As we make our way through 2023, it is crucial to not only assess your current B2B marketing but also begin planning for the year to come. Yes, that’s right. It may seem early, but taking a close look at your present content and how you and your marketing team (and C-Suite) want to keep moving the needle in the next year are keys to competitively engaging with your B2B contacts through social media.

Maybe you want to use social media to prepare for the launch of a new product line or brand, kickoff thought-leadership positioning for company executives or gain more qualified sales leads.

If your business owners or leadership team want better results from social media efforts in 2023, it is time to create a business to business (B2B) social media strategy that sets your company up for success.

Though, for those of you who know you need a B2B social media strategy but do not have social media marketing as part of your internal wheelhouse – or if you are a bit stressed because in-house resources are scarce – no fear. We are here to assist. Let’s start this plan with a helpful explanation from our ECPR Digital Marketing team.

B2B social media marketing is the process of utilizing your social media channels to market the products and services your business offers to existing and potential clients. Moreover, it is a means to connect, influence and interact with critical leads and prospects.

In this ever-expanding digital age, participating in social media marketing is essential to establish your business and brand as a trusted expert or resource in your given industry and contribute to your bottom line via social media integration with other forms of strategic marketing.

Actively integrating social media marketing with diversified forms of traditional and digital marketing is an essential contribution to your plan’s success. Simply put, using social media to establish yourself or your business as a trusted specialist in your industry is one of the most advantageous tactics to make such content integration efforts pay off.

Step 1: Integrate your B2B social media marketing with other promotional efforts.

The assimilation of B2B social media marketing with supplemental, profile-raising efforts to promote a brand impacts your ability to increase brand awareness and sales. This is so important, it is safe to say that any business not using social media integration in 2023 stands a chance of being left behind the competition as social media continues to influence buyer decisions.

Luckily, our team has provided in this blog article a few creative options for how to integrate social media into your marketing strategy.

Creating social media campaigns around other news, events, launches, and messaging for your business opens the door to social media integration. Sharing social media posts that include a call to action serves B2B social media strategy well. Calls to action as to-the-point as “Comment” drive engagement and brand awareness, while actions like “Register” which include a backlink to the business’ website extend the marketing arm of the business and can evoke engagement.

Now, take this a step further with a little brainstorming power. What about enticing interaction with a more resourceful call to action, such as “Comment with your business pain points about this topic, and we’ll send you two results-focused ideas.” Your “ideas” can then include a creative info-graphic that shows and depicts how your business can solve challenges for the engaged business lead. You will cleverly integrate narrative messaging to open the dialog with graphic communication to showcase your business’s expertise.

Synchronize social media calendars with scheduled email campaigns.

One specific way to integrate a social media campaign with another form of marketing is to use the same topic for social media content and email campaigns in the same week or month.

Since email campaigns are often developed and sent to a business’s list of existing contacts or prospects, they are an opportune way to further integrate messaging via social media content that reaches segments for which you might not have email addresses.

When planning and designing a promotional email campaign for distributing to an email database, it is wise to preplan social media calendars to correspond with your outgoing email. Your weekly or monthly e-newsletter might feature a “big-picture” or larger theme that can be broken down into more specific social media posts with bitesize subpoints during the same judiciously scheduled time period.

Reinforce branding with a double or triple messaging or advertising impact.

Melding social media content intentionally with existing traditional paid advertising or press release campaigns is an additional means of marketing integration. Branding and marketing professionals can emphasize marketing messages by creating social media content that follows the same communication goals as media outlet advertising or company news releases being submitted to editors, reporters and journalists at the same time.

Leave fewer marketing stones unturned, and use the same thought-provoking tagline in a tradeshow or conference advertisement that is simultaneously used in a series of Instagram Reels and LinkedIn static post captions to achieve broader coverage and density of the outgoing brand message. While the traditional ad’s focus will be one-way messaging, your interactional social media content can yield opportunities for two-way dialogs with interested B-to-B segment decision-makers.

Keep in mind, social media integration works both ways. Add links to your B2B social media channels in your e-newsletters, mass email campaigns and on the business’s website. Asking or incentivizing your existing and potential clientele to follow your business on social media paves a direct path to increasing visibility and valuable time in front of your audience.

Fuse social media strategy with brand identity and sentiment.

The next key to integrating your B2B social media strategy revolves around brand identity and how your sector targets perceive and interface with your brand.

Initiating brand standards that stay consistent across all social media platforms, websites, e-newsletters, advertisements, collateral, tradeshow displays, sponsored content, and other forms of marketing allows your clients and prospects to recognize and recall your business’s brand.

The possibilities are limitless, but some of the easiest include adding the company logo to select social media posts, including your mission statement on germane websites, consistent email signatures, and updated social media bios contribute to a stronger brand identity and brand recognition. Your audience benefits from repetition of themes, content and ideas that solidify their understanding of your business’ services and expertise.

Speaking of service, using B2B social media channels as an extension of customer service offers a very practical application of how to integrate social media into your marketing strategy. With the built-in messaging and commenting functions featured on your B2B social media channels, staying responsive and helpful when customers, clients and leads ask questions increases social media engagement and expands the occasions for your business to engage with feedback, solutions and connections.

As an added tip for Instagram for B2B, try responding to posted comments or questions on Stories and saving common inquiries as an “FAQ” Highlight that your audience can access easily from your business’s Instagram profile. Interact with on-brand message objectives always being top of mind.

For another easy social media integration, utilize user-generated content about your brand as reviews and testimonials across social media platforms, websites and in email campaigns. Reshare, repost and offer outright appreciation for positive comments about your business and brand that are posted by your followers or fans.

To see how social media integration creates success and to continue improving your B2B social media strategy, evaluate brand sentiment with a social listening tool and track website traffic and customer conversions originating from social media via Google Analytics. Monitoring and addressing these types of informative stats should be a daily or weekly occurrence assigned to a team member or your public relations and marketing firm. Gauge the results, look for patterns, and maximize or adjust brand-messaging content that over- or under-performs.

If social media integration does as well for your business as anticipated, you might consider expanding your B2B social media strategy and business offerings with a paid social media campaign or community. Pay-for-entry groups on social media create buzz around your brand and can add another stream of connections for your business, while also functioning as a test market for new products or services. Your business’ top customers get exclusive content, and you benefit from a low-risk way to introduce or launch your Unique Selling Propositions.

Step 2: Use Social media marketing to establish your business as a trusted expert and thought leader.

No matter the business or industry, trust factors into creating customers and clients from prospects. Increasingly, even your B-to-B audience looks to social channels to vet your business and establish trustworthiness.

This is why it is important to note that lacking a social presence in 2023 creates a roadblock to establishing trust with at least some members of your business’s audience, and vice versa; implementing a consistent B2B social media strategy sets your business up as a trusted expert and thought leader within your industry.

While consumer businesses benefit from captivating visuals, B2B social media channels need to offer beneficial thought-leadership information for followers and engagement. Essentially, providing enterprising value, exclusive concepts and unequivocal intel opens the door to trust.

Boost demand generation by illuminating and inspiring your B-to-B marketing segments.

B2B social media content ideas that provide expert information in an easy-to-digest format include bulleted main takeaways from case studies or blogs already available in the business’s resource library. To give this kind of messaging the emphasis it needs to produce qualified leads, merge your PR messaging strategies carefully and take your social posts from bland and trite to informative and visionary.

Consistency plays as pivotal of a role as value, though. Longer nurture time for B2B markets means your business must offer the same value and reliability over weeks and months. Posting resources once on social media and disappearing for the following two weeks or months sends a message that your business does not show up dependably. A strong B2B social media strategy employs content plans and calendars that ensure reliable posting schedules from a trustworthy business.

Social media algorithms also favor consistency. In fact, algorithms heavily scrutinize your B2B social media channels to determine if the content is reliable enough to recommend to a target audience. For the algorithm, regular posting builds trust, but the algorithm also demands content topics and hashtags remain related to similar and sound topics so it can determine to whom it can recommend your content.

