, it’s also important to consider how end-user conferences can be used to solicit feedback from your customer base.
- Industry Seminars. As informational events, industry seminars present opportunities for targeted interactions with customers, media contacts and other stakeholders. In some cases, a good PR for tech events strategy can even involve the possibility of hosting seminars in which your business plays a lead role.
- Media Events. Media events are essential for disseminating information about your company, products and services. But for these types of events, the attendance list is just as important as the event itself. At Walker Sands, our PR for tech events approach targets influential industry analysts as well as the most important media contacts in your space.
- Sponsorships. Sponsorships enable tech companies to achieve visibility among targeted market segments. In most instances, sponsorship opportunities are leveraged to reinforce partnerships with investors, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders.
- Promotional Contests. Over the past several years, promotional contests have become commonplace in PR for tech events. But many tech firms don’t realize that contests present both risks and rewards. By outsourcing your contest to a qualified public relations firm like Walker Sands, you can improve the impact of your contest and mitigate the risk of a PR nightmare due to snafus in rules and award selections.
For early stage tech startups, a presence at key industry events can go a long way toward improving the company’s profile among investors, customer and industry leaders. Walker Sands has a track record in leveraging PR for tech events, with strategies that help startups present on-stage at pitch and demo events like SXSW and Technori Pitch.