How to Invite Tastemakers and Influencers for PR Event in China

Event PR in China is designed to get people out of the door. It usually targets the public, corporate delegates, exhibitors or sponsors by using the most effective communication tools and channels to engage with key target audiences before, during and after the event.

It also includes cooperating with media partnerships, liaising with exhibitors, speakers and the event team to identify and maximize publicity opportunities, providing a press office service, briefing key spokespeople, encouraging and managing media attendance on the day, as well as monitoring and evaluating campaign results.

Among all the steps in event PR in China, inviting tastemakers and influencers may be the most crucial step. Influencers may be not usual PR targets, and they aren’t necessarily journalists or bloggers. Your best influencers should have large, relevant audience and followers who trust what they say. They might have a lot of social media fans or followers, or tend to be present at every industry event in person. If you approach the right influencers, they may even bring some of their influential friends to your event.

To find tastemakers and influencers is the first step to invite them. For journalists and media outlets, the most valuable targets are the ones that are most relevant to your industry, like influencers in the industry. Who’s using social media to talk about issues that relate to your event? Who’s blogging and speaking publicly? Search for LinkedIn Groups relevant to your topic, and find out who’s talking and posting on social media.

Pitching tastemakers and influencers is considered as the second step. Below are the considerations which should be taken into when pitching them in China：

Make them have confidence in your brand

When you’re asking an influencer to leverage her personal reputation for your event, you should focus on the value he/she’ll get out of by associating with your brand.

Make them feel special and awesome

Create a unique experience for media and invited bloggers, which could be an exclusive meeting or pre-event. It could be introducing a new product or VIP, or it could be just highlighting a special feature of the event which may be new to the industry.

The last step is to stay besties with tastemakers and influencers. If you could always recognize the media representatives who attended the event, it will make them be willing to attend the next event because they see how grateful you are. Moreover, you must ask your influencers about their experience, because asking for feedback is critical as it shows that you care about the relationship, which also gives you an opportunity to address concerns.