When the time comes for a tech company to take on a public relations agency, there can be some hesitation from those in the B2B tech space. And it’s easy to understand why. Although it’s far from the truth, there is a wide misconception that consumer-facing, B2C companies have a much easier time gaining PR coverage. Therefore, many business-side companies feel that the investment in B2B tech PR cannot be justified if they won’t get the same ROI.
But B2C companies often have a harder time landing coverage due to the high amount of competition in consumer-facing tech. In especially trendy or exciting tech sectors, getting attention requires hard work, creativity, and dynamic outreach strategies. That being said, adopting a B2C mindset and adapting certain strategies can help create an iron-clad B2B tech PR campaign.
What is a B2C mindset?
Every PR strategy has to consider certain pillars of what makes a story, or a company, relate to its target audiences. In consumer-facing companies, there is typically an emphasis placed on customer-centricity, emotional appeals, and storytelling which work to create an appealing and impactful narrative.
These three pillars make sense for B2C companies because they are facing customers who often make purchases based on emotions and a compelling brand story. It’s harder than ever to generate massive amounts of attention in an oversaturated media landscape, so finding ways to connect authentically to the media and prospective customers requires both research and imagination.
Where the disconnect happens in B2B tech PR is that many B2B companies don’t have a traditional “customer” to appeal to. And the way businesses approach products designed for them differs greatly from how an everyday customer interacts with a product, there’s a lot more analysis involved. So, many projects think that they can’t appeal to businesses the same way B2C companies do.
Connecting the dots in B2B tech PR
In reality, B2B companies have a lot to gain by reworking some B2C PR pillars, as there is a lot more overlap than one would think.
For instance, just because the target audience of a B2B company isn’t a traditional, individual consumer, doesn’t mean that B2B companies can’t take a customer-centric approach. Every B2B company has, or should have, a buyer persona for what businesses their product works for, and those niches can be adapted into a media strategy when looking at what publications and journalists to target.
Borrowing market research and buyer persona development from B2C strategies can also help craft salient emotional appeals for B2B products. Nearly every B2B product or program aims to alleviate or streamline some kind of business practice or operational stopgap. This is where a B2B tech PR strategy can address the frustrations that make a project necessary. That also isn’t only done through traditional media outreach, but can also be achieved through thought leadership that speaks to industry-wide issues.
However, while there are benefits to adopting pillars from B2C communications, there are pitfalls that come from blindly copying these strategies into the B2B tech PR space.
While finding a buyer persona is extremely important, it’s also vital that B2B companies don’t misunderstand their target audience or box themselves into one audience category. If a story isn’t resonating with journalists and prospective customers, it might be useful to reevaluate the core principles of a project and see if there is a disconnect in who the product aims to serve. This could also lead to a greater gap in PR strategies not aligning with business goals if the teams are not on the same page in terms of targets and messaging.
Likewise, B2B companies can often focus too much on features and not enough on what concrete benefits those features serve to customers. Yes, unique tools and add-ons can help make a B2B product more exciting, but ignoring what companies stand to gain from implementing them in the first place can severely cloud a project’s value proposition. This is where an experienced PR and communications team can help iron out those narratives and guide B2B brands out of getting too hung up on unnecessary details.
Both B2B and B2C tech projects have their own advantages and challenges in tactfully relaying their story to wider audiences. As B2B tech PR experts, ReBlonde’s team can help companies of all sizes tailor their communications strategy to gain the most impressive results possible. For more information, schedule a free consultation with us today to learn about our PR solutions.
