Today’s economic uncertainty is nothing new to the technology sector. Unfortunately, these events are cyclical; if you’re like us, you’ve seen them before. You’ve seen what has worked from a business standpoint, what didn’t, and what should have been done. The one thing no one should do is nothing – and that means doing things such as cost-cutting in certain areas, keeping your customers top of mind and connected with your brand, continuing to push the innovation that is being done internally, and getting in front of the right audiences so that your brand continues to be recognizable.
So, what do B2B tech public relations agencies bring to the table for you today? Let’s explore.
- Outside perspective. No matter what is happening in the macro economy, you need a voice that sits at the table and represents what is happening outside of your organization. Having a team to help meet the market needs today, while satisfying internal objectives is key. One of the points we talk about with our clients is truly understanding where the media and content in the market is in relation to their specific messaging. Sometimes they are too far ahead; sometimes, it’s a market catch up message and even just something that isn’t being discussed across the wider landscape.
- Extended reach. It goes without saying that when you partner with an outside agency, you get more hands and legs to activate your program. But you also get the ability to tap into your team members’ network and past experiences to help gain ground. While we’ll never say that our relationships will guarantee coverage, what we do say is that we know the right people, events, and content hubs that are talking about our clients’ markets. Our deep expertise in cybersecurity, AI, cloud, martech, infrastructure, and the many verticals out there helps our clients get that extended reach and faster results.
- Sales support. While the purpose of PR is not to secure new sales and leads, it provides market validation before and during sales team engagements. We constantly counsel our clients on leveraging our successes and what their larger team can do with them. If you’re not getting that and moving on to the next action item, I can only think, “If a tree falls in the forest, does anyone hear it?”
- Broad support. PR is NOT press releases. It is NOT an event. Sorry, but many people don’t know the full breadth of the PR function. PR teams provide strategic counsel, messaging help, narrative development, media training, media engagement, news support, speaking opportunities and awards, content creation, social media support, and crisis communications planning and activation. Your PR team should be able to support these (and other) areas that your program will need.
- Economic advantages. As we have seen recently, many layoffs are happening across the tech sector. Some of it is right-sizing, and some are performance-based, but even with that, executive teams still expect marketing departments to continue pushing forward. Even with the budget cuts, a PR partner can bring in a team of 3, 4, 5, or 6 additional minds at a fraction of the cost of FTEs. Don’t get us wrong, internal people are a huge help, but a senior team can continue pushing the program forward with less direction and help marketing departments demonstrate that progress.
At Escalate PR, our senior-level professional’s counsel, create, activate, and report on the key areas so that you are ready for whatever the macro economy throws at you. Let’s chat if you’re thinking about ways to creatively and economically continue to assist your sales teams and be a known entity within your market. While all our competitors lead with a senior team, the ones actually doing the work are new to PR. Escalate was built to give our clients the support they’ve been looking for and the results that matter to the larger business goals.