The press release continues to be a tried-and-true method of communicating to the media. In fact, more than 70% of journalists want to receive content from brands in the form of press releases and news announcements, according to Cision’s 2019 State of the Media Report. However, the press release is just a starting point for earned media success.

You may be wondering, “What is earned media?”

Earned media refers to the unpaid, organic publicity generated through word-of-mouth, press coverage, social media mentions, interviews, product reviews, and other various methods. One of the most effective ways to earn media coverage for your brand or business is to pitch a press release or story idea to the media. But, what many people fail to realize is that a well-crafted content or story pitch is just as, if not more, important as a well-written press release.

Most journalists receive hundreds of pitches and press releases each day, many of which will likely be ignored or cast away. So, how can you hook the media’s attention and stand out in the sea of pitches?

Here are five tips to cut through the clutter and increase your media pitching success.

1. Keep it clear, concise and compelling.

Journalists are inundated with large volumes of information daily, including more email pitches than they have time to read. Given the competition for attention in a journalist’s inbox, your pitch needs to be as clear, concise and compelling as possible. Two important factors that determine whether a journalist will read and respond to your pitch are: (1.) your subject line and (2.) the length of your email.

Create a strong subject line to compel a journalist or editor to open your email, and summarize the most important and interesting information in the first sentence of your pitch. If your lead-in piques their interest, they will likely read the remainder of your pitch. That is, as long as it is straightforward and succinct.

Your goal should be to provide the most information in the least amount of words. A general rule of thumb is to keep your email pitch under 200 words. A common pet peeve among journalists is a pitch that consists primarily of buzzwords, so make sure it is plainly written and free of jargon or fluff. If your pitch is too long and complex, journalists will quickly give up and move on to the next.

2. Make it visual.

Offering more than just a press release in your pitch can result in more earned media coverage. A great way to catch the eye of a journalist and illustrate the news you are pitching is to incorporate high-quality visuals, such as photos, videos, infographics, diagrams, etc.

These types of visuals can enhance your story by providing more information and context without overloading your pitch with text. If you can provide journalists with accompanying assets, they will view their job as halfway done and be that much more motivated to cover your story.

Go that additional step for your outgoing pitch by researching and gathering data to back or substantiate your story idea, news information or the quotable thought-leader you are pitching. Combine the data in the form of statistics, and showcase the numbers in a colorful pie chart, bar chart or possibly through a line graph, pictograph or histogram. Visual interpretations make otherwise dry data more appealing for the editors to whom you are sending the pitch concept.

3. Personalize your pitch.

According to Muck Rack’s Annual Journalist Survey, a lack of personalization is the No. 1 reason journalists reject pitches. Many factors play into why this is commonly the case. One factor being that journalists too often receive copied-and-pasted email pitches that have no relevancy to their beat or reader interest. So, the obvious question is, how to ensure your pitches are perfectly personalized and avoid rejection?

It is critical to research and study the sections of the publication or media outlet prior to sending your pitch email. Journalists will appreciate those who take the time to learn and gain a solid understanding of the beats they cover, their writing style, in what they have interest, and the types of sources they tend to seek. Once you have done your homework, you will then be able to tailor your messaging to each publication and journalist.

Every pitch should be uniquely written and individually sent to each journalist you are pitching, rather than sending a mass email to multiple recipients. While it may take some extra time to personalize your pitch to each specific journalist, the results will be worthwhile.

4. Engage on social media.

Relationships are key when it comes to pitching the media. It is best to make an introduction and foster a relationship before asking a journalist to publish your press release or story. Social media offers a fantastic opportunity to connect and build relationships with journalists prior to pitching.

When you see a journalist who is on your target list has written a new article and posted it on social media, show you follow and support their work by liking, commenting on and sharing it on your own social media channels. The more often (yet appropriately) you do so, the more likely they will take notice of your engagement. Then, when it comes time to pitch the journalist, there is a good chance they will recognize your name when it pops up in their inbox. Ideally, and in turn, they will read your email and consider sharing your content with their readers and followers. If the journalist or editor chooses to publish your news, make sure to show your appreciation by thanking them through social media direct messages, email or a handwritten card in the mail.

5. Think outside the box.

Last, how can you go above and beyond the press release to garner the media’s interest? Attempt to come up with creative, unique ways to help journalists visualize, engage and connect with the news or expert analyst you are pitching.