Likewise, algorithms reward B2B social media channels that spend time interacting on the given platform and engage with other accounts. Seek out other businesses or prospects and like, share and comment on their posts with valuable information. Not only does the algorithm recommend and serve your content more when you engage, but the audiences of those other accounts recognize your business’s enduring expertise. Offer insights on your competitors’ feeds long enough, and their followers may start following your business as a new, trusted authority in the industry.

Develop, earn and benefit from third-party influence.

Another way to capitalize on other business’ audiences and strengthen your B2B social media strategy is to partner with other industry-related brands and social media influencers to share content that achieves a greater and more applicable reach. In this scenario, your B2B social media channels piggyback and combine with the existing trust of the partner brands or influencers. If those brands already exist as trusted experts to their respective communities, your business’s trusting audience expands.

If you think influencers marketing is not for B2B marketers, change the way you think and how you approach the all-important model of influencer marketing. Chances are your competition partners with B2B social media influencers who have infinities of connections you want to share. Any such influencer marketing deployment should be started with a brainstormed and strategic set of goals, objectives and budget.

Merge and diversify marketing deployments to undergird social media content.

The strategy for capitalizing upon B2B social media can be established with overlapping marketing tactics, coalescing into a clearcut opportunity for more heavy-hitting sales leads results.

Your B2B social media strategy should incorporate the previously mentioned methods of connecting the dots between your branding output and business’s return-on-investment.

Building trust and integrating B2B social media marketing with other promotional efforts provide the preeminent strategy for how to manage B2B social media marketing in 2023, which leads to gaining lasting results from your social media efforts for the long haul. Try these ideas, and you’re well on your way to establishing your business as a leader on and off social media.

Do you need a professional helping hand for implementing a B2B social media strategy for your business? Reach out to Eberly & Collard Public Relations to receive in-depth, expert advice from our full-service PR firm and B2B social media agency.

We are often asked, “What is crisis management?” and “What are the stages of crisis management?” This blog article strikes at the core of what to know and how to act.

Here is a crisis: Your business doesn’t have a crisis communication plan in the back pocket. If this is true, it is past time to plan and assemble one, so you’ll be better equipped to manage all potential crises that could be looming.

Don’t know where to start? Let’s begin by exploring strategic crisis communication plans and why every business needs one.

 What is a Crisis Communication Plan?

 In a time of crisis, how a business strategically communicates with its clients or customers, key stakeholders, media members, and general public (A.K.A., crisis communication) directly reflects how the occurring crisis plays out. Additionally, success in these precarious situations is defined by how well the company effectively communicates – immediately and productively – and recovers in the long run. To that end, a crisis communication plan brings order to the chaos by providing a set of guidelines for a business to follow and execute at the onset and throughout the duration of a crisis.

The purpose of any good crisis communication plan is to provide a general resource and guide to company leadership regarding the fundamental tenets of effective communications during times of extreme difficulty, upheaval or calamity. The plan, once developed, also provides strategies for messaging development and management as well as insights for addressing or interfacing with all critical and impacted groups, including social media users and print, online, digital, and broadcast media members during crises.

Why is a Crisis Communication Plan Important?

Given the current volatility of world affairs and the magnifying spotlight placed on companies via social media, more companies than ever are seeking public relations and marketing agencies with expert crisis communication services and the acumen needed for developing and executing effective crisis communication plans. Whether it be an established corporation or an emerging start-up business, an organization’s success is neither definite nor impervious to the consequences often arising from a crisis.

While the mere thought of a crisis for a business or brand may be distressing, developing an effective crisis communication plan can help your company weather the storm of any crisis to better ensure an outcome with less turmoil, fewer mistakes and minimized repercussions.

Ultimately, develop a plan before crises happen.

How to Create a Crisis Communication Plan

The 5 Cs of Crisis Communication

 All judicious program plans for a business should have supportive frameworks, and a crisis communication plan is no exception. Above all, create a crisis management handbook.

Before developing a crisis communication plan, it is vital to first understand the basic principles which provide its support: Care, Commitment, Competency, Channels, and Continuity.

Care: A crisis is no time to showcase actions and communication that are characterized by a lack of good sense, seriousness and worthwhile purpose. If your communication fails to demonstrate the proper care the situation demands, innumerable problems will arise exacerbating the crisis at hand. Create a crisis communication plan that meticulously and thoughtfully addresses all pertinent groups and their potential needs. Consider, assess and include your employees, stakeholders and investors, customer or client segments, reporters and journalists, influencers, and all other audiences germane to your business.

Commitment: Illustrate a commitment to resolving the crisis and all its effects, as well as mitigating the chance of its reoccurrence. Moreover, committing to timely and frequent communication with all publics, including those with the power to positively or negatively alter the outcome for your business, is an essential characteristic of effectively handling a crisis. Your plan should lay the groundwork, anticipating and outlining the ways in which you, your C-suite and public relations agency will lead during the crisis versus being victimized or scandalized by it.

Competency: Audiences will render their judgments by gauging how well your company or representatives conduct messaging online and perform in front of the media. If you come across as capable through direct interactions with your audiences and communities as well as competent during interviews with the media, these forms of demonstrated insightfulness regarding all matters of the crisis will increase the chances you and the company will be deemed proficient.

Channels: Knowing where to communicate is just as important as knowing what to communicate. Well before a crisis, conduct an audience analysis. If you think you understand all the detailed specifics about your key audiences, consider if you and your leadership team have unearthed exactly how and where these integral groups tend to obtain their important information. If not, your crisis communication plan should involve an exploration of message dissemination that will actually reach your constituents.

Continuity: When planning and executing a crisis communication plan, clear and sustaining message continuity should be top of mind. For example, if a social media post does not exactly match up with the words of your CEO, audience misconceptions may occur, and your ability to control the narrative will diminish. The spoken and written word should always correspond during a crisis. When it comes to continuity, more C’s play an adjacent role; communications with correctness and consistency will strengthen the trust factor among your audiences, giving them an increased level of confidence in how your business is managing the crisis.

These 5+ Cs should be at the heart of every message delivered to your audiences, especially in a time of crisis. You will only be prepared to do so with an advanced plan developed before a crisis, not during one. It is vital to know and execute these principles while understanding the significance of each. Plan, plan and plan ahead; because, without these pillars, there is no ground on which you and your business can stand during the crisis.

Four Essential Elements of a Crisis Communication Plan

 Now that our foundation is set, let’s explore the essential elements of a crisis communication plan. While not an exhaustive list, the following elements are common themes of the best and most productive crisis communication plans.

Assess potential crises: It’s impossible to foresee every potential crisis looming over your business. However, it is possible to identify universal business threats as well as brainstorm the types of crises that frequently arise within your industry and/or sector. From there, every potential crisis should be assessed in terms of the “what if” scenario, along with a preplanned strategy attached.

 The focus of this portion of the plan should involve an assessment of crisis levels in terms of probable or likely dissemination of inaccurate or negative information that is based upon incidents, consumer opinions, hearsay, or propaganda, and that which can create communication issues and adversely affect the company’s reputation and brand perception. Usually, four levels of crisis are evaluated. Our PR team utilizes the following for most of our applicable clients’ crisis communications:

Level 1 = Most Serious or Most Potential Risk or Impact

Level 2 = Moderate Potential Risk or Impact

Level 3 = Low Risk or Impact

Level 4 = Unlikely Risk or Impact

Choose a spokesperson and create a crisis communication team: Who shall speak on behalf of your business when a crisis suddenly emerges? – You? Your CEO? When a crisis hits, the public narrative wastes no time being formed; therefore, you won’t have a second to waste. Decide and include your company’s spokesperson within your crisis communication plan and be ready to address internal and external groups and the media as soon as possible; and, this means quickly.

Your crisis communication plan must include what we like to call “The Line of Defense Team,” comprising leadership personnel who have been educated in the elements of your crisis communication plan. Each participant should have a copy of the plan accessible at all times with listed or charted individual and premeditated responsibilities.

