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Here’s a quick overview of 10 effective PR strategies for B2B tech companies:

  1. Build a strong brand identity
  2. Know your target audience
  3. Create informative content
  4. Build media relationships
  5. Use social media platforms
  6. Start a thought leadership program
  7. Use data-driven PR
  8. Develop a crisis management plan
  9. Integrate PR with other content marketing efforts
  10. Measure and improve PR performance

These strategies help B2B tech companies:

  • Increase visibility
  • Build credibility
  • Drive business growth

Key benefits of effective B2B tech PR:

Benefit Description
Brand awareness More people know about your company, and people need to know about you before they can buy from you
Trust building Customers see you as an industry expert, and it becomes easier to close deals
Lead generation PR can both directly and indirectly drive lead generation
Competitive edge Educate the market on your core differentiator and stand out from other B2B players in the space
Thought leadership Become a go-to source for industry insights – which can foster the ability actually to move a market

By using these strategies and focusing on measurable goals, B2B tech companies can improve their PR efforts and achieve long-term success in a competitive market.

1. Build a Strong Brand Identity

Creating a strong brand identity helps B2B tech companies stand out. It builds trust and makes people remember you. Here’s how to do it:

Know What Makes You Special

Figure out what your company does better than others. Tell people about it clearly. We also call this a Customer Value Proposition (CVP).

CVP Formula: For (type of specific customer), our (product/service) is a (simple descriptor) that (solves what problem?). 

Use the Same Look Everywhere

Once you have that key messaging, you know have to use it everywhere, but this doesn’t just apply to copy. Make sure your logo, colors, and fonts are the same on your website, social media, ads, etc. A brand book or brand guidelines can be the guiding principal here.

Have a Clear Way of Talking

Choose a tone that fits your company. Use it in all your writing.

Tell Your Company’s Story

Share why your company exists and what it believes in. This helps people connect with you.

A strong brand identity can help your business grow. Here’s how IBM does it well:

Brand Element IBM’s Approach
Look Blue color, bold fonts
Tone Professional, forward-thinking
Story Helping customers and the world

By doing these things, IBM has built a brand that people know and trust.

What a Strong Brand Can Do for You:

  • More people know about you
  • People trust you more
  • You stand out from other companies
  • Customers stay with you longer
  • Your business grows

2. Know Who You’re Talking To

Knowing who you want to reach is key to good B2B tech PR. Your target audience is the group of businesses or professionals you want to sell to. B2B marketing is about building relationships with other businesses, not individual people.

To know your audience better, make buyer personas. These are made-up profiles of your ideal customers, based on real information. They include things like:

  • Job title
  • Industry
  • Company size
  • Goals
  • Problems
  • What drives them

Here’s an example of a buyer persona for a company selling marketing software:

What to Know Details
Job Marketing Manager
Industries Tech, Finance, Healthcare
Company Size 100-500 workers
Goals Do marketing better, get more leads, talk to customers more
Problems Small budget, not enough people, hard to show results
Drives Beat competitors, keep job safe, make more money

Using buyer personas helps you:

  • Make content people care about
  • Use the right ways to reach people
  • Say things that matter to them

Some B2B tech companies that know their audience well:

  • Microsoft: Shows how its products help businesses work better
  • LinkedIn: Helps professionals and businesses look smart in their field
  • Mailchimp: Makes marketing easy for small businesses and new companies

Knowing your audience helps you talk to the right people in the right way. This makes your PR work better and helps your business grow.

3. Create Good Content That Informs

Making good content that informs is key for B2B tech PR. It helps show your brand knows what it’s talking about, builds trust with the people you want to reach, and helps your business grow.

Types of Content B2B Audiences Like

Some types of content work better for B2B audiences:

Content Type What It Is Why It’s Good
Whitepapers Long reports about specific topics Shows you know your stuff and gives useful info
Case Studies Real examples of how you’ve helped other businesses Proves you can do what you say
Industry Reports Regular updates on what’s happening in your field Shows you’re on top of the latest trends

Examples of Good B2B Tech Content

Some B2B companies do content well:

  • Microsoft: Makes content showing how its products help businesses
  • LinkedIn: Helps professionals look smart with useful content
  • Mailchimp: Makes marketing easy for small businesses with helpful info

Why Content Matters for B2B Businesses

Content works well for B2B. A survey found that more than half of business buyers are more likely to buy from a company after reading their online content. Your content helps potential clients learn about you, research what you offer, and decide to buy.

Content Benefits How It Helps
Builds Trust Shows you know what you’re talking about
Educates Clients Helps them understand what you offer
Guides Decisions Gives info to help them choose you

4. Build Relationships with Relevant Media Outlets

Building good relationships with media outlets is key for B2B tech PR. It means connecting with journalists, reporters, and bloggers who write about tech. By giving them news, insights, and interviews, you can get more media coverage and good publicity.