For instance, if you are announcing the launch of a new product, consider sending samples to the media so they can experience the product first-hand. Though, seek permission first to avoid a possible return or dead-end shipment. Another idea, offer an exclusive interview with a company thought-leader who can share insight regarding industry trends, topics or statistics. If you are announcing an event, you could invite a group of journalists to participate in a press tour or attend a media event or press conference that is part of the schedule.

In addition, if you are pitching a professional services firm, a creative idea would be to offer a case study to an editor or journalist about how a specific professional service generated market change or sector results for a business or its customers.

Whether it is a product sample or a unique perspective, offering something out of the ordinary will benefit the journalists whom you are pitching and encourage them to cover your story.

The truth is that pitching is a process. It takes time and tenacity to achieve earned media coverage. Working with a public relations agency can help make the pitching process not only easier, but also more successful.

At Eberly & Collard Public Relations, we specialize in media relations. Our team of experts helps brands and businesses craft compelling media pitches that result in earned media success. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about our strategic and results-oriented media relations services.

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.

At times, the most viable means to reach target audiences is a combination of paid promotion or advertising, strategic publicity and digital marketing, punctuated with engaging copywriting and graphic design. Though, most marketing managers and C-suite leaders agree promoting products, professional services or brands to mass groups of consumers – or to trade professional targets – through paid advertising and content marketing, can seem overwhelming.

We have heard more times than we can count that some marketing communication managers have a love-hate relationship with the advertising and media buying parts of their day-to-day scopes of responsibility. This is hopefully not due to disregard or disdain for the process. Rather, it is likely because of advertising’s various layers of forecasting and numerous rounds of creative and approvals, along with the sometimes-unpredictable pitfalls.

If you are like most marketers, you try to plan your advertising campaigns as succinctly as possible. When executed comprehensively, the process takes time and is many-sided. Only those who have managed media buying and planning inherently know that it is no small feat.

For some, advertising strategies involve tiers of planning that can run a wide gamut, which most often begins with strategic planning, messaging objectives and vetting opportunities. Whether in organized tandem or a get-it-done hustle, this leads to cost negotiations, budgeting overviews, and careful media buying with timely scheduling. Creative, copy and coordination come next, followed by tracking, reporting and the all-important results analytics.

For companies with both business-to-consumer and business-to-business marketing communications needs, the charge to create results-earning advertising campaigns, nearly always with a lesser-than-desired budget, can feel like crossing a chasm. However, advertising planning and media buying can be completely enjoyable and worth the effort when approached with a competitive and industrious mindset.

Understanding media planning and buying.

 Media planning and buying involves the art and science of researching, negotiating and scheduling advertising placements. The cause or trigger is known as paid media; the effect is, or always should be, brand awareness that translates to brand equity. Masterful and adept media planning satisfies goals to influence clearly identified audiences, targets, leads, and prospects. Ultimately, advertising-induced visibility for available products or offered professional services acts as a cornerstone of the marketing mix to achieve sales conversions.

Converting leads to sales is, at times, disproportionately thought to be the marketer’s role. Yet, while sales and marketing personnel should be dually tag-teamed for real-time sales growth; undoubtedly, a marketer who oversees media buying and planning has the capacity to conjure customer or client expansion, perhaps, like no one else in an organization.

Assuming you have a solid understanding of the types of advertising options that are possible and necessary for your business – and your messaging strategies and creative concepts are well underway – a key, initial planning factor is budget.

Achieving successful ad campaigns begins and ends with the budget your business or brand can assess and allocate. While cost-effective advertising is extremely possible to conceptualize and implement, a good grasp of what to expect with your marketplace’s ad options is essential. A realistic advertising budget is paramount to carve out a sound messaging and promotional victory.

Again, with the assumption your strategic plan for advertising is in place, move toward a systematic approach of evaluation to find and consider cost-effective media buying. To assemble a collection of cost-effective media buys that also offer potent reach and influence among your targets, you will want to research qualified media outlets and digital platforms.

This does not mean buying an ad in a print magazine or newspaper because you saw that one of your competitors advertises in it. Nor, should you jump on the first or second advertising opportunity that lands in your inbox, even if the offer says you will be missing out if you wait.

