đ 32 Things to Do Before Contacting PR or Comms Firms
How to get prepared for PR | Avoid burning đ°
Hiya! Hereâs a fresh B2B PR Now edition to help get you ready for a PR partnership. There are things B2B tech companies must do before they contact a PR or comms agency/consultant.
Follow the Boy Scout Motto, âBe Preparedâ
Being prepared for a relationship that directly impacts your brandâs reputation, narrative, sales, partnerships, recruitment, content, and more is a no-brainer. Sadly, very few B2B tech companies know what to do before reaching out to a potential PR partner.
This may upset the PR industry but I believe the lack of education mainly falls on the shoulders of PR professionals for:
Not informing prospects about how to be prepared
Taking on clients that arenât ready for PR
The PR industry as a whole fails at informing prospective clients of âhomeworkâ they should complete before they ping PR pros. When B2B companies arenât prepared, the all-too-common scenario goes like this:
Companies hire a PR agency or freelancer
Money is wasted for months đ„ as the PR agency learns the clientâs space
Clients become frustrated with the lack of results đĄ
Clients say âPR doesnât workâ or "Where are the results?â đ
Through some fault of their own, clients often:
Go into PR engagements without knowing their responsibilities
Choose the wrong point person to manage the relationship
Choose the wrong partner based on senseless factors like location or size
Do not have a compelling story or information to tell
Do not have a narrative pinned down
Canât deliver what PR pros need to be successful
When people say âPR doesnât work,â itâs usually because of one or more of the reasons above.
Letâs get you what you came for!
32 Things for Tech Vendors to Do Before Contacting PR Firms
Know what you want (i.e. launch company/product, snag investment attention, change perceptions)
Contact peers â ask how they evaluated and chose a PR firm, set a budget, etc.
Accept the fact that press releases are nearly useless
Know that size doesnât matter. Find a firm that âgetsâ your business and its jargon/language
Forget the idea that it is all about the âcontactsâ PR people have
Determine if you need ongoing or project support
Research the benefits a great PR partner can provide
Find out what your customers read/consume/listen to. If you donât know, conduct customer interviews ASAP (never GUESS)
Understand how to measure PR
Identify the media outlets your competitors are appearing in, then look for patterns in coverage (i.e. bold POVs, funding, new hires, new clients?)
Identify customers who will speak to the media about their wins with you
Set a budget range
Choose someone internally who is open-minded about what PR can offer
Start thinking about what data-led stories only you can tell đ
Know your brand story (some communications teams like ours provide this)
Know your founder's story (put it on paper!)
Know your product-market fit (put it on paper!!)
Know your value proposition (put it on paper!!)
Know your target audience and their needs (put it on PAPER!!)
Know your positioning or create it with a brand strategist
Know how to quickly explain your differentiators
Have consistent messaging
Accept that a PR partner is a direct link to potential customers
Accept that reporters donât care about your features/widgets
Choose in-house subject matter experts (SMEs)
Make sure that SMEs can make the time
Write 4-5 sentence bios for SMEs
Get SME headshots (tight + wide) done
Put company assets (hi-res logo variations, office pictures) in a folder
Have at least 5 completed case studies
Accept that all your story ideas might not be newsworthy
Develop a batch of news angles to present to your PR partner
đ Was this list useful? Have you done these things before? Learned something? Please consider giving my free newsletter a share with a peer or pal!
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-John