Develop the plan as a workflow with each leader’s scope of responsibility clearly explained to encompass pre-crisis plan management and maintenance as well as activities and duties to handle during the crisis. Aspects of anticipated post-crisis administration are also wise to incorporate into the plan. These prewritten, general action items and timelines are intended to help your business leadership assess, address and attempt to resolve communication issues in regard to projected incidents.

Know your audience: Your audience is more than those who regularly comment on your Instagram posts. Companies commonly approach crisis communication with an exclusive focus on their customers and communities, showing little regard for their employees and other internal stakeholders. When developing and executing a crisis communication plan, make sure no stone is left unturned when identifying and communicating with your audience.

Identify your audience groups regarding whether they have direct or indirect interest versus influence. Consider your various audience types in terms of their “interest” or “influence.” Depending upon the type of crisis, select segments will hold general interest in the crisis and its related information, though with minor applicability for gains or losses. At the other end of the audience spectrum, a highly relevant group will not only have interest; they will also possess a great deal of influence over how they handle, address or speak about the crisis.

An individual crisis will require an assessment of segments and their figurative or actual stakeholder positions in comparison to potential positive, negative or neutral influence. This is integral to making decisions about how closely to interface with the segments and how often communications are required.

Develop consistent and succinct messaging on all channels: Nowadays, companies disseminate information via an expanding variety of communication channels (e.g., social media, onsite messaging, broadcast television, press conferences, emails, etc.). While having and employing different channels of communication is an essential part of an effective crisis communication plan, developing consistent and succinct messaging across said channels is just as important.

Execute the Crisis Communication Plan in a Time of Need

The cardinal rule of crisis communication is similar to medical operations. “First, do no harm.” Kick off your plan immediately.

When it comes to executing a crisis communication plan: timing is everything. Companies that create and maintain crisis communication plans in advance of being needed will be in a better position to control the public narrative.

Implementing your plan involves the opportunity for you and your company leaders and agency to prevent ineffective, unfavorable or detrimental responses to serious crises. Moreover, appropriate crisis communication procedures inspire or beget the trust and confidence that are vital in a challenging situation.

The 24-hour news channels and nontraditional media, vlogs, blogs, and social media can propel a news story or cycle that makes it critical for organizations to actively prepare for crisis communications.

An actual crisis often involves a volatile combination of public reaction and gossip or hearsay. This form of destabilized information makes it essential to give careful thought, albeit expedited, to information that will be stated or distributed, before making public releases or comments. This refers to the gamut- from social media posts to news conferences.

Evaluate the environment into which statements or information should be introduced, so your plan’s drafted messages can be further crafted and shaped to fit the problem or disaster.

Ask these critical questions at the onset:

• Is my crisis communication plan’s primary lead up to date about the matter and beginning to deploy the workflow?
• Which intel is critical to convey to prompt appropriate public responses in terms of the crisis?
• What are the opportunities for successful communications, and how can they be managed and maximized?
• What are the messages to be delivered prior to, during and after the incident?
• Are there obstacles to efficient crisis communications, and how can they be minimized?
• How might/will the media cover the news related to the crisis, and what are the ways in which to work with reporters?
• What questions can be expected from customers, vendors, employees, the public, media members, etc. throughout the situation?

Schedule the first and quick phone conference or meeting with your crisis management team to begin dissecting and dealing with the state of affairs. Rate and review the crisis situation to determine if your prewritten plan’s list of initiation items for management and communication is viable based on the present conditions.

Your plan’s pre-drafted message templates and statements should be finalized as necessary to address emergencies or other timely communications. Move forward with specific statements that could be needed to address individuals, peers, colleagues, or family members of impacted or potentially affected persons, to follow possible statements to and for the media and general public or suitable communities.

In the moments to days that follow, work through the “response” section of your crisis communication plan with the help of your leadership colleagues and public relations agency. From notifying the applicable parties and stabilizing the physical setting to activating your team and their workflow, stay calm and be focused.

What are Examples of Business Crises?

Let’s consider Pepsi and the infamous Kendal Jenner commercial that tried to settle racial injustice and police brutality with a simple can of Pepsi.

Watch the video here

Shortly after this commercial went live, Pepsi and Kendal Jenner faced severe backlash for trivializing the social issue. Nevertheless, Pepsi wasted no time by quickly pulling the ad and offering a statement of apology. While some negative sentiment may still reside, Pepsi’s overall crisis communication plan highlights the timeliness and sincerity needed for preserving the integrity and reputation of a brand in the face of a crisis.

BP Plc., on the other hand, did nothing of the sort. When an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, resulting in the deaths of 11 people and an environmental disaster, BP Plc. was slow in responding to the media, taking three whole days to verify and relay the cause of the explosion. Moreover, BP’s top management failed to address stakeholder and public concerns in a timely manner during the fallout of the crisis. Consequences? — A brand reputation tarnished and in need of restorative action.

If you want to have a say over the narrative and emerge from a crisis with your brand reputation intact, develop and roleplay your crisis communication plan well before a crisis presents itself. Then, deploy your plan – modifying or customizing it as needed – at the moment you become aware of the situation.

Conclusion

Threats are everywhere, surrounding everyone and everything, including companies with renowned success and rock-solid reputations. While it may not be a miscalculated commercial or an environmental disaster, a crisis can hit your business at any moment.

An effective crisis communication plan derives its framework from the five Cs as explained in this narrative and comprises all the essential elements with no stone left unturned. Do not put off until tomorrow what you and your business can do today to become prepared and properly equipped to manage a crisis and its ensuing chaos.

Contact our public relations team to learn more about an effective crisis communication plan specific to your business and brand.

Client loyalty and customer referrals have now hit an all-time low, and these types of new business connections are fast being replaced by having relevant expertise in a niche service category.

Even with 2020 past us, we are still living in unprecedented and chaotic times. But, most of all, these are times of profound change. At Eberly & Collard Public Relations, we believe we are on the precipice of a revolution as it pertains to how leaders at professional service firms can market themselves. Buyers need to know how to assess service providers in today’s environment. And, sellers need to understand what types of sales and marketing methods will gain the attention of buyers.

Buyers stated in a study last year conducted by the Marketing Research Institute that relevancy of services or specialization in a niche category was a key selection factor. This factor has risen 33% over the last two years and will continue to rise. Relevant expertise translates to higher client satisfaction, loyalty and referrals, all of which are at all-time lows. Because it is much easier for a buyer to do a quick web search than it is to reach out to a friend or a colleague for advice or for a referral. The loyalty suffers and is not established if the client does not see you as highly relevant to their current challenges and needs. The old methods will not work in today’s environment.

What is the best path forward? In today’s marketplace, a strategic and customized approach is paramount to success. A modern, digital-fueled content marketing approach is the right mix of ingredients. Traditional methods are not dead. It’s understanding how to balance them both appropriately in varying percentages based on your specific industry or unique needs.

Digital Marketing Dominates

Digital communications and marketing have been on the rise for more than a decade, but companies that have not evolved to include some form of digital marketing communications are being left behind. The 2020 pandemic forced many companies to convert to all types of virtualization where digital interactions are now routine. With so many gaining experience and comfort with virtual services, it will only continue to be more prevalent. Having a strong digital content marketing strategy will help aid in staying relevant. Items like Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), a digital media kit, and a robust media relations strategy that will help secure articles and placements online will also help with high authoritative backlinks to your website. Podcasts and videos will also fall under this category, to name a few.

The Importance of Industry Specialization

Specialization is essential and considered a real competitive advantage over companies that do not do so. The benefits are obvious. Clients benefit by virtue of specialized service and added value through insights and suggestions. We decided years ago to be an industry niche-based marketing firm and have maintained our commitment to this decision. It’s been our strength in an otherwise uncertain economic environment because our target audience demands as much value out of their professional advisors as possible. We believe that specialization gives this to them. After all, by virtue of serving many organizations and individuals engaged within the same industries, we see challenges and opportunities much clearer than another firm not working in that specific industry category. This brings a lot of value to our clients in the niches we serve. We believe other professional service firms that follow in this similar model will also yield the same successes.

