Everyone can see the logic in bringing on board a specialist agency for B2B PR: more skills, more experience, more connections. But it’s not as simple as handing over the reins and expecting them to make miracles. You’ll get better results from your agency and your PR activity if you put in some work up front.
Here’s how. (Or you can skip straight to our free briefing template. But we think you’ll get more out of it if you give this a read first.)
Let them get to know you – warts and all
Obviously you’ll tell your PR agency about your greatest successes. But they need to know your biggest challenges too. As well as your history, mission, values and business goals. Together they build up a big picture that helps your team get creative and focused around a strategy that’s built specifically for you.
And while you’re doing that: don’t hide the rest of your people from us. While we love working closely with the communications team – and we obviously speak the same language – we sometimes get the most interesting angles and opportunities from having a chat with the head of talent or a sales director.
Once we dive into the details, don’t forget to share any PR activities you’re doing or planning right now. We want to know what’s worked and what hasn’t, what channels you used and how effective they were. That’ll help your PR team build on successes and avoid conflicts or contradictions.
Your target audience is never everyone. Be specific.
Get as nerdy as you can – the more information we have, the better. We want to know demographics, interests and pain points. Defined buyer personas can be really helpful if you have them. And if you have specific media outlets or influencers in mind, mention them too. We’ve worked with everyone from The FT to Fishing News, but we’re always expanding our media database with info about what you, your customers and your target audiences are reading.
That laser focus goes for key messages, too. When you clearly articulate your USPs and key brand messages we become a better PR team, building on what you have already rather than reinventing the wheel or confusing your audience.
We’ll also ask you what success looks like for you – and be really honest about it, because it could totally change the approach we take. Is it coverage in prominent titles? More enquiries? Or straight up cold, hard sales?
Be clear about your budget from the beginning
We often get the dream scenario from a client: show us everything, budget isn’t a deciding factor.
Then we present our ideas and it turns into more of a nightmare: there’s basically no budget.
We’re always honest about fees, and we’ll let you know the minimum spend to make it worth it. And we can definitely work with budget constraints when we know about them. So don’t end up with a bunch of recommendations you can’t use, and a slightly frustrated team. Just put your cards on the table from day one.
Keep the insights coming
Seriously, bombard us! The more we know, the more we can make recommendations that really work for you and your business. We never get tired of combing through company brochures, recent press releases, or media coverage.
Ready to get your brief together?
Here’s a free B2B PR briefing template.
Looking for some more guidance? Our B2B PR experts are always open to a chat.
Written by Ellie St George-Yorke, Director of Client Relations at Definition