Exhibit marketing seems to be all about the giveaways, the in-booth activities, the product displays, and the myriad bells and whistles companies use to attract clients and prospects to your booth. But don’t let all of those elements overshadow another important component of your program: your press kit.

Granted, journalists usually don’t buy your products, and many won’t even make it to your booth. But if product or company awareness means anything to you, getting your company’s news into the hands of the press — or better yet, into their carry-on bags for the return flight to the office — should be a to-do-list task that ranks far above management minutiae such as “buy staff breath mints.”

Sure, you can attract hundreds of people to your booth, but if just one journalist mentions your company in a publication or broadcast, you’ll generate awareness far beyond those hundreds and far beyond the show.

Of course, press kits aren’t the do all end all of press-communication strategies — as you may also want to add press conferences, press events, or pre-set press meetings to your exhibit-marketing mix. However, press kits are likely the first, and perhaps only, impression you’ll make on the media outlets represented at the show.

Thus, effective kits must not only contain the news and info journalists need to create their stories, they must also attract attention. For just as your exhibit competes for attention with a hall full of exhibits, your press kit competes with the stacks of other kits strewn about in the press room.

So how do you present the information journalists need in a compelling manner that stands out amid the stacks, or better yet, convinces journalists to lug your kit home? There’s no single, magic answer. Instead, there are several answers, such as:

•  clever packaging
• interactive activities
• press-friendly giveaways…. and more.

See example below that was featured in Exhibitor Magazine:

Along with a press release about the company’s new pomegranate-flavored tea, the kit includes 14 additional press releases and fact sheets about its different flavors and lines.

-adapted from “Trash Proof Press Kits” by Linda Armstrong, Exhibitor Magazine