Efficacious, profitable advertising is an outcome of a nuts-and-bolts valuation, surrounding qualified and quantified audience reach at the most reasonable cost to do so. There are any number of strategies to accomplish this seemingly far-flung objective.

 Starting with a defined advertising budget begets cost-saving measures as you proceed. It is recommended to reach an upfront decision how aggressive your ad plan should be as a piece of your overall marketing communications campaigns.

 How to create an advertising budget.

The number one question we are asked about media buying and advertising budgets is, “How much should I spend on advertising for my business?” If nothing else, it is a loaded question. The answer lies in the business’s desire and need to market its products or services, and exactly what are the coming year’s revenue and profit goals.

A conservative ad budget includes a media buying budget of between 1-3 percent of your prior year’s, or forecasted year’s, revenue. By no means is this an ambitious budget, and it may verge on ambiguous. Though, at this budget level, you may keep your head at or just above water’s level in terms of customer retention.

Your company advertising budgets will be fundamental at this level, but you can unify them with synchronized public relations, consistent content marketing and basic Search Engine Optimization to have a perceptible brand voice amid the competition.

Take it up a couple of savvy-marketer notches and consider an ad budget based upon 4-5 percent of last year’s earned revenue, or next year’s anticipated revenue. If you are a seasoned media planner and buyer or your agency specializes in advertising, your percentage allocation should create advertising campaigns that will result in a fair level of customer retention and picking up new customers or clients.

At this tier, we have witnessed MarComm managers get a little too comfortable. Some perilously assume the 4-6 percent ad budget standard has them covered. To avoid this pitfall, ensure your advertising campaigns are one of several messaging formats. Support your paid media with press releases, blogs, social media, digital marketing, product demos, collateral, speaking and virtual events, networking, and the list goes on.

When working to build market share and brand voice, dig deeper into more vigorous forecasting. Budgeting for paid media at 7-10 percent has the likely power to launch your business to the next rung, possibly two or three, of your market’s or sector’s competitive ladder. This budget should focus upon prudently conceptualized and meticulously managed campaigns.

To safeguard your ad budget’s precious allocation and its subsequent triumph, media buying in this scenario must be complemented with visionary publicity and media relations programs, leading-edge digital marketing and advanced public relations. One without the other can leave too many metaphorical stones unturned in your tactical plan of action for the year.

Before crunching the numbers, there is more to consider when allocating a media buying budget. New thinking in marketing communications during the last few years proposes an even more proactive maneuver. The theory being put to work among select companies is the idea that media buying budgets should be based upon an equation of forecasted revenue and estimated profit, not anticipated revenue alone.

With a profit goal set forth for the following fiscal year, a dynamic option is to set an advertising budget by calculating a percentage of the predicted revenue and profit. This comprises many marketers’ formulas, which vary or fluctuate among industries, sectors and decision-makers.

One method we have found to be effective for determining a year’s media buying budget is 6-10 percent of the new fiscal year’s predicted revenue, plus 1-3 percent of the forecasted profit. It is worth noting that no one recipe works for every business and brand.

Understanding Cost-per-Thousand and Pay-per-Click.

Drilling deeper, no consideration of advertising budget details would be complete without at least a look at the Cost-per-Thousand model, and how to calculate your impressions at a cost per thousand ratio.

Cost-per-thousand (CPM) is calculated by starting with the total cost of advertising. This number could be the baseline for each of your individual media buys or the total advertising expenditure for a campaign, season or year. The “M,” by the way, does not mean 1 million, despite common thought. It represents the Roman numeral for 1,000.

Thus, CPM means cost per thousand. The price paid for a CPM-based media buy is calculated by multiplying the CPM rate by the number of CPM units. If you are considering an ad buy with, say, 1,300,000 impressions, and the cost is $18,000, the CPM is $13.85.

This is not to be confused with digital marketing’s common cost for performance or action, which equates to a total budget expenditure based upon how well your ads perform in terms of action taken by viewers. Actions such as click-throughs or Pay-per-Click (PPC) drive traffic to websites, where the advertiser pays a search engine or content publisher for each time the ad is clicked and the prospect lands on the advertiser’s website.

Both CPM and PPC help advertisers determine the cost and profitability of their ad campaigns. With CPM, you will pay for every 1,000 impressions (or, as we like to call them, “eyeballs” or views), and your PPC cost is your fee per click or per impression.

