If you’re in B2B public relations, you should try to execute best practices as much as possible, giving their clients what they want. Here are some of the best practices for B2B public relations practitioners.
Segment Granularly
Granular profiling is crucial for B2B PR professionals. You should drill down customer profiles on multiple levels, including:
- Basic demographics such as age, education, location, and salary
- Psychographics including values and interests
- Rational behavior (practical aspects that could influence public opinion)
- Emotional behavior (visceral aspects that could influence public opinion)
Specifically, this should be vetted for primary, secondary, and tertiary markets, including partners, customers, and suppliers. It should also be agile enough to react to a changing customer profile.
An important aspect of the development and re-evaluation of these segments and profiles is solid research, which includes listening to people and platforms to learn more about how people perceive your services or products.
Measurement
PR practitioners often use metrics that are weak, fast, and simple, and, worst of all,largely irrelevant. Even if people place a high emphasis on big data, its generally low-quality interpretation makes it useless.
For instance, Google’s “Flu Trend” program incorrectly predicted a certain number of flu cases for a year; in fact, it predicted twice as many as what actually occurred.
While Google may simply find this error embarrassing, it’s potentially disastrous for a PR practitioner, having a large negative impact on a budget or campaign.
To make measurement of data accurate and efficient, you should consider dividing it up into three segments, including: outputs for reach and content; outcomes for knowledge, opinion, and attitude; and business results for added value.
Content
Consider the fact that 60 percent of B2B executives make a buying decision prior to speaking to anyone. This makes it unclear about how they may ever make a decision, unless you take a look at content.
Content is the one element that is likely to influence the purchasing decision the most, which means that PR professionals need to make it look good.
Content such as eBooks has become outdated as time has progressed, paving the way for more engaging content that includes free stock photo offerings and other types of “out of the box” techniques.
Today, 56 percent of B2B marketers don’t have an effective content strategy in place, making it all the more important to develop one as soon as possible.
Marketing Integration
If you want to generate leads, close sales, and measure the results, integrated marketing is ideal. This involves the synchronization of strategy, metrics, and tactics to develop the perfect marketing solution.
By combining all of these together, you can accomplish common objectives more easily, without a lot of the clutter and confusion that can occur otherwise.
With these tips in mind, you can continue to impress clients and other professional agencies alike, all while keeping you ahead of your competitors.
At the same time, you’ll be able to eliminate the headache that a lot of other PR professionals experience in the industry, keeping you focused on your goals, and meeting your criteria.