Niche Marketing is A Successful Strategy

Differentiation, the most common, and most difficult marketing issue for professional services firms. Competition within the professional services space is fierce, and many industries are incredibly analogous—which makes differentiation that much more difficult. Take an unbiased look at your industry. See how competition saturation, economic or political volatility, and trends and challenges affect your position.

Define your target audiences and what they want. The critical rule here: Don’t guess. Internally generated client surveys and client service programs only go so far. What your clients and prospects say and do varies greatly depending on a variety of factors. Third-party research can help. Once you know the pain points and perceptions, make sure you have a solid plan on what to do with that vital information.

Use your resources and or the resources of your specialty marketing firm to focus your efforts. This involves all of your firm’s professionals, including technical, business development and marketing focused. Is your marketing department at capacity? Is this the time to outsource? Do your business development and marketing teams have the right skills and roles in place? Once you make changes or revise your strategy, do you have individuals that can champion the efforts and see things to fruition?

Understand What is and is Not Working

This tends to be one of the most difficult questions to ask, as the answers can be very nuanced. For example, are you engaging in reactionary marketing (or is marketing more of an afterthought in your organization)? Do you have a strategic plan in place? As mentioned in the beginning of this article, content development will be crucial to help increase awareness and education among your targets. But, it takes time. A realistic timeframe is approximately 3-4 months before a measurable difference can be seen. It’s quite often in today’s world of instant gratification that expectations are not realistic. Don’t set yourself up for failure by having unrealistic expectations from the very beginning.

There are numerous ways to increase B2B lead generation, but the information above will help guide you along the way. Working with an agency that truly understands your specific industry is the way to achieve success and convey your value proposition. Working to ensure that your client loyalty does not suffer is a sure-fire way to remain relevant to your customer base.

It might feel as if staying in a hotel or eating at a restaurant will never be the same again. At least for the immediate future, both activities for consumers will come with certain risk factors. Whether or not consumers will be willing to confront these risks, and to what extent, remains slightly unknown.

This does not mean all hope is lost; people will continue to find ways to enjoy their favorite restaurants and stay in their favorite hotels – it is simply human nature to do so. However, the ways in which people choose their patronage will be vastly different in the age of COVID-19.

With this new shift comes an entirely new way for hospitality groups to look at their marketing strategies and evaluate how their marketers are communicating brand information to the public. It has been said that 2020 will be a landmark year for marketing communications, especially when it comes to brands being able to successfully communicate an immediate, effective message to their target audiences. And, for hospitality groups, nothing is more urgent or immediate to be communicated through marketing than their patrons’ safety.

In times such as these, if you are a marketing manager or C-suite leader in the hospitality industry, you must ask yourself an important question: Are our brands effectively portrayed as “safe” establishments through our marketing? If not, how do we communicate our messages of safety and preparedness to our target audiences?

1.    Marketing for Hospitality: The Back of House becomes Front of House

Your Back of House staff will become one of your most important assets in this next era of hospitality.

When it comes to any consumer-facing media, especially owned digital media, such as your brands’ blogs and social media channels, consider shifting your messaging to highlight Back of House operations to keep potential patrons aware of the steps you are taking for their safety.

Your restaurant brands may import some of the highest quality ingredients, and the rooms at your hotel brands may feature bedding with very high thread counts; however, these aspects of hospitality simply aren’t top-of-mind for patrons at the moment. That is not to say they are not important, but we predict patrons of hotels in the near future will care less about the brand of sheets they are sleeping on, and more about who cleaned the room, and how they did so.

Take this time to show your potential patrons your goals and safety objectives align with theirs through creative owned media, such as social media and blogging, and earned media through key publications. In your press releases, or preferred method of delivering brand-messaging to the media, highlight the capabilities of your staff, and keep the language concise, technical and straight to the point. Let no message be too difficult to understand, and be as transparent as possible in explaining your objectives.

For owned media, write a blog profiling the now-immensely important role of your sanitation staff and the ways in which their best practices translate to guests’ safety and comfort. This, too, should be on the shorter, concise end as far as blogs go. You want to avoid are large, “wordy” messages filled with jargon and pre-existing slogans and promotional messaging that may seem tone-deaf.

The most important asset hospitality groups have at this particular point in time are attentive, well-trained sanitation teams; this is the new message that should be delivered to consumers through social media marketing for hotels and restaurants. Though promotional discounts any of your brands are offering, or new updates to your facilities are important, your messaging should directly target the possible anxieties of potential patrons and guests, and how your Back of House teams are working overtime to extinguish these anxieties.

This does not mean you should halt all communications with promotional messaging; these messages should absolutely continue, but not take precedent to timely, more relevant messaging.

2.    Transparent, Uniformed Messaging from the Top   

Leaders in the hospitality and related industries, who own or operate multiple brands, should not only invest in a strong communications plan aimed at making the efforts of Back of House staff known, but make sure these communications are uniform across all their brands, and repeated at the top.

To ensure your smaller brands are communicating with the same transparency as your larger brands, enlist the services of a fully integrated public relations agency to develop a top-to-bottom communications strategy to effectively distribute your messaging.

For hospitality groups, re-opening establishments across the United States, and especially in Europe, is going to vary depending on location. For example, the re-opening of a larger New York City brand is going to be vastly different than the re-opening and continued operations of a smaller brand in a place like Colorado. So, you may ask, how do we keep a single, uniform message of safety, when many of our brands are in different areas and adhering to different protocols?

The answer can be simple, and involves the most immediate form of communication for a brand or business: social media.

Leverage the influence of your C-suite leaders on your group’s social media channels, by using their Live functions when there are immediate announcements related to COVID-19. However, and as we’ve said before, keep the messaging concise, technical and straight to the point. After all, immediate, safety related messaging cannot always wait for the news cycle, and must be relayed immediately by executive leadership in some cases.

3.    Align your Digital Messaging with Consumers’ Priorities

So-called “behind the scenes” operations must be highlighted in outgoing digital marketing communications for hospitality groups. Hotel and restaurant patrons can be a risk-averse bunch, even before the ongoing pandemic. Prior to a staying at a hotel or dining at a restaurant, some sort of preliminary research is conducted, often using search results from Google or a similar search engine.

It’s no secret that what is found about your hotel or restaurant brands through online searches can be highly valuable. Hospitality groups, in the past, strived to rank highly on search engines like Google for keywords and phrases such as, “best hotel near me,” or “best restaurant in New York City.” Future patrons, now with realigned priorities when on the hunt for the right hotel or restaurant, will be dropping the word “best” in some cases, for “cleanest.”

So, if your restaurants offer expansive outdoor seating, which, by many standards, is considered a safer method of dining in this era, really focus your efforts on ranking well with SEO. In conducting target market analysis for restaurants, make sure to target potential patrons searching for the best outdoor dining options in your markets’ surrounding areas.

To relate this back to our point on owned media, write a blog about the steps you are taking internally (i.e., what your Back of House is doing), and use a strategic, targeted SEO strategy to draw people to your blog who are looking for their safest options. When doing this, make sure you are vetting and incorporating SEO terms into your owned media that rank well amongst other related search terms.

4.    Have a Well-Developed, Responsive Crisis Communications Plan

We’d be remiss in not mentioning the importance of having a fully developed crisis communications plan in your back pocket. Fluid situations such as these call for preparedness, and, if you are a hospitality group that attracts guests and diners to your brands from across the country, you must be ready with a communications strategy in the event of a patron or guest falling ill.

This message, too, should begin with a uniformed message from the top, followed by (again!) a short, to-the-point message regarding your brands’ commitment to patron safety, as reaffirmed by the efforts of your Back of House staff.

Crisis strategies often encompass all aspects of public relations in some way or another, and should be shared across all your social media accounts related to the brand(s) affected by the situation.

