How to master your communications strategy at Dubai Air Show 2019
There’s no surprise that Dubai Air Show is one of the biggest aerospace exhibition platforms across countries. The show gives the aerospace industry an opportunity to network and display their latest innovations. With Middle East defense spending forecast to hit $100bn in 2019, there’s no doubt that the exhibition will open doors and prospects for companies to boost its revenue.
If you’re an exhibitor at Dubai Air Show 2019 then you must not miss out an opportunity to position yourself as a thought leader in the aerospace industry and stand out amongst the thousands of attendees and journalists at the event.
Below are some tips that will help you up your communications game at Dubai Air Show 2019:
1. It’s never too early to plan: Despite having innovative products and some ‘meaty’ news bytes for the media, often companies keep the PR and communication strategy at the bottom of their checklist. Due to this, businesses miss out on a HUGE opportunity to flaunt its expertise to the media, potential clients and stakeholders.
Having a plan in place at least one month before gives companies an upper hand to prioritise what needs to be told to the media. More importantly, if companies don’t have a big news then one has time in hand to create ‘the news’.
2. Avoid having ‘ME’ strategy – Your story cannot only revolve around your company. The more your keep hyping your company, the less value to add a journalist’s story. Result? You fail to be part of the story.
To position yourself as a thought leader, you need to address the challenges faced by the industry, give solutions and, more importantly, shed light on the path to make the industry a better place.
3. Say yes to media training – The defense space is always a hot topic! One wrong message can ruin your brand and how! There have been instances where journalists have put spokespeople on the spot or misquoted them.
If your spokespeople are clear and prepared, they can steer the interview the direction they want. This is subtle skill and can be easily learned through media training.
4. Do not ditch social media – A lot has been said about how social media has changed the narrative of public relations. Many companies fail to understand that the social media strategy must be aligned with their public relation strategy. Why? Because your stakeholders and customers are no longer limited to newspapers. They are present across all social media platforms.
Keeping your audience engaged and updated on a real-time basis about your presence and contribution at Dubai Air Show will only build credibility of your brand.
Don’t forget that impressing 87,000 attendees from across the globe at the show is not the only target you have to achieve. You must see a bigger picture and not fail to flex your innovations in front of every potential customers in the region and beyond. And how does that happen? By having a right PR partner.
With over 17 years of experience in the region, we have handled multiple defense clients and helped them narrate their success story and added value to their sales pitch. If you want to be one of them do not hesitate to reach out to us!
By Komal Mishra, Communications Executive, Active DMC