Mindful, strategic and creative planning of your entire annual advertising program as well as the quality and quantity of each campaign’s placements, will have a direct result on the effectiveness of your CPM and CPC.

Go it Alone or Go with an Agency.

From where, when and how to advertise to the right blend of multiparty outreach campaigns, all advertising teams should focus upon cost-efficiency, creativity and a streamlined process. Evaluate your internal team’s ability and available time for building and supervising your media buying strategies, budgeting and creative. Consider how their collective experience and strengths are weighted compared to potential inexperience or simply a lack of time.

When and where it makes sense, interview agencies to assess the ways in which their advertising and media buying expertise can balance your in-house capabilities. One of the reasons to work with a firm or agency is the cost-savings. Talented advertising agencies can acquire discounted or value-added bonus ad buys for some or most ad campaigns. A truly prepared agency should be able to increase your Pay-per-Click advertising results on average by 50 or more percent.

The advertising campaigns our Eberly & Collard Public Relations media buying and planning team manages for clients are available at widely discounted rates, given our overall ad-buying power and media relationships. Unlike many firms and agencies, we commonly pass along our entire agency discount to clients, in addition to appendage ad-buy savings and value-added bonus advertising print space, digital or airtime we secure for them.

Simplifying otherwise intrinsic advertising plans for clients to minimize their time and maximize their budgets is our advertising team’s forte. We design digital, print, outdoor, indoor, and collateral-based advertisements that inform and influence targets as well as negotiate, coordinate and schedule advertising placements to free our clients of the hassle. We have earned annual advertising awards for our ad concepts, graphic art and layout designs for their innovation, design, written copy, and creativity.

Whether you go it alone or consider the support of an agency for your new fiscal year ahead, we hope this information will lend a hand. Be inspired to generate fresh ad campaigns integrated with your public relations and converged media, ultimately engaging and converting leads to new sales.

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.

 

In today’s digital world, social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools for businesses to promote their products and services. There are 3.8 billion active social media users worldwide, according to We Are Social and Hootsuite’s Digital 2020 report. With more people using social media than ever before, and the number of users continuing to increase year after year, a social media marketing plan is essential for businesses looking to stay relevant, grow online presences, connect with their target audiences, and stand out from the competition.

Here are four key steps to developing an effective social media marketing plan for your business.

Step 1: Define your goals.

The first step to any social media marketing plan is to clearly define what you want to achieve through your social media marketing efforts. When setting social media goals, it is important to align them with your overall public relations and marketing plan.

Helpful tip: Follow the S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting framework to ensure each goal you establish is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.For inspiration, here are some examples of what your goals could be:

– Build brand awareness and loyalty.

A social media plan can help your brand become more known and reach potential customers or clients. If your goal is for your audience to gain familiarity and loyalty with your brand, make sure to post content regularly and engage with your audience frequently.

– Increase engagement with current and potential customers/clients.

To gain traction and interaction on your social media channels, you must also be willing to engage with your audience. Liking, commenting, sharing, and responding are all great ways to show your audience you are interested and listening to what they have to say. The more you engage with your audience in authentic and beneficial ways, the more attention and engagement they will give back to you.

– Drive website traffic.

Sharing content from your website and blog on social media offers your audience a chance to learn more about your business, products or services. Always incorporate a link to the respective webpage or blog post to ensure your audience is being led back to your website. Hyperlink them with vanity words that clearly specify the intended web page content. Consider also using UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) codes for these links, so you will be able to see which links produce the best click-through rates to other pages on your website.

– Generate leads and sales.

If you are looking to acquire more leads and increase sales, you can leverage social media to turn your audience into paying customers. A well-constructed social media plan will allow you to interact with new, potential customers and provide an answer or solution to their questions or needs. Once they come to see your business and your social channels as valuable resources, you will have generated a probable lead.

Step 2: Research your target audience.

After you have set specific goals for your plan, you should research your target audience to determine their interests and needs, and discover how to engage with them.

What are the demographics for your target audience? What topics are they interested in? Which social media channels do they actively use? What types of content do they interact with?