If you haven’t yet developed a crisis communications plan, or your crisis plan needs updated, here are a few pointers for making sure your crisis strategy remains on-point:

–       Communicate to your audiences using an omnichannel approach: Create a strategy that consists of scheduled, outgoing communications that are seamless in nature. This means that all external marketing communications, such as unpaid, organic social media posts, paid media, blogs, e-newsletters, etc., are uniform and omnipresent, rather than unique, parallel messages that may compete against each other.

–       Make sure the executive and C-suite leaders are well informed on the issue at hand: In keeping with the omnichannel marketing communications approach to handling a COVID-19 related crisis, it is vitally important that your deployed crisis communications plan is aligned from top to bottom.

–       Timing is everything: If a health-related crisis does arise in one or more of your hotels or restaurants, carefully monitor the news to ensure your messaging is being communicated in the right places and at the right moments.

Though the coming times ahead will be challenging, we are looking forward to a hospitality renaissance coming soon after the smoke clears, so to speak. These important communications strategies, though time consuming, are true value propositions. With uniform, transparent and timely communications / marketing plans in place, you can go on doing what leaders in the hospitality industry do best: ensure guests and patrons experience your brands in the best light possible.

In a crowded marketplace, it is estimated that we interact with over 3,000 brands in any given day. Understanding the process of how a well-established B2B (business to business) thought leadership marketing strategy is developed and exactly how to convey your brand’s value proposition clearly and effectively is paramount to ensuring your brand voice is heard. When done properly, this can be a powerful tool that is not just another piece of marketing jargon, but instead a way to solidify and position your company as a leader in its field.

A study conducted by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) determined that 83% of B2B buyers believe that ‘thought leadership’ had increased their trust in organizations, with 88% saying they use thought leadership to build a shortlist of potential vendors. The study also stated that approximately 50% of C-suite executives and decision-makers believed thought leadership content had a direct impact on awarding business. 61% of C-suite executives say they are willing to pay a premium to work with an organization that has articulated a clear vision.

The most interesting takeaway from the study suggests that 45% of B2B marketers said they take advantage of thought leadership marketing. This finding presents a unique opportunity and an excellent way to breakthrough barriers in your specific sector, become an industry disruptor and increase your sales and new business.

Thought Leadership Marketing Defined:

So, what exactly is thought leadership? By definition, thought leadership is a method of marketing which positions you as an expert and authority in your industry and conveys that your company or brand has deep understanding of the subject matter at hand. To be a thought leader in your industry is to share the philosophies and business knowledge that your company uses. It can be a unique take or perspective that will create a significant impact on a business model or even the sector’s marketplace at large. Thought leadership builds brand affinity which, in turn, enacts trust. This is an excellent entry point and foundation when employing demand generation as a strategy. Creating awareness and trust, which is one of the core components of demand generation, is often accomplished with thought leadership.

Below, we have outlined three main cornerstone strategies that, when followed properly, are proven to accelerate your industry positioning, and will also propel your company as a thought leader in your industry or sector.

Build Thought Leadership Through Media Relations –

In order to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, you need to reach your target audience. This is where the media can help amplify your message as well as your brand. From traditional channels like business newspapers, B2B industry trade magazines, business radio shows to growing mediums like podcasts, there are many avenues for you to reach and, thus, influence others.

It is important to note that media relations outreach is a separate strategy in and of itself. Working with a public relations firm that specializes in your industry niche is vital to success. Otherwise, you will have to work on the time-consuming process to pitch yourself to media outlets and journalists to build trust and make the case for why you should be featured in an article or interview.

The influx of different channels helps tremendously in these efforts. Focus on niche publications that targets your industry. With patience and consistency, partnering with the media will help you get in front of your audience and establish your place as a thought leader. Once you are featured, you will start to earn credibility and can use your new media placements to show that you are considered an expert in your field. Then, it is more likely other journalists or publications will become interested in connecting as well.

We recommend studying each and every individual media outlet to determine exactly what topic and format is best suited for them. The largest mistake we see people make is the use software to mass (or blanket) pitch the same information to every media outlet out there. This is not the proper way to influence the media outlets to profile or feature your business or interview you.

You’re only a thought leader if you truly showcase expertise in your field and offer valuable insights and opinions. Sound media relations is a catalyst to accomplish this.

Establish Brand Authority on Your Owned Media Channels –

As we discussed above, gaining credibility is one of the foundations of thought leadership. While media engagements require cooperation with a journalist or publication, your brand’s owned media channels allow for self-publication of your thought leadership articles or whitepapers instantaneously. Social media channels, blogs, podcasts, and webinars are a few of the main examples of owned media channels. Defined as brand channels you or the company owns, you and your marketing staff members have the freedom and ability to publish as you see fit.

Thought leadership marketing allows you to get in front of your audience on your own terms. However, this doesn’t mean you’ll want to post and share content on a whim. Creating a content strategy with a posting schedule is an important step toward gaining trust with your audience, while establishing yourself as a B2B thought leader.

First, you have to determine your audience and the sectors that reside within the audience. These are the prospective customers you are trying to reach. Who are your customers and what questions are they asking? Once you establish this, you can begin the process of crafting content that is targeted to this group. This step will also reveal which channels you should use to deliver your message. For example, if your B2B target audience includes professional service companies, you’ll want to focus on blogs and LinkedIn much more than Facebook or Instagram. White papers with broader subject matter may also resonate with them, more so than shorter content that consumer product companies tend to seek.

Regardless of how and where you are publishing your content, it is essential to establish your frequency. You want to publish often enough that people remember and identify you as an influencer; but, you do not want to flood your followers’ timelines and blog subscription email inboxes with content lacking research and relevance, just to hit a number. Each post should add value and include a call-to-action.

Activate New Audiences with Public Relations Engagements –

One search for “thought leaders” on YouTube will present hundreds of videos that feature speeches from various influencers across a wide variety of industries. Speaking engagements work because they allow you to share a message with a specific audience free from other distractions. Seminars and conferences focused on your industry are the most ideal settings for delivering this message, because they are filled with attendees eagerly awaiting your message. Even though the current situation with the global pandemic has caused in-person events to be cancelled or postponed, virtual speaking engagements and events are thriving and are here to stay. With the proper planning and strategy, it is even possible to create your own “industry though leadership” related event or webinar. This is a valuable means by which to reach your intended audience.

Utilizing social media for both pre- and post-event messaging surrounding your chosen topic is another excellent way to reinforce the message you are trying to convey. Another excellent way to share your thoughts is by hosting your own podcast. We wrote a previous blog post about using a podcast as a vehicle for publicity. It contains several valuable steps on how to go about this process. The equipment needed is extremely low cost to put together a podcast.

Any medium that allows you to speak passionately about your authoritative topic or industry will go a long way proving your status as a thought leader. Maintaining the aforesaid steps in a strategy that is consistent is key to saturation for your thought leadership marketing plan.

If you are not leading, you are following. B2B buyers and decision makers want to work with leading brands. It is crucial to build a reputation through strong, compelling, accessible, and impactful thought leadership marketing content. Once you’ve built a strong foundation of trust and confidence with your audience, the rest of your marketing strategy is a matter of ongoing creative and maintenance.

Please contact us to learn more about how our firm works with brands to create successful thought leadership marketing plans.

 

Why Public Relations remains essential in a business climate that is constantly redefining what the word “essential” means.

Since early-spring, business leaders across the globe have reevaluated many aspects of their daily operations, especially their procedures and practices labeled as “non-essential.” It may seem that many have their own interpretations of the phrase. But, at Eberly & Collard Public Relations, a top national public relations firm, we truly believe that as a business, there are few things more essential than a fully integrated public relations agency. After all, it was Bill Gates who once said, “If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations.”

In-person communication is now out of the picture for my business. What now?

If you’re looking for someone to explain the importance of public relations, or the functions of public relations, the current challenges some business are facing at the moment provide an excellent explanation.

