Trade Show PR Strategy

By our friend Leah Brown, PR + Marketing Consultant

Pre-show, brands should be reaching out to the trade food and beverage outlets such as Project Nosh, New Hope, and Food Navigator as far in advance as possible sending info on the news and offering samples for tasting (if applicable). They are fine with receiving white labeled samples as long as you can send the renderings and nutritional info via email. The editors are inundated with thousands of emails before the show, up to a month and a half before. With all of these emails, news can be missed.

To ensure your news is seen, consider offering the news as an exclusive to one outlet. Once the exclusive is live, you can send the info to the other outlets to cover if they’re interested. Setting up a call with the individual editors will allow you to provide the news in a personal way and answer any questions they may have. Present the news in a concise form in the body of an email, offering a full formal press release for them to post on the site as an option. If the editors aren’t able to cover the news before the show, offer an on-site tasting and interview during the show that fits within their schedule – or send samples post-show as many don’t have room in their bags for full sized samples or anything refrigerated or frozen. Media and influencers are looking for exciting, new, and out-of-the-box news and products – include interesting info on the brand, product, or founder in your pitch to entice their interest.

Expo West has the most attending media of the big four food trade shows throughout the year (Expo West, Expo East, Summer Fancy Food & Winter Fancy Food). New Hope does curate a media list of all attending media and their contact information, but rarely sends it out. Feel free to request it as an exhibitor. If you aren’t able to get the list, assume that team members from the food trade outlets will definitely be in attendance.

Beyond those contacts, the same editors and influencers typically attend the show year after year. Search online for previous features on the show, launches, and trends to find out what contacts attended and covered the news. Reach out to them or their team members asking if they or one of their colleagues will be attending and would be interested in samples, info on the news, or setting up an interview or stop-by during the show. The contacts schedules book up fast, so reach out as far in advance as possible – ideally three weeks before the show. Once an interview or appointment is confirmed, send a calendar appointment to the editor and yourself or your brand representative with the booth number and contact info. A couple days prior send a friendly reminder email to confirm the appointment. After meeting with media and influencers, send a thank you email that day or within the next couple days thanking them for taking the time to come by and talk, offer info, images, and samples should they be interested in featuring the brand. 

Brands can also submit for a free panel during Expo West – the panel submissions are due months ahead of the show, but a great option to keep in mind for future shows and next year. If you have the budget, you can purchase a panel through New Hope, but they are very costly. 

During the show, be prepared to hand out samples to attending media and influencers who stop by. As they won’t be able to take much info on the brand with them, get their card and give them yours so you can follow up later and send them a link to a digital press kit. Ideally, these digital press kits will be on Google Drive and include folders for your press release, brand fact sheet, founder/CEO bio and headshot, and hi-res images of the products. Allowing access to this shared file will be a great resource for editors and ease the process of getting info and images for stories they’re working on. 

Speaker submissions for Natural Products Expo East 2020 are open and will close at midnight CT on April 24, 2020.

About Leah Brown

LB PR specializes in helping food, beverage, and wellness brands grow. Leah Brown combines nine years of experience at three top firms to create consumer-centric, result-driven PR campaigns for her clients across print, digital, influencer, and broadcast platforms. She truly enjoys telling a company’s story and building their brand awareness through earned media coverage, creative campaigns, and founder/CEO thought leadership pieces.

Current and previous clients include EPIC Provisions, OHi Food Co., Annie’s, Barney Butter, Birch Benders, Kashi, Chameleon Cold-Brew, A Dozen Cousins, Purely Elizabeth, and more. Learn more and connect with Leah.