While you may already know your target audience, how do you make sure you are keeping your content relevant? Evaluate the topics you have covered to determine which are resonating with your audience most. Then, increase the frequency and conceptualize new, creative ways to continue covering those topics. Another idea to consider is sending a survey to your target audience, asking what types of content they have enjoyed the most or feedback about what they would like to see more of.

Answering these questions will help you better understand your target audience, and give you the insight you need to tailor your content to their interests and needs. Engaging content that resonates with your audience will draw them closer to your brand and the products or services you offer. Use your social content to inspire them to act by emailing or otherwise contacting you.

Step 3: Build your brand voice.

Some brands are known for being humorous and witty on social media, whereas others are commended for being friendly and helpful. The common denominator of their success is that they use a distinctive brand voice to communicate consistently across social media channels.

Establishing a unique brand voice is a key component of your social media marketing plan. Start by thinking about how you want to reflect your brand values when delivering messages to your social media audience. Then, identify two or three words that describe your brand, and keep them in mind to ensure your social media content remains on-brand.

Whether it is a post, comment, direct message, or other form of content, use your descriptors as the basis of everything you publish. Doing so will help cultivate the connection between your brand and audience, grow a loyal following, and stand out among your competitors.

HubSpot is a great example of how a B2B brand can combine professionalism with personality through a distinct brand voice on social media. The company’s brand voice is clear, genuine and witty, which offers its audience educational, relatable and entertaining content. Study their and others’ social media channels to gain perspective. Don’t forget to view your competitors’ social media and gauge their pros and cons, as this will offer insight about your own strategy.

Maintaining a consistent and memorable voice will help you tell your brand’s story as well as connect and engage with your audience.

Step 4: Track your progress and adjust your plan as needed.

Once your social media marketing plan has been implemented, you should track the progress and measure the performance of your social content based upon your goals. Doing so will help determine if your plan is on track to be successful, or if it needs to be improved or adjusted.

The key metrics you should plan to measure include follower growth, impressions, engagement rate, clicks, shares, mentions, sentiment, and conversion rates, among others. Each social media platform offers its own, built-in analytics. But, there are also a variety of additional social media analytics tools available online, such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social and Google Analytics, among others, that offer deeper insight into how your content is performing. Your public relations or marketing firm should also be providing you with this data and working with you to mold and manage your creative plan.

A successful social media marketing plan takes time to develop and refine, but it is an essential element necessary for your business to thrive in the digital world. If you are not yet utilizing social media to benefit your business, you should consider following the four steps above or contacting a marketing and public relations agency to assist you in creating a customized plan. Contact us to learn more about how we help our clients with social media strategy, content creation and audience engagement.

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.

Pursuing name or brand recognition and seeking impactful connections with others has always been the vanguard of business leaders and marketers. The endeavor began in fledgling form and has evolved into today’s essential protocol of multifaceted marketing to engage quality leads that can be converted to sales, known as Demand Generation.

Nearly a century in the making, the early mantra, “Win Friends and Influence People” verged on an initial reputation of being almost too avantgarde. But, when the mindset swiftly took hold, it became a roadmap for the ambitious that led to global acquaintance with relationship-building and, eventually, branding.

This preliminary networking mentality was an awakening that morphed into yesteryear’s traditional public relations, involving business leaders’ strategic efforts to create mutually beneficial associations, productive forms of public influence and dynamic methods for communications management.

As many business to business marketers know, present-day marketing is breaking the mold with modernized, innovative and strategic approaches for merging marketing activities and sales goals. These demand generation tactics involve meticulously tracing the customer journey from peaked interest in a service or product to initial engagement with a brand, and onto pipeline, affinity and, ultimately, conversion.

Supply and Demand or Demand and Supply?

For those who begin and end their days with the responsibility of Marketing Communications or the charge to oversee the ways in which Public Relations begets leads and prospects, never have there been quite so many challenges as the current time. The day-to-day expectations are steep. Top of mind and listed on nearly every agenda are Search Engine Results, click-through rates, brand persona, and earned-owned-paid media, all while collecting, measuring and reporting data-driven analytics that make a real difference in the bottom line.

Admittedly, many marketers agree it can be easy to get caught up in the mounting marketing tasks waiting for their boxes to be checked before looming deadlines. Also, up front and center, current events are unearthing our well-made business plans for the new year and a new decade.

Notwithstanding, this can be a time of active evolution and positive progression for brands and businesses. For the go-getter and ever-determined marketers, challenges bring about change, and change engenders solutions.

