In short, YES! But the answer is a somewhat complicated one. As B2B tech organizations look to new public relations partners, the ability to help with lead generation is more often one of the top goals that they have.
In the ever-evolving world of marketing, the quest for quality leads is a constant challenge. While traditional marketing tactics like advertising and SEO are essential, there’s another player that often gets overlooked: Public Relations (PR). PR isn’t just about managing a brand’s reputation; it can be a powerful engine for attracting and nurturing potential customers if you are focused on the most impactful places for your brand to appear. In this post, we’ll lay out some ways that PR can become your marketing team’s secret weapon for lead generation.
Understanding the PR-Lead Generation Connection
At its core, PR is about building relationships and shaping perceptions. It’s about creating a positive image of your brand and establishing trust with your target audience. When done right, these efforts can directly translate into lead generation in several ways:
- Increased Visibility: PR campaigns can put your brand in the spotlight through media coverage, thought leadership articles, and speaking engagements. This exposure introduces your company to a broader audience, including potential customers who might not have discovered you otherwise.
- Enhanced Credibility: Positive media coverage and expert opinions can elevate your brand’s credibility. When potential customers see your company as an industry leader or innovator, they’re more likely to consider your products or services.
- Thought Leadership: PR can position your company’s experts as thought leaders in your industry. By sharing valuable insights and perspectives, you attract a following of interested individuals who are more likely to convert into leads.
- Storytelling: PR tells your brand’s story in a compelling way. Stories resonate with people on a deeper level, creating emotional connections that can drive leads to engage with your company.
The ‘Where’ is Key to Lead Generation
When thinking about lead generation activities in your PR program, you must have a clear destination of where your brand will gain the most attention and drive the most interest. Many think that the more well-known publications (WSJ, Forbes, CNBC, etc.) are where they need to be to garner the most opportunity. While these are fantastic and trusted sources of information, many times the audience is not going to support your lead-gen activities.
Let’s look at a real-life example. Say you’re a Series A or B B2B tech company looking to establish your technology in the marketplace, asking yourself these 3 questions will help identify where you should dedicate your resources to gain the most attention.
- What industries benefit the most from your offering and what pain points are you solving? This is where a brand needs to be honest with themselves and identify the proper fit for their solution. Are you helping retailers with inventory management or delivery services? QSRs with Point-of-Sale integrations? Healthcare organizations to reduce their risk of cyber attacks? Whatever it is, be clear on what you are able to do that helps customers get over some of the biggest challenges in their business.
- Who is the key influencer AND decision maker in these industries? Understanding who the individual within the target organization is important as these are the people that your PR, content and marketing activities need to be aimed at.
- Where are the key influencers and decision makers getting their information? Once identified, what are the leading websites, news sources and conferences where they gather intel on new technology and solutions for their business? More often than not, you’ll find that these are vertical-focused, lesser-known destinations in the mainstream business world. However, they provide a higher quality return from your participation in each.
In Conclusion
Focus, focus, focus. Public Relations is a versatile tool that can significantly contribute to your marketing team’s lead generation efforts if it is a focused program aimed at the right audiences. By leveraging the power of storytelling, credibility, and relationship building, PR can help your brand attract, engage, and convert potential customers in the markets that will benefit the most from your offerings. Don’t underestimate the impact of PR – it may be the secret weapon you’ve been searching for to supercharge your lead generation strategy.
If you want to learn more about how PR can help support your lead generation efforts, reach out here and let’s connect.
About Escalate PR
Escalate PR is a Boston-based virtual boutique consultancy, though we have PR professionals across the country (San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix, New York, New Jersey, and more) who are working towards the same goal. Our model is simple – provide best-in-class public relations counsel to disruptive B2B technology companies who deserve recognition, but don’t want to pay the designer price for an over fully stacked, and junior layered, PR team. Our team of 16 senior public relations strategists boast an average of 15 years experience each with the ability to provide top tier services to each and every client. Escalate PR specializes in cybersecurity, AI/ML, enterprise tech, human resources HR tech, martech, adtech, sustainability tech, and many other technology verticals. To view our main suite of services, use this link to visit our services overview and learn about our team here.
Learn more about our clients and their work under Experience and Insights.