Without the face-to-face interaction that once forged valuable relationships between your business and future customers and clients, the need for a shift towards digital marketing and public relations increases exponentially. However, digital marketing, social media and other digital-based mediums, without the aid of a full-service public relations firm, can be very difficult to start from scratch, and highly time consuming.

That said, digital mediums are, without a doubt, where you should be focusing your public relations and marketing plan at the moment. The reason being: Without strong digital marketing, media outreach efforts and social media during these times, your business and brand are simply not seen in this current business environment. That is, you are not visible to the media or possible new clients or customers without any sort of digital marketing or public relations plan in place.

Navigating the new-normal through multiple aspects of Public Relations.

The coming months will force brands and businesses across the globe to conduct their new-business outreach, brand-building and outbound marketing in an entirely different way. This may sound challenging; but, for us at ECPR, we look forward to developing new, creative digital media strategies for current and future clients. As a matter of fact, we put together a guide for businesses to use when navigating in “disruptive” times, such as these.

The guide, which laid out the best strategies or methods for businesses to move forward and adapt to the “new-normal,” was a detailed resource for the initial re-opening of the global economy, so we thought we’d also put together a handful of easy-to-digest takeaways for your public relations strategy moving forward. Each of the following are standard components for effective communication in public relations, but adjusted per our “new normal,” and aimed to increase your digital footprint.

1. Social Media

At some point in time, it was unwisely determined that social media, in general, was more of a priority for business-to-consumer (B2C) brands, and less valuable for business-to-business (B2B) brands. Given our current limits on in-person connectivity, this couldn’t be further from the truth! Though some social channels are certainly more geared towards B2C, B2B or direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, now is the time to connect with your audiences, clients and / or customers via creative social media campaigns across multiple social platforms!

In these modern times, social media is one of the most immediate methods of PR when connecting with new clients or customers. It is also a great way to connect with current clients / customers, whether it be to let them know it’s still business as usual for you, despite working remotely, or if you have a new product / service that was originally slated to be released at a now-cancelled event.

B2B companies should, rather quickly, make the push towards strengthening their social media channels, and begin viewing them as “essential” facets of their public relations strategy. If you’re a product manufacturer that sells to other businesses, the indefinite cancellation of trade events across the globe has likely put a damper on your sales and marketing.

Trade events and shows were typically when future clients and customers could see your product, learn about pricing, and acquire the knowledge they needed to know to make an informed decision about your product and / or service. Without this valuable opportunity to market your product in-person, for now, we’d advise turning to a relatively easy-to-use, inexpensive component of social media: video.

Utilizing video via social media once required a camera, tripod, expensive recording equipment, and, in some cases, new staff to edit the video; this is no longer the case, with tools such as Facebook Live (literally) at your fingertips.

Facebook Live, or any type of video-sharing on your social media channels, is a tool that can work for a B2B product or service in two powerful ways. On one hand, you are able to provide a physical example of your product, or a face-to-face-like description of your service, in the most immediate kind of format. On the other hand, you are giving your audience, which, in this case, would be your social media followers, a glimpse of your own personality, something that would, otherwise, only be seen in-person.

For many B2B companies, personality in digital marketing can be withheld, or suppressed. However, people (and other businesses) are feeling vulnerable at the moment, and they want the people they work with to, in some way, exemplify and align with their own beliefs, and make their lives easier.

Whether you’re a product manufacturer or a software company, we’d recommend using tools like Facebook Live to offer your social media audience helpful tips that are related to your respective industry. Each week, one or two of your team members could go live for a couple minutes and offer your company’s advice or tips on a certain topic. However, it’s important to use content standards so all of these social media-broadcasted videos follow and adhere to predetermined standards.

2. Media Outreach: Editorial

If you have recently picked up and read a print publication or checked out the home page of your favorite online news source, you have noticed the headlines are a bit monotonous at the moment.

This, of course, is not all that unexpected, given current circumstances. But, through our own agency’s relationships with various publishing groups, we have learned that editors of publications are looking for, and wanting, positive headlines and news for their publications.

This is a perfect opportunity to creatively position your products or services with trade publications that are actively looking for more news to deliver to their readership. Now, that’s not to say they are striving to change the topic of their content from the most timely global news; rather, they are looking to support their respective industries served through sharing highly-relevant information with their readership. Trade media editorial, specifically, is highly trusted information, directly delivered to target audiences without the need for any face-to-face communication. When published in an admired, respected publication through editorial media coverage, your credibility can increase exponentially.

To get published in the trade-media at the moment, though, editors are looking for stories that can captivate their readers and provide highly relevant information. Despite most publications being filled with less-than-great news recently, we’ve found editors are looking for new trends being forged in their respective industries through innovations in digital technology.Take manufacturing for example. If you’re a product manufacturer with strong digital capabilities, now is the time to publicize your company’s achievements. Editors, for the coming months, will be writing many stories about facilities shutting down due to staffing issues from stay-at-home orders, and the like. However, if your manufacturing facility is highly digitized, and nearly autonomous, it’s likely stay-at-home orders didn’t affect your production, and you could operate fully with just a skeleton staff.

Currently, stories like these are highly sought after by trade media. Not only does this represent a dramatic (and interesting) shift in the way we manufacture products, but it offers the readers of publications a glimpse at what a socially distanced manufacturing sector looks like.

3. Building Brand Voice through Owned Media

Though social media is considered “owned media,” this public relations essential is, more-or-less, referring to native, website-based content. Through highly creative, brand-driven owned media, such as a company blog, brands and businesses are able to amplify their brand-voice and message.

In order to fully understand the importance of blogs, in the context of our current global economy, one must first understand the intent of a potential customer or client looking to attain a particular product or service. For the time being, any face-to-face meetings are going to be tricky for B2B or B2C client / customer acquisition. Services like Zoom allow us to meet “face-to-face,” in a sense, but first impressions about your business are now being formed via your website, and how its content portrays your brand and / or business.

The concepts of brand-image and brand voice, as portrayed through native content, are especially essential, as the usual process of new business acquisition will be vastly different for the time being. No longer are the times of multiple, in-person meetings where people get to “know” others. Now, judgements can be made based on digital, owned media alone, further emphasizing our thesis that owned media, through native content, is essential.

Brand-image and brand-voice, no longer having the platform of brick and mortar or trade shows / events, uniquely position the blog as an essential component of public relations and digital marketing. Blogs are an excellent manifestation of brand DNA, in that, the word “blog” alone implies a certain, more honest connectivity. The blog almost serves as a business’ journal, and offers potential customers or clients a unique, “unfiltered” perspective on your product or service otherwise unattainable.

As a matter of fact, it might be a good idea to begin directing potential, new business traffic directly to your blog instead of the homepage of your website.

For example, if you were looking to inquire about the professional services of a company you are thinking of hiring, and wanted an unadulterated glimpse at the company’s values and culture without meeting them in person, which of the following statements are you most drawn to?

–       To learn more about our company, here’s a link to our website:

–       To learn more about our company, here’s a link to our blog:

In the first sentence above, the word “website” seems a bit cold and unaffectionate, and in most cases, the homepage of many a website is filled with jargon and marketing copy.

However, by offering potential new clients or customers a look at your “blog,” you are taking them directly to the nucleus of your brand’s DNA.

4. Miscellaneous Facets of Digital Marketing

In addition to the three essential public relations assets, there are many directions you can take via digital marketing that are rooted in screen-to-screen messaging.

Like we discussed in our March 2020 blog, entitled, “Engaging your Target Audiences in Disruptive Times,” digital assets such as Google Ad Campaigns, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are highly valuable to develop to reach new clients and consumers.

What’s the reason behind each digital asset’s value? It is no secret that screen time has recently increased significantly across the globe and among all age demographics. But, even as restrictions are loosening, we do not forecast a decrease in the use of smart phones and other devices any time soon. So, unless you foresee people abandoning their mobile devices in the near future, now is the time to ramp-up your digital marketing for optimizing your search engine performance.