A proactive shift in thinking and a close look at the overarching objective for most any business to business marketing strategy reveals the core of marketing: Creating interest in and generating demand for products and/or services.

There is undeniably much involved in the sales and marketing process; however, whether products or services, producing demand for available supply is where it all begins.

Demand Generation: Defined.

What is Demand Generation?

The first tangible result of successful marketing is gleaning the interest and attention of qualified leads. Think about the utter power of quality leads versus the volume of leads. Start with this as your initial target mindset, conceptualizing it as the warm-up sprint. View it as the starting line to build long-term business to business relationships.

Having vetted the inherent meaning of “Demand Generation,” Eberly & Collard Public Relations defines it as the inventive and strategic practice of creating interest in and demand for a business’ products and/or services.

Managing business to business Demand Generation involves Lead Generation tactics that engage or enlighten company leaders, decision-makers, buyers, or vendor procurement managers with supportive and nurturing content. This is an element of Lead Generation vs. Demand Generation. The concept is to garner the attention of targeted sales prospects by offering information and edification to solve problems or issues they are facing.

This is with the all-important assumption the prospect or lead and the marketer are both fully cognizant of the problem, and the marketer’s solution will provide unique insight, ideas and support in the form of usable assets.

Everyone with business to business sales goals to meet has interest in simplifying their internal processes, uncovering tricks-of-the-trade, streamlining or minimizing action items that stand in the way of progress, and sourcing content that informs and improves results. Demand Generation strategies allow you to be their new go-to source of valuable, need-to-know information.

Our own offered helpmate, take a look at these brainstormed ways to kick-off Demand Generation marketing for your products and/or services.

1.) Define and Resonate.

While product manufacturers or professional service providers often think they have a clear understanding of their clients, it is worth remembering target audiences and market segments constantly change. Annual or quarterly customer and lead category assessments, combined with competitive intelligence studies, maintain valuable intel that can be put to work in making more productive connections.

Product marketing and professional services public relations are based upon a close union between brands and their customers and clients. Knowing in-depth information about them is essential.

Defining the personas of existing and potential clients, along with the context in which they work, is critical in understanding their needs. Staying in tune with the challenges and issues they experience yields a host of ways to help them, while introducing your brand. This should already be a component to your business to business public relations strategies.

Create a scheduled content strategy to distribute information, white papers, templates, infographics, industry trends, sector-focused data charts and graphs, royalty free photos, unique ideas, newsletters, blogs, and other solutions that will engage and draw them to your business.

Self-publish, post, send, and give away these in-demand resources, and suddenly your business and brand will become a paramount resource for leads and prospects.

2.) Appeal and Delight.

If your business to business marketing strategy does not include Demand Generation, chances are the foundation of your inbound marketing is cracked. Because Demand Generation produces awareness and interest in a business’ existence, thought-leadership and expertise, the core of Demand Generation is the precursor to inbound leads.

Everyone prefers to procure professional services or purchase products from businesses and people they like and trust. When there are multiple competitive options from which to choose, buyers are going to sign contracts or place orders with those whom they believe are most appealing. If a marketable service or product holds comparative value, or even sometimes is a close runner-up, decision-makers will be led to give their business to the provider that satisfies or gratifies them the most.

Since your frequent customer and lead category assessments will reveal your audience’s needs, create tools and materials of value that provide equipage or data to address their challenges. Make a practice of this in lieu of sending continuous, overly promotional offers to your targets. Appealing resources lead to higher open-email rates than repetitive promo offers, every time.

Think of this as the phrase to cultivate and nurture new contacts or those long-time qualified leads who are just not yet ready to become a client. Give them reasons to keep your social media channels and blog in their feeds. Entertain and, yes, entice them by surprising them with the unexpected article or research study you think they may find interesting.

Use the plug-ins and prompting tools in your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to follow-up. Go for the long throw, and maximize the enterprise applications focused on customer and lead management, analytics applications and marketing automation.

3.) Pain Points and Healing.  

What does a Demand Generation manager do? He or she provides an advanced and gratis healing effect to subdue the common “pains” of potential customers or clients.

Among oversight of marketing strategy, Demand Generation leaders use their skillsets to harvest and develop short-term interactions with contacts and prospects, with the goal of converting them to leads and new customers or clients. They do so by offering attention-grabbing, curative assets and informational collateral.