Finding the Right Media Outlets

To build these relationships, you need to find the right publications, websites, and blogs. Make a list that includes:

  • Tech industry publications
  • Big news outlets with tech sections
  • Online tech news sites and blogs
  • Important industry experts

Writing Good Pitches

When you reach out to media outlets, write pitches that show your company’s know-how. Here’s what to do:

  • Look at what the journalist has written before
  • Make your pitch fit what they’re interested in
  • Show how your company is different and what you know
  • Offer them special news or interviews

Making Friends with Journalists

Building relationships with journalists takes time. Try these ideas:

  • Talk to them on social media and answer their questions
  • Give them your thoughts on what’s happening in tech
  • Let them know about your company news first
  • Keep in touch to build a good relationship

Checking How Well You’re Doing

To see if your media work is helping, look at these things:

What to Check Why It Matters
How much media coverage you get Shows if people are talking about you
Which media outlets write about you Tells you if the right people are noticing
If the coverage matches your message Makes sure your ideas are getting across
More visits to your website Shows if more people are interested in you

5. Use Social Media Platforms

Using social media is a key way for B2B tech companies to grow. It helps them connect with their audience, get noticed, and share what they know. Here’s how to use social media for B2B tech PR:

Pick the Right Platforms

Not all social media sites are the same. Focus on the ones where your audience spends time:

Platform Best For
LinkedIn Business networking, reaching decision-makers
Twitter Quick updates, real-time talks
Facebook Building a community, sharing company news

Make Good Content

To do well on social media, you need to make content people want to see:

  • Industry news and insights
  • Expert articles and blog posts
  • Pictures that explain things
  • Updates about your company

Talk to Your Audience

Social media is about talking back and forth. To build relationships:

  • Answer comments and messages
  • Join in online talks
  • Share content from users
  • Hold online events

Check How You’re Doing

To make sure your social media work is helping, keep an eye on:

What to Track Why It Matters
Likes, shares, comments Shows if people like your content
Website visits Tells you if social media brings people to your site
New leads Shows if social media helps you get new business

Change what you do based on what these numbers tell you.

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6. Start a Thought Leadership Program

A thought leadership program can help B2B tech companies show they know their stuff. It can make people trust you more and help your business grow. Here’s how to do it:

Set Clear Goals

Before you start, know what you want to achieve. Do you want:

  • More people to know about your company?
  • More leads?
  • To be seen as an expert in your field?

Once you know your goals, you can make a plan to reach them.

Find Your Experts

Look for people in your company who know a lot about your industry. They could be:

  • Your CEO
  • Your CTO
  • Other smart people in your company

Let these experts share what they know through blog posts, articles, online talks, and speaking at events.

Make Good Content

Your content should teach people something useful. It should help solve problems in your industry. Use different types of content like:

  • Blog posts
  • Articles
  • Reports
  • Case studies
  • Pictures that explain things

Make sure your content is well-researched and easy to read.

Share Your Content

Once you’ve made your content, share it with people. Use:

  • Social media
  • Email
  • Websites that share content

Talk to people who read your content. Answer their questions and join in online talks. Work with other experts to spread your message.

Check How You’re Doing

Keep an eye on how well your program is working. Look at:

What to Check Why It’s Important
Website visits Shows if more people are coming to your site
How much people engage Tells you if people like your content
New leads Shows if you’re getting new business
Sales Tells you if your program is helping you make money

Use what you learn to make your program better over time.

7. Use Data to Guide Your PR Work

Using data can help B2B tech companies do better PR work. Here’s how to do it:

Set Clear Goals

Before you start, know what you want to achieve. This could be:

  • More people visiting your website
  • Getting more leads
  • Selling more

When you know your goals, you can make a plan to reach them.

Keep Track of Important Numbers

To see if your PR work is helping, watch these numbers:

What to Watch Why It’s Important
Website visits Shows if more people are coming to your site
Social media followers Tells you if more people are interested in your company
New leads Shows if you’re getting new business
Sales Tells you if you’re making more money

By watching these numbers, you can see what’s working and what’s not.

Use Data to Make Better Choices

Data can help you make smart choices about your PR work. For example:

  • If people like a certain type of post on social media, make more of those
  • If a news site brings lots of people to your website, try to work with them more

Using data helps you make better choices about where to focus your efforts.

Check and Improve Your Work

To keep your PR work strong, do these things:

  • Look at your numbers often to see what needs to get better
  • Change your plan based on what the data shows
  • Keep watching to see how your changes are working

8. Make a Plan for Handling Problems

Every business can face problems that might hurt how people see them. B2B tech companies need a good plan to deal with these issues quickly and well.

How B2B Problems are Different

B2B problems are not the same as problems that affect regular customers. They can involve:

  • Hacking, security issues, downtime or software bugs/vulnerability
  • Supply chain issues
  • Big contract problems
  • Professional reputation concerns

These can lead to bad news about the company and make other businesses less likely to work with them.

