Kickstart Your 2025 MWC Strategy: Essential PR and Marketing Tips for January

Define your target audience and objectives

For any successful marketing campaign, you need to know who you’re targeting to create effective messaging that will capture their attention and drive meaningful results. MWC is no different. If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to determine exactly who you want to engage at the show.

Start by identifying the key stakeholders that align with your marketing objectives. Are you looking to attract net new prospects in CSPs or deepen relationships with existing customers? Define clear objectives to guide your efforts. For example:

Craft a compelling thought leadership hook 

Once you’ve defined your Customer Profile you should consider creating a hero piece of content that addresses the challenges and opportunities identified in this process. It could be a whitepaper, industry research, or trend report, that helps to position you as a thought leader on key industry issue(s). This piece should look to educate, and not be overly self-promotional, which will help to build trust in your brand. At the very least, you should be looking to create some central messaging that can be used to inform your marketing and PR activities. 

Once developed, you can repurpose this content across multiple channels. You can use it to inform marketing collateral such as blogs, social posts and emails. You should also be using this content to ramp up your visibility with the media, which in turn will help to create demand at the show.  This could include using it for contributed articles, features and interviews. Keep a close eye on industry developments and use this content to respond to breaking news with commentary from your leadership team. Thought leadership media engagement in the run up to MWC will likely be more valuable to you than a meeting at MWC, as it will help boost your visibility and generate awareness and demand for the show.   

Establish a content cadence 

Momentum is everything in the lead-up to MWC. Establish a steady stream of content to keep your audience engaged and interested. Regular blogs, social media updates, and digital advertising should be part of your strategy. A/B testing on social ads can help refine your messaging and ensure you’re hitting the right notes.

This is also the time to coordinate with your product and sales teams to identify potential announcements or customer wins. These can steer your messaging and create buzz around your brand. Timing is crucial when it comes to news launches. Given the high activity levels during MWC, consider announcing your news a few weeks before the event. This allows journalists to absorb your story before they’re inundated with information at the show.

Engage media and analysts for meetings at MWC 

 January is the ideal time to kick-start your outreach to analysts. Many companies, including some of Babel’s clients, began securing analyst meetings as early as December. If you have access to last year’s MWC pre-registration list, use it as a foundation to identify which analysts and media are likely to attend. Focus on those most relevant to your company to ensure your outreach is targeted and impactful.

Analysts aren’t solely interested in major operators or equipment manufacturers — many are eager to connect with companies of all sizes. They can play a pivotal role in amplifying your message across the industry, providing valuable insights and exposure.

Media outreach, on the other hand, typically picks up later. Most journalists start locking in meetings from mid-January, with some waiting until just a week or two before MWC to finalise their schedules around speaking engagements and paid opportunities. The key is to ensure your company is top of mind when they begin planning their briefings.

Keep in mind that media attendance is more limited compared to analysts. Publications like Light Reading and Fierce Wireless often send only a few journalists, so capturing their attention requires demonstrating that your company has something genuinely newsworthy — a groundbreaking announcement or an impactful industry development.

Don’t limit your outreach to your core set of journalists. If your company has compelling activities or announcements tied to specific regions, you may secure briefings with local reporters or even national media in those areas.

Lastly, consider offering virtual briefings for both analysts and media. Scheduling these in the weeks leading up to MWC or shortly after the event can still position your company to be featured in MWC write-ups or increase your chances of securing in-depth coverage.