They do not, however, assume their target audiences are itching to buy their products and/or services. Rather, Demand Generation managers build website traffic and incoming volume of inquiries, which are established by sparking the attention and earning the trust of targeted business to business contacts.

The concept resides in the model that indirect outreach often speaks louder than the direct, at least at the onset. When it comes to being successful in B2B marketing, communicating solutions rather than product lists or service descriptions has an astounding power to build brand reputation and win new business.

Assuming your CRM program is used to add, track, monitor, and foster your prospects, the next step is to point out that you understand the pain points that keep them up at night. When you communicate your understanding of the business struggles with which they deal on a day-to-day basis, a personalized link is established.

Couple this with the courtesy of pertinent case studies, provisional theories and your mindful interpretation of the situation with high-level acuity. Act with the “4-S” principle: Support them by supplying a sampling of your serviceability; then, rinse and repeat. In many cases, they will be all ears.

4.) Reach and Rescue.   

An unequivocal way to make your Demand Generation strategy produce results is reaching targets with screen time. Find them where they dwell. Now, more than ever, the majority of business professionals seek resources, data and suppliers of products and services online.

Work with your in-house team and demand generation agency to produce informative videos that highlight trends or subject-matter from your internal thought-leaders. Convey categorically distinctive insights and relevant commentary from an analyst perspective.

Take this a step deeper to plan and host a webinar series. Envision the goal of connectivity; when it makes sense, think beyond the masses. It is wise to invite segmented contacts specific to intentional webinar topics that echo your ingenuity, and reinforce the originality of your products and/or service. Safeguard each presentation’s theme holds unparalleled value to the audience. Videos and webinars should clearly offer relatable knowledge, viewpoints and anecdotes backed by data and research findings.

Record the webinars and supplement them with audio podcasts or video podcasts, making them available online. Distribute them via email campaigns with graphically designed landing pages, inviting recipients to download them. During and following campaign deployment, maintain an easy-to-find “Ask us questions” or “Connect with us now” online chat option. Utilize social media channels and blog posts rife with link-backs to germane pages of your website.

Enlist your sales, marketing and leadership teams as well as your public relations firm to collaborate in developing real-time video, webinar and podcast strategies, as the amalgamation of concepts and angles will prove far more effective than going it alone.

Screen time is key, but combining all forms of digital marketing with creative advertising and innovative publicity is the means to a rock-hard, integrated approach.

Manufacturing these beneficial resources opens the door to reaching potentially qualified leads, and delivering them as accessible commodities offers a form of rescue for those in need of such content.

Leads and Order.

There are numerous ways to increase business to business leads. Known lead generation strategies range from optimizing content that informs and engages possible prospects, to investing in automation technology and enacting outbound and inbound marketing. All deserve careful consideration and credence as part of the process, as long as they are accomplished in order of viability.

Start with solid footing. These four proven strategies to increase sales are the underpinning and groundwork for evoking Demand Generation.

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”.

Current events today are unprecedented. The coronavirus has caused chaos for many lives and businesses in ways that are nothing short of disruptive- for many, alarming or possibly even frightening.

If you are like us, you want to stay abreast of the latest and evolving news about COVID-19. Yet, the constant barrage of coronavirus information and updates is generating a level of stress some have never experienced.

Given your first priority is safeguarding your loved ones and home, and that you have created a safe and healthy environment for yourself and those in your care, perhaps your thoughts or worries are also wandering to business. If so, you are not alone. For businesses across most industries, pressing concerns include possible effects COVID-19 could have on first and second quarters’ revenue and profitability.

While the situation is undoubtedly serious, and it requires our full-and-upright attention, we would suggest that communication focus and ingenuity are two essential elements for keeping your business relevant in these distracting times.

Whether you are a business owner, member of an executive or leadership team or a communications professional, being proactive and strategic is imperative for unifying your messaging. In times of crises, internal and external communications for your business or brand need to convey clear and consistent information.

From a marketing communications perspective, being proactive is essential to cut through the noise and maintain open lines of communication to and with your target audiences.

