 CES represents a great opportunity for brands, but for startups, it can also be overwhelming. Here’s how to make the most of your CES attendance. 1. Know Your Reasons for Going
Simply hoping your engagement at CES will be productive and worthwhile isn’t enough. Identify and communicate to your team why your startup will have a presence at CES. If you’re going to drum up new business, identify the types of opportunities and people you will want to meet. If you’re going to brush shoulders with reporters, know which ones will be the most likely to cover you and where they’re going to be. If you’re looking for new business partners, know what kind of criteria they have to meet and identify some of them. 2. Perfect Your “General Audience” Messaging and Your "Advanced Messaging" Casual booth visitors don’t want a deep-dive into your company, and potential business partners, investors, and large clients want more than the “public” version of your pitch. You need two different messaging paths in order to get what you want out of CES. There will be some overlap and one conversation can quickly turn into the other. Your “general audience” pitch is a one or two sentence answer to the, “what’s your company about,” question. Follow this question up with a general inquiry into who the other person is and who they’re with. The messaging you give to general audience attendees is the kind of information you would generally tell customers. Your “advanced messaging” can be more specifically geared to the industry you’re in and your stated company goals. These conversations can lead to potential customers, business partners, and investors. Find out who you’re speaking to and what their interests are. Have additional handouts and information ready for these kinds of opportunities. 3. Send The Right People Only send people to CES who need to go. Unless your startup has a massive budget and a good reason for having more than 5 people at CES, don’t do it. CES is expensive and it’s better to send a small, strategic team than to send a lot of people who may or may not be properly prepared. Make sure the people you send are able to talk with the right people and represent your brand in a professional way. 4. Know Who You Want to Meet Meeting the right people at CES requires planning. Research the kinds of companies and people attending CES and identify who you and your startup should meet with. From reporters to CEOs to potential investors, and more, there are a lot of people at CES that you can meet and make connections with. Use your time their wisely. If you book a time to meet with someone, make sure they have your phone number and you have theirs, so you can coordinate if plans change. 5. Reach Out To People Now & Tell Them Where You’ll Be Once you’ve identified who you’d like to meet, send them a casual email indicating that you’d like to meet with them at CES. Send them an invitation to connect on LinkedIn as well. Keep these emails short and be sure to include your contact information in your signature and a well-written “about” paragraph for your company after your signature. If your startup has a booth, or is sharing a booth, let people you’re reaching out to know. 6. Communicate to Your Customers, Social, and Beyond Write a short newsletter, blog article, and social media post that invites customers and fans to visit you at CES. Even if they aren’t attending CES, knowing you’re going to CES helps them take your brand more seriously. During and after CES, connect with people you meet on social and especially LinkedIn. Send a followup email a few days after CES. 7. Take Care of and Be Your Best Self For entrepreneurs working from home, it can be jarring to go from seeing a few people a day to a few thousand. Put your best self forward. Make sure you’re caught up on sleep, staying hydrated, and eating. Don’t do 24 hour CES days if you aren’t used to 24 hour days. Take breaks when you can and don’t burn out. Wear comfortable shoes. Don’t have one too many drinks at the party and do something you later regret. You want people to remember you as a professional who knows what they’re doing, not as the “exhausted entrepreneur” or “life of the party” with questionable self-control. About the Author: Jennifer L. Jacobson Jennifer L. Jacobson replaces global PR firms for her clients and gets better results. She has spent twenty-plus years designing successful campaigns for startups, nonprofits, and growing brands, winning her clients hundreds of thousands of media stories that reach billions of people. Jennifer has worked on campaigns for hundreds of startups and brands as well as Sony, Lady Gaga, Coheed and Cambria, Volkswagen Group of America, Paulo Coelho, Chelsea Clinton, Freedom to Marry, and Seattle Counseling Service. Jennifer is the inventor of the Gadget Census, a study that investigated tech ownership trends in the United States and received national press. She was the first to popularize the term “social media addiction,” predicting many of the modern issues that have arisen from the mass consumption of social media. She is also the founder of Nimbus Haus, a volunteer youth art program focused on elevating youth voices and building stronger communities to support LGBTQ youth and youth in foster care. Jennifer is the founder of Jacobson Communication, a Seattle-based boutique PR firm and the author of 42 Rules of Social Media for Small Business, as well as Snow Tires for Startups: How to Get PR Traction. |
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About the AuthorJennifer is a storyteller who connects big ideas with audiences. She specializes in public relations, brand development, and creative services for startups, theme parks, musicians, authors, nonprofits, and more. From audience awareness to brand development, and positive social change, Jennifer works with clients she believes in and that she believes she can help. 