According to recent data on the subject, mobile searches have been increasing drastically over the past few years, and recently have exceeded those of desktop searches. So, if mobile SEO wasn’t trending before, it is most certainly now an essential aspect of digital marketing to consider. Not to mention, increasing investment into mobile SEO improves the ranking of your business’ content in general.

Google, which is used by approximately 95 percent of people as their preferred search engine, recently switched to a mobile-first index. This means Google is using a web page’s mobile content to ultimately determine its search engine ranking, and if you aren’t ranking well after mobile SEO, it’s likely you aren’t ranking well in general.

This idea of mobile SEO, too, returns back to our idea of being “seen” in the eyes of potential clients or customers during this time. By fully utilizing your mobile SEO, you are reaching your target audience where they are, which is at home, and on their phones.

However, pandemic or not, people are highly drawn to gathering information from their smartphones for both business and pleasure. This will all be over relatively soon, and people will continue searching for product and services on their smartphones, so the importance of mobile SEO will remain consistent.

In the coming months, we will certainly see companies with strong, digital strategies in place appear from the fog, so to speak, in good shape, and possibly with a few new clients or customers on board. It is companies like these that understand the essential and resilient nature of public relations services, especially during volatile economic moments.

The importance of public relations, in our experience as a public relations and integrated marketing communications agency, has always been an unwavering principle for our firm. ECPR is a team of professional communicators, and it is our wish to assist any brand or business looking to reach their ideal clients and customers, digitally, as we all live and thrive in the new-normal of doing business.

The Global Economy is Starting to Reopen – The Guide Below Will Point You In the Right Direction as You Assess What’s Next in Your Marketing Blueprint

It felt as if there were roughly 108 days in April. During this time, you were likely inundated with messaging from marketers giving you advice on what to do during the Coronavirus Pandemic. Our own blog post written on March 23^rd discussed how to engage your audience during disruptive times. The post contained resources on how to perform a quick check on your brands’ public relations and integrated marketing messaging during the global pandemic. But, what comes next?

As the global economy reopens and consumers start to venture out to shop in retail stores and go back to their favorite dine-in restaurants, what are the best strategies or methods for the Business to business (B2B) professional services business community to move forward and adapt to our new normal?

Business to business buyers are usually informed purchasers and have educated themselves on the specific topic or service they are seeking to source for their companies. They are also usually tech-savvy and have often done their competitive homework. The role of the brand manager of a professional services company is to understand this and be effective in helping support the sales team and leading the overall B2B lead generation strategy. This, in turn, embraces the enterprise-level support of the company’s Profit & Loss statement (P&L).

A cohesiveness of this level is often harder than it sounds to achieve. But, to accomplish a harmonized association between marketing and sales, a brand can succeed by becoming an industry disruptor, especially in a time when industry disruptors have an unusual opportunity to make a difference and lead by example.

Some marketers in the business to business professional services realm will seize this opportunity; others will wait out the current events with the hope they can reboot when “things calm down.” Though, it will be the active makers, the doers, movers and changers, those who take dynamic steps now, who build marketing foundations today for a stronger economy tomorrow.

Now is the time, a time when trust and authenticity are truly meaningful.

“Understanding the intent of what information your potential customer or client seeks is the secret sauce to a long-standing recipe in the family of MarCom strategies.”

Discovery & Assessment – Our firm is one of the few full-service public relations firms in the field that requires and provides a comprehensive discovery and assessment process be performed for any company considering our public relations, advertising, digital marketing, branding or integrated marketing services. It is imperative to start with this type of process to navigate today’s competitive market. It can be as simple as creating an informal SWOT analysis, or it can go as deep as developing a complex matrix to chart out your brand’s unique situation analysis, position and needs.

Our team begins by developing a discovery questionnaire that allows us to become familiar with your company, your objectives for growth, the services you offer, and more. We also start conducting intelligence research by performing a website audit, evaluating your current share of brand voice and media coverage, and uncovering your existing digital presence. We may ask you to grant us permission to evaluate your Google Analytics and / or Google Search Console account properties, so we can better understand your existing referral sources and traffic flow.

We then conduct an in-depth Q&A session to review your existing audiences and customer / client demographics. Our team incorporates the entirety of this information into a proposed plan which can serve as a public relations and integrated marketing roadmap for your brand. This is how the strategies and tactile methods see their start and, thus, can be implemented for almost any business to business company.

Multi-Pronged Approach – B2B organizations must deploy a diverse range of marketing channels to reach prospects and convert them to sales. Some that can go unattended include business and industry trade publications and journals, blogs or podcasts, B2B product forums and review websites as well as industry association newsletters and applicable social media channels. It is important to note that not all social media channels are the best for B2B audiences. LinkedIn is one of the most productive business networking sites. But, research has shown that other social media channels can also be impactful, though this varies by industry.

 The voice and tone for messaging can also vary by platform. The one-size-fits-all approach to modern marketing will not work because purchasers and decision-makers today are informed buyers. Account-based marketing (ABM) can help with this. (ABM) combines technological insights from SaaS (software as a service) type products with intelligence from humans to create a tailored approach to marketing and sales. It is a great way to align your sales and marketing strategies and / or teams and it gives you the ability to communicate properly with high-value accounts. This method can often take longer to develop, but the results and ROI it yields are almost always higher.

Personalizing your public relations and integrated marketing strategies to include ABM is a way to approach your B2B business development process, whereas you can treat each prospect company as an individual market.

Industry Positioning via Thought Leadership – The collective knowledge within your company is often your best asset. Key account sales representatives or professional services marketing managers usually understand the needs of your prospects the most. Harnessing the knowledge of these experts can prove to be a powerful tool. The challenge of corralling knowledge from these company resources is often difficult because they are busy with their corporate roles, away on business travel, or attending industry trade shows. Our firm has developed a proven process to gently but surely extract the needed information from these individuals.

 The strategy we use is to ensure they have the tools necessary to provide information in a way that is most streamlined for them and their schedules. We develop a set of questions and answers for the company expert, analyst or adviser who would prefer to write content for an industry thought leadership piece or informative blog post in the evenings or while in between conference sessions in their hotel rooms. For those who do not wish to write out their expert knowledge, we often interview them as if we were members of the media, recording and transcribing the calls. Then, our team drafts the article or whitepaper into Associated Press (AP) style and prepares it for final fact-checking before we distribute it to the media.

The other ways we develop our clients’ content depends on the marketing channel, but this provides an example of a solid “best practice” each marketer should make an ongoing action item.

Analyzing the Data & Results – Business to business purchases are usually more complex than the average consumer purchase. Using technology together with proper marketing and public relations methods is vital to a successful program.

 Accountants are about the only people I know who enjoy combing through rows and rows of data to find the missing formula. Thankfully, today there are several excellent solutions that can process marketing-related data and the results derived from successful – and even not-so-successful campaigns – to help adjust the strategies and benchmark progress for adapting and making any necessary changes.

HubSpot is one of the top platforms to use to create a successful data-driven inbound marketing and B2B lead generation program for your business or brand. We are a certified HubSpot inbound agency and work to stay updated with our continuing education and certifications. It is our job to keep up with the technological advancements as the industry changes. This allows us to assist our clients with their own data-based marketing to produce higher quantities of inbound leads.

We utilize on-average eight or ten different marketing technology platforms in conjunction with our services. However, platforms are most results-oriented with people behind them. Our team has developed in-house proprietary processes to evaluate the results we achieve for our clients. We recommend HubSpot as an excellent first choice for any company getting started or for a company that would like to increase their B2B outreach efforts. An example of one of the unique features on HubSpot is dynamic or “smart” content that can be utilized in email marketing campaigns. Smart content is content that can be customized to change based on the specific contact or lead. These can be subject lines or offers to name a few.