Digital Dividends

For those of you who are facing canceled business events at venues, trade shows, design centers, or other onsite encounters, consider contrasting your marketing engagement strategies. Start by tackling the chasm in physical networking by implementing new digital marketing tactics. Whether you have an active digital marketing program or not, these times call for a vastly more robust approach to digital and viral connections.

Digital marketing has given rise to the restructured marketing of brands, products and services by implemented digital methods. Fueled through mobile phones, devices and desktops, a surge in screen-to-screen messaging, for now, can replace face-to-face networking. Best of all, when things calm – and they will – one result can be a stronger union of digital and in-person marketing for you or your sales and marketing teams.

For the foreseeable future, online display advertising, paid and unpaid social media, video series, Google Ad Campaigns, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, and, yes, sometimes Facebook Ads Manager can act as a foundation for business-to-business, business-to-consumer and business-to-community outreach.

If you’ve implemented these tools in the past, now is the time to revisit how, where and when to supplement your marketing plan with them. Increase their presence and frequency in your day-to-day promotions, or start by adding them to the marketing mix.

Then, there are automated marketing programs, inbound leads generators and thought-leadership webinars, along with other best-in-practice digital mediums. Productive marketing plans involve initiating these tactile virtual events and activities for branding, regardless of canceled onsite events and meetings. Stretch your marketing muscles with a host of highly creative digital connections, and harness the power of reaching more qualified and quantified targets. Not only will this advance your brands share of voice, you’ll gain new prospects for sales by reaching them for the first time or exponential ways.

The current necessity for increasing engagement with target audiences is also rife for developing a strategy with the newly popular social video marketing, which is a digital content and distribution method driven with the support of influencers. Influencer marketing offers one type of beneficial “halo effect,” which involves a positive perception of a product, service or brand by having relatable, similar experiences, or given the optimistic view or opinion of another. Influencer marketing serves real results for brands and businesses when deployed, monitored and managed across pertinent digital platforms and online channels.

Start by identifying top influencers in your area of marketing and business. Assess their online and digital presences, gauging which could act as trusted authorities or ambassadors of your brand. When you create your influencer program, the single-most critical factor is to stay focused on exactly how your carefully selected influencers will endorse the professional services you provide to your clients, or the products you sell to your customers. These digital communications can be utilized for blogs, social media, e-newsletters, infographics, images, photos, online testimonials, online reviews, and the list goes on.

Digital Dialogs

Having suddenly entered this era of critical mass-messaging to your important audiences, we recommend the best means of developing corporate or brand messages is to concentrate on being authentic, empathetic, professional, and clear. This is the time to follow your company’s brand and messaging standards like never before.

If you do not have brand or messaging standards, read the rest of this article and then schedule a meeting with your marketing and executive teams, or with your public relations agency. Conceptualize, draft, review, and refine a set of guidelines, copy and content for your business’ communications, spanning diverse segments within your internal and external contact databases.  

Choose prudently the ways in which to communicate online by generating an advanced schedule of timely and valuable insights your business has to offer. Information-packed e-newsletters, online educational sessions, virtual product displays, satisfied-client case study videos, and Facebook Live are only the cusp of many available digital platforms you can put to use to accomplish digital connectivity.

Your personnel can post and share the information with your customer groups, sales prospects, vendors, media members, and others. The result will yield digital engagement that replaces the in-person interactions that have been lost by canceled conferences, trade shows and networking events.

Digital Decisions: Where To Go From Here?

Digital marketing can be a persuasive instrument to expertly reach wide-ranging contacts from the comfort and safety of your desk or home office. Properly managed, it can be a marketing teams’ roadmap to incorporating digital platforms, strategies and messaging power that will maximize promotions and publicity.

But, many marketers have only yet to implement one or two facets of digital marketing, whereas the reality involves vast prospects to maximize the concept. If well planned and judiciously activated, your digital marketing communications will help you reach and win new customers or clients, as well as sell consumer products and professional services.

With the pressing current events of today, all of us are distracted and concerned. Though, most, if not all of us, are online throughout the day (and night). Connectivity and the chance to interact are just a click away.

We are rooting for you as you invoke focus and ingenuity for building and maintaining new or boosted digital connectivity with your target audiences today and in the weeks to follow. If you need professional consultation and public relations support, we are here for you. Connect with us about your digital marketing, crisis communications, publicity, or just to digitally say hello.

Be well,

The team at Eberly & Collard Public Relations