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Get Jennifer's Upcoming BookSnow Tires for Startups: How to Get PR Traction, is a practical guide for startups and growing brands who want to get the most out of their PR. Learn to think like a storyteller and weave your brand into a larger narrative that puts you in the history books. Snow Tires for Startups will help you navigate the world for PR and get the positive attention you need to move your brand forward.
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“Is my startup ready for PR?" The answer has a lot to do with what your startup is already doing. Find out if you're ready now, if you should wait, or if you should have started PR months ago with this simple quiz.
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3 Ways Big PR Firms Slow Down StartupsDo big global PR firms work for startups? The siren song of larger, global PR firms are tempting to many, but there are good reasons many startups should avoid them. You can do better than a big firm. Here’s why.
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Jacobson Communication specializes in public relations, brand development, and creative services for startups, theme parks, musicians, authors, nonprofits, and more. From audience awareness to brand development, and positive social change, you'll be surprised what better communications can do for your brand.
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LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Acknowledgement to the southern Lushootseed-speaking Coast Salish Indigenous Peoples whose land I live and work on.
The Duwamish People
This land also includes the traditional land and waterways of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People of past and present. It is with honor and gratitude to the land itself, the plants, animals, and the Duwamish Tribe that I practice my work.
The Puyallup Tribe
This land is also on and adjacent to the traditional homelands and waterways of the Puyallup Tribe. The Puyallup people have lived on and stewarded these lands since the beginning of time and continue to do so today. I recognize that this land acknowledgement is one small step toward true allyship, and I commit to uplifting the voices, experiences, and histories of the Indigenous people of this land and beyond.
To learn more about the Puyallup Tribal Language program, visit:
https://www.puyalluptriballanguage.org
The Awaswas People
I would not be the person I am today without growing up in what is now called the Bay Area. For the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, current and future generations of Indigenous Peoples across the Bay Area. I acknowledge and honor the eight tribes known as the Awaswas People, who were the original people and caretakers of much of what is now known as the South Bay Area. The Awaswas had, since the dawn of time, worked with and cultivated the area so it had a variety and abundance of animals and plants. Their ways and practices maintained balance and biodiversity that the area has not known since colonization. The Spanish displaced, enacted violence against, enslaved, and forced the Awaswas People and other Indigenous Peoples of the Bay Area into the mission system, taking the Awaswas people to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista. Some Indigenous peoples of the area were able to escape to the south and into what is now Mexico. Some of those who escaped had to deny their identity and say they were Mexican in order to survive. Much of this history is still being discovered. Today, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, composed of the descendants of Indigenous people taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish the Spanish Colonization of the Central Coast is working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma.
To learn more about the Amah Mutsun Land Trust, click here.
The Duwamish People
This land also includes the traditional land and waterways of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People of past and present. It is with honor and gratitude to the land itself, the plants, animals, and the Duwamish Tribe that I practice my work.
The Puyallup Tribe
This land is also on and adjacent to the traditional homelands and waterways of the Puyallup Tribe. The Puyallup people have lived on and stewarded these lands since the beginning of time and continue to do so today. I recognize that this land acknowledgement is one small step toward true allyship, and I commit to uplifting the voices, experiences, and histories of the Indigenous people of this land and beyond.
To learn more about the Puyallup Tribal Language program, visit:
https://www.puyalluptriballanguage.org
The Awaswas People
I would not be the person I am today without growing up in what is now called the Bay Area. For the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, current and future generations of Indigenous Peoples across the Bay Area. I acknowledge and honor the eight tribes known as the Awaswas People, who were the original people and caretakers of much of what is now known as the South Bay Area. The Awaswas had, since the dawn of time, worked with and cultivated the area so it had a variety and abundance of animals and plants. Their ways and practices maintained balance and biodiversity that the area has not known since colonization. The Spanish displaced, enacted violence against, enslaved, and forced the Awaswas People and other Indigenous Peoples of the Bay Area into the mission system, taking the Awaswas people to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista. Some Indigenous peoples of the area were able to escape to the south and into what is now Mexico. Some of those who escaped had to deny their identity and say they were Mexican in order to survive. Much of this history is still being discovered. Today, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, composed of the descendants of Indigenous people taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish the Spanish Colonization of the Central Coast is working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma.
To learn more about the Amah Mutsun Land Trust, click here.