BETT 2018: TOP TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL PR

Education PR consultant Sam Dalton, Account Executive at PLMR, sets out some top tips for businesses at Bett to boost their public image and maximise positive attention.

The Bett Show is a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of your business. In an environment where thousands of education technology organisations are competing for a voice and an influence, it provides the chance to reflect on your key goals, and how you can present these to others in the most effective way possible.

To give you the best chance of standing out from the crowd, we have put together some top tips for successful PR.

1) Build strong key messages

What message about your business do you want visitors at Bett to go away with? How do you strike a chord with the education sector? You need to decide on an over-arching narrative which defines your business, and which your promotional materials at Bett, and PR plan for the year ahead, are geared towards. This needs to be positive, believable, and easy to understand. Whether your message is “innovative technology transforming students’ results” or “ethical business empowering young people”, the central message needs to be the theme that runs through your PR, and sparks your organisation. Decide on who your key audience is – and then ensure your messages touch people’s hearts as well as minds, and ignites positive emotions as well as thoughts.

2) Link daily activities to your key messages

While many of your daily workplace activities may seem mundane to you, teachers up and down the country will be interested to hear about your work! Find a way of connecting normal events, like the development of a new product or the beginning of a school partnership, with your key messages. Case studies are a great way to show how your work benefits others – and provides strong peer-to-peer advocacy. Try to capture at least one positive story per week, so you can share your success widely, and re-inforce the powerful narrative you have chosen. Activities that have a large human element will capture the most interest – whether enhancing the life opportunities of students, or giving young people the tools to learn in a totally different way.

3) Be visual
While words go a long way, they are always more effective when accompanied by powerful images. In leaflets and posters at Bett, and in wider PR work throughout the year, it is important your communications have the full package, and are nice both to read and look at. Make sure photos are high-quality, and include people looking at the camera and doing something active – for example students interacting with your new product. With budgets tight at media outlets, fewer photographers are being sent to events. So make sure someone is allocated to take photos at all the big occasions – this need only be an image taken on a smartphone. Journalists receive hundreds of emails a day, so a great photo can make all the difference.

In the swirl and excitement of Bett, it is important to stand back and reflect on what your organisation’s PR strategy should be, not only so you can make the most of this great week of networking, but so your year ahead is as fruitful and rewarding as possible!

Make sure to follow @Mango_Marketing@PLMRLtd and @PLMRDigital to see what we’re up to during the show!

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