Whenever we interview a candidate for the B2B technology team, we always look for someone that possesses specific characteristics. They have to be solution-focused, driven, creative, curious and thick skinned. Yes, these are all blanket characteristics that anyone would want in an employee and team member. But, after running B2B PR programs for a couple of decades, we know that team members with or without these traits can make or break a PR program.And that's because there will be many, many B2B PR challenges ahead, no matter the brand or the industry. And clients turn to us to solve them. Many of us have learned tried-and-true solutions after years of experience and the luxury of swapping war stories (and successes) with colleagues. The successful B2B PR professional takes his or her experience and calls upon the traits above to solve problems and get results.Consider these top and common B2B communications challenges:
Lack of referenceable customers
This is probably the biggest challenge we face, especially in certain industries like IT security, fin-tech and healthcare. Not having a customer that a reporter can interview often kills business press features and vertical-based coverage.When faced with these challenges, we often recommend a few things. First, speak with the CEO about discounting the price for certain customers in exchange for PR. Second, offer to speak directly with the customer’s PR team so that you can give them the opportunity to tell you the ideal PR angle for their company. Third, recommend a customer award program with terms and conditions that give your brand permission to tell stories based on submission entries.If your company is in one of the industries named above (or a similar market), these suggestions may not work. Instead, focus the PR program on rapid response. Build relationships with reporters by giving them unique, specific commentary on major breaking news (no sales/marketing messages and no FUD). What really works here is giving the reporter unique data that demonstrates the issue they’re writing about or the larger trend. What you may find is that, over time, your brand has built up enough credibility and goodwill with the reporter that he or she will entertain a trend article without a customer. This takes time, so set that expectation.Another work around? Have your business partner with a non-profit on an initiative, work with a senator on legislation, or find another third party to help round out a story in lieu of a customer.
Saturated market with a clear leader
In B2B PR, contacting a reporter about a company in a hot space with 20 competitors and a behemoth leader is extremely difficult. More than likely, the reporter has heard all the differentiators and benefit claims before. They’re skeptical (as they should be) and tired of the noise.If this sounds familiar (and the behemoth leader isn’t you), fear not. Step number one is to better understand what everyone else is saying. Use tools like CrowdTangle and Sysomos to monitor conversations involving your competitors and influencers. Then, map those topics and trends using IBM Watson. This is an efficient way of seeing overused key words and finding the story that no one else is telling (or spotting an up-and-coming trend). Push back on any stakeholder that wants to tell the same story or describe their company in the same way and give recommendations for what will actually break through.Second, use that data to spot breaking news and trends. Be the first to reach out to a reporter with a unique angle on a news story you know he or she will be writing. Again, no marketing messages and no FUD – it has to be truly unique insight. Often times, the behemoth leaders don’t comment on breaking news (lawyers and policies can get in the way) and it’s the scrappy companies that get the ink. Naturally, this helps with overall brand awareness and over time, reporters will mention your brand alongside the biggest competitor.
Noise and overstretched reporters
When I first began working in B2B PR many years ago, publications had a gaggle of reporters with very specific beats. It often felt like every tech topic had one dedicated reporter writing on the subject every day. Times have changed and individual reporters now cover a huge variety of B2B topics. For example, the same reporter writes on everything from Google’s breaking news and the latest messaging app to disaster recovery and data center virtualization. At the same time, he or she has the pressure to post articles on topics that readers will click on and share socially. In other words, when faced with writing about Facebook’s foray into augmented reality or the latest in SD-WAN, they’ll more than likely chose the former.This doesn’t mean that your B2B tech brand won’t get coverage unless they are Google, Facebook or Apple. It just means that you need to get creative, especially for business press (remember those traits?). For example, consumerize your program. Start by thinking about the end consumer – that might be an employee or your customer’s customer. How can you create an angle about them in order to jump on a topic that is more relatable and sexy? Another solution is to tie your brand to the hottest new trends. Is your company in the HR space? If so, do you recommend using virtual reality for remote workers? Obviously, don’t stretch too far here – a reporter will not be amused if you try to tie yourself to something that is way too far removed.Lastly, and this should go without saying, always be aware of upcoming news from major tech players. It’s never a good idea to launch a B2B company or technology on the day of Facebook’s developer conference, for example.As an agency that has worked in B2B PR for more decades, we can say that it’s fun, interesting and rewarding. But it will challenge you to find solutions around roadblocks every single day. If you rely on your creativity, curiosity, drive and thick skin, you will no doubt find a work around.
What’s a Rich Text element?
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
Static and dynamic content editing
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
How to customize formatting for each rich text
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
