Five questions to supercharge your B2B content

Richard Crighton, Account Manager in Aberdeen, looks at what kind of PR should and shouldn’t be part of your B2B marketing strategy.

I’ve lost count of the number of times that an interesting PR story has almost slipped through the net because a client didn’t think it was worth mentioning.

In business to business (B2B) marketing, this is usually because the contacts are so close to the day-to-day work. It takes someone on the outside to realise the potential of promoting a story externally.

It’s part of our job as PR and marketing professionals that are often overlooked. We can help to identify an interesting angle based on our understanding of your audience, business and market, work out how best to reach them, and build a marketing campaign from there.

Likewise, good PRs should be able to manage expectations on less interesting material and be honest enough to explain what should and shouldn’t be announced externally. For instance, if a member of staff has raised a small sum for a local charity, it may be more appropriate to promote this internally or on social media rather than making a major public fanfare and expecting a huge lift in new business enquiries.

Here are five questions to ask to judge whether your B2B story is worth sharing:

1. 1. Does it bring value to your audience and your company?

      If the answer is ‘no’ then you really shouldn’t be promoting it. It might be tempting to push anything out during a quiet spell to keep the name out there but it is important to keep in mind your objectives. If what you’re planning doesn’t add any value to your audience or help you to make progress against your objectives, it’s usually not worth doing.

   2. Is it interesting?

      Will your audience care? Will a journalist want to cover it? It’s worth some quick research to judge the topical issues in your industry, or what is being covered in the media, to gauge whether any announcement is likely to hit the mark. It’s up to us as advisers to provide honest and realistic expectations on what to expect in terms of audience response or media interest.

   3. What results can you expect?

      If your announcement is niche and industry-focused then your best option might be to target the trade press. However, if there’s a substantial contract win or jobs creation associated with an announcement, it could be of interest to the mainstream business press, and we might even be able to get you in front of a key journalist to talk about it. A big piece of insightful research could be used across social media, press and launched with a dedicated event.

   4. Do you have supporting visuals?

      If you’re going for a media story, strong imagery can really make a difference to the amount of coverage your story receives. It could be the difference between a page lead and a sidebar. A punchy, well-shot video can supercharge social media content, as can other visual content like infographics or animations can bring your campaign to life in a really effective way.

   5. Will it help to attract talent?

      Although sometimes viewed as a secondary objective, it is important nonetheless. You want any announcement to showcase the great work your company is doing and make the best candidates want to work for you!

If you want to shout about your business but need some help to do it effectively, get in touch here.