1. Post Graduate Diploma in PR & Exhibitions Management
Marketing Public Relations and Audience
Lecture 4
Managing MPR Activities
Developed and Presented by
Roy Ying, Msc., BSG, B.Comm., MHKIoD
Note: Pictures used in this power point file
is for academic Purpose only 1

2. Table of Contents
• Emerging tools for customer engagement
• Managing a successful trade show
• Elements in organizing press conference
• Other MPR tools
2

3. What’s Important in 2012?

4. Getting Help from “Friends”
• Instead of one-way corporate messages,
companies are engaging customers to tell
their stories to others.

5. Thought leadership
• Instead of telling people you are the
expert, customers are engaged to think for
themselves that you are the thought leader
in the industry.

6. Getting People Offline
• Instead of generating virtual recognition,
organizations are engaging people in a
way that they need to come out of the
social media for face-to-face interactions.

7. Let Them Play
• Instead of creating games on iPhone or
Androids, marketers are engaging target
customers in reality competition using 3G
technology

8. Interactive Game Marketing
• Instead of offering coupons on print media,
companies are actively drawing customers
to their shops via interactive games on
electronic outdoor media.

9. Augmented reality
• Instead of producing fancy tourist-
attraction TVC, augmented reality apps
are created for tourists to experience the
movie setting on their destinations.

10. Traditional and Social Combination
• Having a fan page doesn’t guarantee
popularity. Companies need to invest in
traditional media to boost online traffic.
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11. Community Engagement
• Marketers are now trying to build long term
relationship with local community in a way
that may seem unrelated to the business,
but it’s the target audience they are after.

12. Table of Contents
• Emerging tools for customer engagement
• Managing a successful trade show
• Elements in organizing press conference
• Other MPR tools
12

13. 7 Steps in Managing Trade Show
Step 1: Securing a booth
• Know the rules.
• HKTDC has a point system based on:
– Application history
– Quality of products and designs
– Awards
– Production quality assurance certifications
– Branding effort (i.e., not just OEM)
– Relationship with HKTDC

14. 7 Steps in Managing Trade Show
Step 2: Know what you want to sell and
produce the marketing collaterals (i.e., a
flyer, a brochure or a CD)

15. 7 Steps in Managing Trade Show
Step 3: Develop a sales presentation and
look for opportunities to reach clients

16. 7 Steps in Managing Trade Show
Step 4: Pre-event marketing
• Database sourcing for direct marketing
• Onsite promotional platform bookings
• Advertising planning
• Pre-arranged sales meetings
• Staff recruitment and training

17. 7 Steps in Managing Trade Show
Step 5: Pre-event PR
• Publicity event planning for media
– Awards competition
– Fashion show or parade
– Seminar
– Book signing
– Special occassion ceremony

18. 7 Steps in Managing Trade Show
Step 5: Pre-event PR

19. 7 Steps in Managing Trade Show
Step 5: Pre-event PR

20. 7 Steps in Managing Trade Show
Step 6: Booth design
• Find out how you want to interact with your
clients and what you want to be selling

21. 7 Steps in Managing Trade Show
Step 6: Booth design

22. 7 Steps in Managing Trade Show
Step 7: Follow up with leads
• Follow up meetings
• Issue standard corporate or product
templates
• Put leads on CRM or at least on regular e-
news update
• Implement customer loyalty program

23. Table of Contents
• Emerging tools for customer engagement
• Managing a successful trade show
• Elements in organizing press conference
• Other MPR tools
23

24. Managing Press Conference
• What should be improved?
24

25. Managing Press Conference
• It’s just like any other events:
– Who (spokesperson and target audience)
– What (content)
– When (time, date, season)
– Where (city, venue selection)
– How (why should media want to come?)
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26. Who - Spokesperson
• Do you want them to be your company’s
spokespersons?
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27. Who – Target Audience
• Once you know who your target audience
is, the question to ask is: What do they
care about?
• Example: HKGCC wanted the public to
celebrate 150th anniversary. The PR
message must be relevant to the public.
27

28. Who – Target Audience
• Celebration stamp and free ride day

29. What
• Content should be based on objectives.
• What do you think of the following cases?
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30. When
• Considerations:
– Convenience to reporters
– Availability of spokespersons
– Competing press events
– Venue accessibility
– Festive seasons or major events
– Day of the week in relations to coverage
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31. Where
• Considerations
– Easily accessible to reporters
– Sizeable to accommodate all media
– Availability of corporate branding
– Free of potential disruptions
– Place for photo opportunity or demo
– No need for dress code or mobile phone
limitation (i.e., private club)
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32. How
• Remember the Harris Grid?
• Depending on whether you are in A, B, C
or D, you should think of what’s required to
attract media.
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33. Table of Contents
• Emerging tools for customer engagement
• Managing a successful trade show
• Elements in organizing press conference
• Other MPR tools
33

34. MPR Activities
• What kind of tools companies can deploy?
• Advertorials • Surveys and researches
• Contests • Seminars and forums
• Special events • CSR initiatives
• Public service tie-ins • Certifications
• Trade shows and • Grooming of spokesperson
exhibitions
• Social media
• Festivals & parades
• Customer engagement
• Sponsorships
• Press conferences, media
tours & receptions

35. Advertorial
• It’s a form of advertising, except that it’s in
an editorial format, usually slightly different
from the newspaper’s layout, design and
colouring.

36. Contest
• Winning awards in contest can effectively
generate media endorsement, especially if
it is from a respected organizer.

37. Special events
• Be more visible to the public and media.

38. Public Service Tie-in
• Very common for charity purpose (e.g.,
proceed of this campaign will go to a
worthy cause) to encourage spending.

39. Trade shows and exhibitions
• It is probably the most effective way to be
visible in front of target buyers.

40. Festival and parade
• Co-brand your brand with festivals.

41. Sponsorship
• Instead of organizing your own event,
sponsorship can increase your visibility in
front of target audience.
What are they
What are they
getting out of the
getting out of the
millions of dollars
millions of dollars
of sponsorship
of sponsorship
fee?
fee?

42. Sponsorship
• Sometimes, sponsorship can come in a
“soft” approach.

43. Press conf, media tour & reception
• Apple’s press conferences with Steve
Jobs are very successful. Media will
definitely come, and also report.
Apart from media
Apart from media
publicity, what
publicity, what
other objective itit
other objective
has achieved?
has achieved?

44. Surveys and researches
• Survey can often bring your story to the news.
• Research is a sign of commitment that your
company is a leader of the industry.

45. Seminars and forums
• Companies often partner with a non-profit
organization to organize seminars to
position itself as an opinion leader.
• Another approach is to seek invitations
from event organizers as speakers to their
conferences.

46. CSR Initiatives
• It is not only a MPR activity, some
countries are making CSR a mandatory
disclosure requirement on annual reports.

47. Certificates and accreditation
• These add to the credibility of your
company as they mean something to
consumers.

48. Spokespersons
• Your spokespersons represent your company’s
brand. Hiring celebrities is a quick way to appeal
your brand to the fans of the artist, but it’s not
sustainable.
• You have to “own” your spokesperson.

49. Social media
• It is an interactive platform between you
and the customers.
• No 1 concern is content creation.