You’re in the middle of preparing a major product launch with a press conference at a big trade show, and suddenly news comes in that the show is canceled because of a pandemic crisis. This scenario is now unfortunately a global reality with the cancellation of several trade events like FESPA Madrid, drupa, Interpack and many others as a result. With maybe yet more upcoming exhibitions to follow in the near term.
Corona crisis communication opportunities
You already invested time and budget to prepare for these shows and you would still like to get some return on your investment. Regardless of whether a trade show is postponed or cancelled, your product launch and announcements will still happen and shouldn’t fade into the shadows. To counter the loss of visibility for your innovation and get your business ready, we have listed solutions that will help you gain the upper hand during these unusual circumstances.
Corona crisis communication plan
How to best tackle this crisis situation? Ensure your company has a crisis communication plan that is up to date with the current circumstances. In a confusing and chaotic situation, it’s important to have clear guidelines. For your communication, it makes a huge difference to have a clear idea of who is responsible and will step up when stakeholders need to be informed. Having your messaging ready (press releases, social media announcements, mailers) in advance will allow your company to move quickly and efficiently without wasting valuable time.
A webpage dedicated to coronavirus updates
When people need to be informed and take quick action, it’s a good strategy to put up a landing page dedicated to the issue. All your communication can direct to this page and make it the centralized location for all information and updates. A popup or link on the homepage is a must.
The show must go on with online events
If you had a big press conference planned with date set and journalists alerted, then it might be worth it to keep the date and time and invite the journalists to a live streaming online press conference. The journalists will experience the same look and feel as if they were physically attending the event, but they will instead enjoy it from a safe and comfortable environment, their homes.
Our team is experienced in creating an event to remember, be it a digital one. In addition, we prolong the experience for the journalist by keeping them informed with new editorial content that is available after the event, extra visuals, video footage, podcasts etc. That way they are fully briefed to report about a successful event.
When it comes to one-to-one meetings that were lined up at the trade show, they can still easily take place in the form of a video conference call set-up.
Multi-channel campaign
Your budget won’t have been spent in vain and you can still benefit from your investment. With a communication campaign that combines social media tactics with PR efforts and targeted advertising, you can take advantage of the situation. Launch a multi-channel communication campaign and be a voice in your market when your competitors are silent.
Pardon the pun, but let’s go viral!
Need some help with your communications plan?