Back to Basics in B2B PR: Press Release Focus

Content and PR are key sectors within B2B. A big part of any content plan is press release development and media relations, which in unison, help maximise coverage of key news and stories.

Knowing when a press release is appropriate and how to best lean on relevant news angles is an essential part of a consistent content strategy. However, according to stats from Smart Insights, 70% of B2B marketers lack a consistent or integrated content strategy.

As an expert B2B marketing agency, here’s our top six tips on developing press releases and getting your content noticed from B2B publications:

1. Relevance

As it is an incredibly niche market, there is a lot of competition from similar companies so it’s crucial to create releases specific to each publication (and ones that are relevant). Reading a few of the latest magazines will help to ensure the article you’re trying to create is topical and relevant not only to the publication, but within the sector the magazine targets.

This is arguably one of the most important elements, as journalists grow tired of wading through irrelevant or overly promotional press releases. Ask yourself, is this something the magazine’s intended audience and would they be genuinely interested? If not, it should be an advert, not a press release!

2. Communication

Regular communication with editors and journalists of the publication will help to put your company at the forefront of their mind. Ultimately, making them more susceptible to reading your email when a press release is sent out!

Often B2B publications within more specialised sectors, such as Manufacturing and Science, will write features on a specific topic. In these topics, companies are frequently asked to contribute. Having a good relationship with the press will mean you’re more likely to be asked to comment. Therefore, this good relationship can help you get recognition beyond simple press releases.

92% of engineers surveyed said they were more likely to do business with a company that regularly produces new and current content. (IEEE GlobalSpec, 2017)

3. Research

Most publishing groups have an umbrella of similar magazines within the industry meaning your story could be suitable for another magazine within the same group. It’s worth researching this before hitting the send button on your press release. For this element of media relations to be successful, it’s important that the brand is placed in a media outlet that is relevant to and trusted by your target audience, otherwise there’s simply no point.

4. Chase

Emails can get lost or ignored. If you haven’t heard anything back for a few days, a phone call can help to confirm the journalist in question reads your email. Whether the press release is suitable and, in some cases, if you could make a few tweaks to the article to get it published.

5. Social

Tweet it, share it and post it on any social channels you may using. In doing so, this could help to win more editorial in publications you may not be advertising with. The power of social is truly incredible and by sharing it with potential prospects can get the conversation started without much effort.

A multi-channel strategy often involves an array of tools including digital channels, emails, case studies and automation which is part of a wider campaign. According to Gartner research B2B marketing campaigns that integrate four or more digital channels will outperform single or dual-channel programs by 300%. Bearing of all this in mind, it’s important to use a combination of multi-channels to create an effective B2B campaign.