What to Include in Your Plan

A good plan for handling problems should have:

Part What It Does
Steps to Follow Tells you what to do when a problem happens
Ways to Talk to People Shows how to tell people what’s going on
Who Does What Makes sure everyone knows their job during a problem

Keep this plan up to date and practice using it so everyone knows what to do.

Good Ways to Handle Problems

When something goes wrong, you need to act fast but carefully. Here’s what to do:

  • Tell the truth: Give correct information about what happened
  • Act quickly: Respond soon and keep people updated
  • Show you care: Let people know you understand how they feel
  • Keep watching: Look at how things are going and change your plan if needed

9. Mix PR with Other Content Marketing Work

Combining PR with other content marketing work helps B2B tech companies get noticed more and grow their business. By joining PR with SEO, social media, and content marketing, companies can:

  • Get more people to see their brand
  • Bring more visitors to their website
  • Show up higher in search results

How PR and SEO Work Together

When PR and SEO team up, they can:

  • Get good links from trusted websites
  • Make more people see the brand online
  • Bring more people to the company’s website

For example, if a big website writes about your company, it can give you a good link. This can help your website show up higher in search results.

Ways to Mix PR with Other Marketing

Here are some ways to join PR with other marketing work:

Marketing Type How to Use It with PR
Content Marketing Use PR to share your blog posts, reports, and ebooks
Social Media Post about your PR wins on social media
Working with Experts Team up with industry experts to reach more people
SEO Use important words in your PR work to help with search results

10. Check and Improve Your PR Work

To make sure your B2B tech PR work is doing well, you need to check it often and make it better. This means looking at important numbers like how much people are talking about you, how many people visit your website, how much people interact with you on social media, how many new leads you get, and how well-known your brand is.

Set Goals You Can Measure

Before you start a PR campaign, decide what you want to achieve. Your goals should match what your business wants to do. For example, you might want:

  • More people to know about your brand
  • More leads
  • A better reputation

These goals will help you see if your campaign worked well.

Choose Important Numbers to Watch

Pick numbers that will show if your campaign is working. Here are some you can use:

Number to Watch What It Means
Media coverage How many news outlets talk about you
Website visits How many people come to your website
Social media likes and shares How much people interact with you online
New leads How many new possible customers you get

Get Information

Use tools to collect information about the numbers you’re watching. You can use:

  • Media watching services
  • Website tracking tools
  • Social media listening tools
  • Customer relationship management (CRM) systems

Look at the Results

Check the information to see how well your campaign did. Compare what happened to what you wanted to happen. See what worked and what didn’t.

Make Your Plan Better

Use what you learned to make your PR work better. You might need to:

  • Change how you talk about things
  • Try different ways to reach people
  • Talk to different groups of people

Tell People How It Went

Let important people know how your PR work did. This could be:

  • Company leaders
  • Marketing teams
  • People you work with outside your company

You can use a report, a presentation, or a dashboard to show how things went and what you learned.

Ways to Share Results What They’re Good For
Report Giving lots of details
Presentation Showing the main points quickly
Dashboard Letting people see up-to-date information

Conclusion

To wrap up, a good B2B Tech PR plan helps companies grow and do well. Using the ten ideas we talked about can help businesses:

  • Build a strong name
  • Make friends with important people
  • Sell more

A good B2B Tech PR plan uses both old and new ways to reach people. It needs:

  • Knowing who you want to talk to
  • Having a clear message
  • Talking to news people
  • Making good content
  • Using social media well

When businesses use these ideas in their marketing, they can:

  • Get more people to know about them
  • Make people trust them more
  • Grow and make more money

This works for new companies and big ones in B2B tech.

Remember, good B2B Tech PR isn’t something you do once. You need to:

  • Keep watching how it’s going
  • Check if it’s working
  • Make it better over time

If you focus on what you want to do, change when you need to, and use PR well, you can do well for a long time in B2B tech.

What to Do How It Helps
Make a strong name Tell people clearly what makes you special
Talk to market influencers Use news, good content, and social media to make people trust you
Sell more Get more people to know about you and buy from you

FAQs

How to do PR for B2B companies?

Here are key steps for B2B PR:

Step Description
Know your audience Find out what businesses you want to reach
Make good content Write helpful info that shows you know your stuff
Work with experts Team up with people who are well-known in your field
Talk to reporters Get to know people who write news about your industry
Send out news Use services that share your company news widely
Use social media Be active online and on social media sites
Use SEO Make your PR work easy to find online

What is one example of a successful hybrid Content Marketing/PR campaign for a B2B brand?

IBM’s “Every Second Counts” campaign is a good example. It focused on:

Target Audience Main Topic Result
IT leaders Data breaches and cybersecurity

LinkedIn Results: 682k Impressions, 238k engagements, 50% of responses were high-quality leads.

Paid video promotion: Facebook: 4.78M Impressions, 500k Engagements

Organic Social Promotion: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn: 195.8K Impressions, 2,872 clicks

Site Engagement: ~17% site engagement rate

This campaign shows how a well-planned content and PR strategy can work well for B2B companies.

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