The real benefit of these helpful marketing platforms is establishing key metrics to track the progress of your marketing goals. Deciding which metrics are most suited for your specific marketing campaigns involves well-defined marketing goals, from reach objectives to quarterly and annual sales targets. As you identify these aspirations, your metrics or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) should be measurable. Sometimes the algorithms can change and thus the analytics can change, so be prepared to adjust as time goes on as flexibility is ever important.

One of the most common concerns we hear from business to business companies is the fear of a missed opportunity or not understanding what the most impactful way is to spend marketing and public relations dollars, all while yielding the highest ROI and generating success. Each B2B brand or company has its own set of unique needs. Following the above four steps is a sound way to go about developing your strategy.

One thing is for certain; humans are resilient, and markets will rebound. This is the perfect time to adapt to a changing marketplace, and the change itself is bound to create new connections and engagements for your company.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you have or if you would like to discuss our process we’ve named “Effectual Strategy at Work”.

We’re currently living in the era of convenience; everything we could ever want, or need is usually accessible through a one-stop-shop experience. Need a loaf of bread and a new pair of shoes? Why go through the inconvenience of finding a bakery and a footwear store, when you can get both in an expedited manner via Amazon?

In business terms, some marketers tend to seek the “quick-fix” solutions to address their brands’ needs. We have all seen them; there are near-countless marketing support offers found online and through consulting specialists who work in one capacity or another, some being legitimate and others gimmicks. However, most savvy marketing pros agree that while the “quick-fix” promotional tactics and one-time consultants satisfy short-term deadlines, they supply less benefit for the all-important long-term sales and marketing.

In this age of efficiency, and era of infinite lists of marketing action items, strategic marketers focus on both micro-marketing daily deadlines as well as macro-marketing extended views that keep brands on target for the long haul. This can require highly skilled and specialized marketers, unified as a talented marketing team; some would say, an army.

With constantly growing marketing “to do” lists needing accomplished each day – not to mention missed opportunities caused by the “just not enough time” challenge – corporate (or in-house) marketing personnel generate this kind of valuable support by retaining “full-service” agencies.

What is a full-service agency?

A full-service agency is an entirely client-centric concept, where an agency offers all forms of marketing, public relations, and advertising services under one roof. Although Eberly & Collard is a public relations agency at its roots, we also offer digital marketing, branding, advertising planning and creative, media relations, and more. As a client of a full-service agency, you can opt for the agency to handle every aspects of your integrated marketing, or just a few. The full-service agency is entirely flexible in catering to a business’ or brand’s marketing needs and can concentrate on both requirements and creative.

This, of course, is in opposition to the specialty agency, which is an agency that only offers a single marketing and / or advertising service. To draw from a previous example in explaining the specialty agency, imagine if Amazon exclusively sold footwear and nothing else.

Having a full-service agency is essential when executing a fully-integrated marketing strategy.

Many businesses now strive to have a fully-integrated marketing strategy, meaning that all facets of their marketing (advertising, digital, public relations, etc.), are nearly seamless. However, creating and cultivating a full-integrated communication strategy using only a single specialty agency, or multiple specialty agencies, can be nearly impossible. The difficulties of integrating multiple strategies, when each service is handled by a different agency, often creates gray areas that postpone any kind of marketing plan. While synergy among various agencies is indeed possible, a streamlined fully-service agency approach produces efficiencies and effectiveness in terms of output and results in addition to costs.

For example, let’s say you’re a business owner, and you have hired one agency to handle your social media, and another to manage advertising (both buying and creative planning). In this scenario, if you ever wanted to creatively concept, plan and purchase a sponsored (paid) Instagram campaign, who would hold the responsibility? After this is determined, it is likely both agencies would work together on this project, which could lead to additional costs for you.

At Eberly & Collard Public Relations, our advertising, social media and digital marketing departments, and others like the public / media relations team, already work with each other on a daily basis and are just down the hall from each other, making communication completely streamlined. And, not to mention, when working with a full-service agency, you can be certain that each department will be on the same page when planning multi-channel campaigns, which ultimately leads to a cohesive and consistent brand-voice across all media platforms being utilized.What if I’m only interested in public relations, or a single marketing service, for my business or brand?

A commonly held misconception surrounding full-service agencies is the higher cost that comes with agencies offering more than one service. However, one of the clear advantages of a full-service agency is its ability to conform to your business’ specific marketing and media needs which saves time, and time is money.

Are you only interested in one of a full-service agency’s services? In our book this is completely fine. By signing a contract for only one of an agency’s services, you are not simultaneously agreeing to pay for all its services; the true flexibility of the full-service agency is that it can essentially offer what a specialty agency can offer, which is expert guidance in only one area of marketing. Though, as your marketing plans evolve and expand, your full-service agency is at hand to provide additional services, teams and strategies; whereas, a specialty agency can only deliver on the one area of marketing upon which it focuses.

Although public relations has traditionally been the cornerstone of our agency, at Eberly & Collard Public Relations, we are full-service and integrated marketing agency, and are confident in our abilities to service any client-need using any form of marketing. If you would like to learn more about the outcomes a full-service agency can yield for your business or brand, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below, or contact us via the Contact page of our blog and website.

 

 

As marketers, we are working with more and more data each day. I would never have guessed seventeen years ago when we started our firm that data and the science and analysis of data would be such a large part of marketing. I find, as a lover of all things technology and as a science major that I really do love the aspects of data and being able to dig into the granular world of marketing analytics. A market analysis studies the attractiveness and the dynamics of a specified marketing area or discipline. This combined with the initial findings uncovered from a brands S.W.O.T (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) can yield the effectiveness of your marketing or public relations efforts.

Yes, there are many, many ways to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns and this is a topic that would take several in-depth blog posts to fully cover but I recently read an article in Inc. magazine and it reminded me that many businesses may not have time to read through an in-depth article and could benefit from having a few quick tips to use as a general guideline. So here are four easy and quick ways to do it your self. If you find yourself searching for more and would like a deeper investigation into what is needed to take your brand awareness to the next level, please give us a call or contact us to get started.

Bounce Rate – the definition of bounce rate at defined by Google is “the percentage of visitors who enter the site and then leave rather than continuing to view other pages within the same site”. If your bounce rate is under 40% then you are in good shape.  If not, then this is an indicator that once they get to your website they thought it was going to be something different or the content and user website experience (UX) needs to be improved. This cold be improved with different forms of messaging, updated site copy or even a website navigation update. Again, these are just quick simple ideas for improvement and may not always be applicable or could be entirely different based on your own brands’s marketing needs.

Organic Traffic from Search – Well, like I said, I could say enough about this specific topic alone long enough that your coffee would get cold. In short, the ultimate goal here is to develop engaging content for your targeted audience. When they are searching for topics and keyword phrases that match your brands product or service offerings you want them to find your website.  You’ll also want to see a steady increase over time when viewing this metric in your analytics dashboard.

Click Through Rate – I bet you have heard of the term “sales funnel” or “customer journey”. These terms were originally derived to explain the process a lead goes through when interacting with a brand from initial inception to actual purchase. It visually can be thought of as a funnel. We often use the term “from consideration to conversion” to describe the process. The strategy is to guide them toward that conversion. Today’s consumer wants help and guidance through this process and will go elsewhere if we do not support them in this capacity. You can set up segments in your analytics program to monitor the flow-through behavior throughout the stage.

E-Commerce Conversions – Today, you can employ marketing automation software to use cookies and track the “journey” your site visitor takes. Where do they go after they leave your site, what are their purchasing habits. Mapping this unique path across every touchpoint can hep you better understand the unique needs of your customers as well as use built-in triggers or automation to direct them along the patch and to take desired actions. Just because a blog reader or site visitor did not purchase something today does not mean that they should or did not have a good brand experience. They may return again at a later date and purchase based on the experience they had today.

I hope these quick tips were useful for you and a means to at least get you started asking yourself the right questions. You should always be thinking of ways to benchmark your success and be flexible enough to challenge the way you are currently marketing. Our firm enjoys the challenge of creating new opportunities and successes for our clients’. Call us to learn more about our process and how we get started working with new clients.