Each week, the resident Look Left smarty-pants gather on Zoom to talk about wins, challenges and trends we’re seeing in the B2B tech sector. Recently, we got to talking about important lessons we’ve learned (the hard way), and someone suggested, “Hey, this would make a good blog!” And when the word “content” is in your title, you’re the default nominee to type it all up. So, here you go!
Master the PR and Marketing Tactics
Let's start with the basics — because, believe it or not, some people actually skip them. Principal Bryan Scanlon reminds us that strategy is great, “but without doing all the boring, tedious, tactical stuff first, your strategy is basically ‘strategery’ — a house of cards waiting for a breeze.” And let’s take this idea a step further: there’s a world of learning you can pull from the grunt work that could change your strategy for the better.
Digital research to match intent in your content. An interview or two with a user. Core messages that can be worked into the narrative (and the media training to learn how to do that effectively). Yes, this approach takes time, but there’s more ROI in nailing the little stuff first and building a solid foundation for repeatable wins.
To be clear, moving fast is a common thread for our clients. Many of our clients are startups looking to disrupt the status quo. We get that. And we love it! But moving fast shouldn’t mean moving recklessly. How about we try controlled experimentation vs. moving fast and breaking things?
“Take the time to build a compelling narrative based on market and user problems before you hit send,” says account manager and media strategist Geena Pickering. “And keep the calendar in mind. Conference season is chock full of announcements. Will yours cut through the chatter? If not, you should rethink the timing.”
Empathy isn’t optional
Let’s talk about people. Because, shockingly, PR isn’t just about press releases, pitching and content. It’s about building relationships to hit whatever KPIs you’re trying to achieve. Vice president and producer John Moran has conducted hundreds of media training sessions and understands that the best spokespeople are usually pretty busy. They have multiple priorities, leaving limited white space on their calendars.
“Make their lives easier by providing clear, concise information and being flexible,” says John. “That’s going to create a straight line between prep time and nailing the interview.”
And empathy can go a long way from a media relations standpoint. It’s critical to put yourself in a reporter’s shoes. They’re under deadline, and newsrooms don’t have the vast staff they once had. The pressure our friends in the media are under is immeasurable. So when they get a pitch that has nothing to do with their beat — or anything their readers would ever care about — they’re more likely to ignore it. And, in some cases, damage your reputation.
“Technology makes it easy to send a lot of pitches at once. But this falls into the ‘just because you can doesn’t mean you should’ category,” says Chris Poisson, senior media strategist.” I did that early on, and it backfired. I got angry responses from some reporters for wasting their time. I even got blacklisted by one. Take the time to understand what a reporter wants and tailor your pitch with that in mind. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it will also increase your chances of getting a response.”
Build bridges, not roadblocks
Getting from Point A to Point B in PR and marketing will include tons of inherent obstacles. Why add to them? Whenever possible, find ways to keep the road free and clear. For example, with SEO, there’s often friction between SMEs and the marketing team when strong keywords don’t perfectly align with terminology used by those in the foxhole. Coming in hot, even when armed with data, won’t move the program forward.
“You can’t expect everyone to be on the same page, and with SEO, there’s a lot of education and convincing to be done,” says senior digital strategist John Masserini. “We’re not here to change what you say or what you’re doing. We want to take everything you’re smart about and make sure as many relevant people see it as possible. Finding a compromise that doesn’t feel inauthentic is key to mapping out the right strategy.”
And the key to finding the sweet spot in a PR and marketing program is removing your ego and listening — even when you feel like you’re on the right side of a challenge.
“One of our early clients pushed us hard at the beginning of the engagement, which made it difficult to know where we stood with her,” says senior vice president Jennifer Tanner. “But what we came to realize is that being challenged made our end results better. Our contact wasn’t questioning our competence — she believed in us. But she wanted us to scrutinize the program together to determine the best approach. We now welcome challenging clients because it makes for a more successful, engaging partnership.”
There you have it, folks. Our hard-earned wisdom, distilled into a few pithy paragraphs. Now go forth and conquer the world of tech PR. Or at least survive it. Wanna talk about your PR and marketing challenges and how to solve ‘em? Give us a holler!
