THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF B2B TECHNOLOGY PUBLIC RELATIONS

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Ferdinand Johnston
7 years ago
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1 THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF B2B TECHNOLOGY PUBLIC RELATIONS 7

2 1 No PR Failing to use PR is the biggest sin of all Since the advent of the internet, buyers are doing things differently. They turn online to research which solutions work, and which solutions will make them look great; in fact 60 percent of the B2B sales process is over before a buyer meets your salespeople. While your website is important, prospects put more credence in what others are saying about you. This is especially true when making highvalue technology purchasing decisions, buyers need to know it was successful for someone else. This is why PR is now the most important and value-for-money marketing activity to support a thriving sales process. In fact, research concluded in 2013 found the number one factor of successful B2B suppliers was existing brand awareness PR take a bow. TOP TIPS: Leverage your PR material and coverage in sales campaigns across all channels to market. Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn are SEO-friendly; ideal for B2B they can be used to snowball awareness of the great work you do through likes, retweets and shares. Also create blogs, top tip articles or video content to expand upon, and surround your news. 2 Failing to build a PR partnership with customers One of the most common PR sins Even if your solution is working fantastically for a new client, one of the most common PR sins for organisations is the failure to ask customers to get involved with promotion. This can be for a variety of reasons: its value is overlooked, an unenthusiastic or overstretched internal sales team, a poor/nonexistent customer communication s policy, or no PR strategy. It is a heinous crime indeed to not create a PR friendly climate with your clients because the more they talk positively about your solutions in the press, the more compelling your brand becomes. And the more your customers get involved, the more PR they ll do for you, the more leads you ll get and the more business you ll secure. TOP TIPS: Build a rewards scheme, insert a PR clause in the contract, reinforce the benefits to the client, work with your sales team, and seek executive sponsorship for PR. The best time to ask for PR is just before signing the contract, endorphins are flowing, energy is high, and everyone is pointing towards success.

While your website is important, prospects put more credence in what others are saying about you.

3 3 Ignoring the business benefits It s the business benefits that bring competitive advantage Sell more, reduce costs, save time, cut administration, improve collaboration and customer services. When selecting your technology solutions your customers will invariably be driven by at least one, if not all of these business benefits. Make sure your content sings to these issues, as ultimately they are the end game. creating the opportunity for greater coverage levels and persuasive third-party endorsement. TOP TIP: To make your content more compelling try and capture tangible benefits in case studies e.g. sales increased by 20%, costs reduced by 10% etc And because these are important to your customers they ll also be important to journalists,

Make sure your content sings to these issues, as ultimately they are the end game. creating the opportunity for greater coverage levels and persuasive third-party endorsement.

4 4 Overlooking vertical sector issues Always communicate the specific sector pain points your solution addresses Ambiguous technology saves the day news and content will be deservedly lost amongst the tidal wave of average news on the web, and is unlikely to pique the interest of the discerning trade journalist. If you would like to differentiate and demonstrate true thought leadership then you must communicate the specific sector pain points your solution addresses. These will, for instance, be markedly different between the public sector and retail. With pinpoint accurate web-search, buyers are more likely to click on and tune in to your news if it resonates with their specific needs. TOP TIP: Bear this in mind not just in your PR but also your social media channels and marketing content. 5 Failing to build thought-leadership Produce information that is relevant and useful Executives and brands that fail to provide the market with information aligned to their areas of expertise will lose ground to savvy competitors. With the proliferation of social media, organisations are seizing the opportunity to publish their own opinions. Executed correctly this is an opportunity to build a thought-leadership position so that influencers, stakeholders and prospects come to you for advice. TOP TIPS: Bear this in mind not just in your PR but also for your social media channels and marketing content. Social media gives your organisation and its executives the opportunity to add their voice to sector issues and your/your customers news as and when it happens. If you are not participating you can bet your competitors will be.

If you would like to differentiate and demonstrate true thought leadership then you must communicate the specific sector pain points your solution addresses.

5 6 Treating journalists like in-house copywriters and publishers Be clear in your briefings and they ll write great copy Journalists are not on your payroll, they work for a different organisation to create opinion or report news that is of genuine interest to their readers. And they take their jobs very seriously. Be clear in your briefings and they ll write great copy. TOP TIPS: Be persuasive, but do so with strong news, good stories and useful opinion. This approach is more likely to generate coverage and seed good relationships with journalists. avoid the scattergun approach, sending your releases to a large number of varying journalists, many of whom have absolutely no interest in your news. They will zone out and may even block your content. Instead focus on a small number of key journalists and tailor press releases to make them relevant. And whatever you do, NEVER ask to see an article and approve it before publication. While on the subject of working with journalists, 7 Not tracking features Subscribe to feature alert services and follow journalists on Twitter One of the most fear-inducing moments in any PR executive s life is spotting for the first time, post publication, a feature that references your competitors but not your company. No one wants to explain a conspicuous absence of quotes across dynamite editorial to a mortified Managing Director. TOP TIPS: Build relationships with the key sector journalists. Talk to them about the kind of information they value and ask about forward features. Subscribe to feature alert services and follow journalists on Twitter. Visit publications websites for editorial calendars. If you become known as a valued source of comment on particular topics, journalists will come to you. There are many more questionable PR practices and attitudes, these were our first pick, but what do you think? Please share theses seven deadly sins and your thoughts:

TOP TIPS: Be persuasive, but do so with strong news, good stories and useful opinion. This approach is more likely to generate coverage and seed good relationships with journalists.

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