Cliff Maroney
November 9, 2021 | 05:35:45
In B2B PR, earned media and content naturally go together — or at least, they should. Relevant content can support SEO and even lead generation. Yet sometimes it’s underutilized when it comes to PR.
PR teams must constantly think about new ways to generate potential story ideas. Marketing content should be a key component in our ideation processes — especially during quiet periods.
With that in mind here is a refresher on ways that PR teams can use content marketing assets to drive PR results and ideas.
Data and research
PR people should never let good data go to waste. Sometimes research already exists through specific market-research initiatives, or it may simply be floating around within the organization. There’s often the opportunity to package existing internal data, which can offer an opportunity for PR teams to convey expertise or make news. It’s a matter of identifying key findings, building a report or release, and planning media outreach to support key insights.
Case studies
Case studies are a great customer reference and sales tool for any growing company. They can also be a key PR asset. The best customer stories highlight an organization’s capabilities along with an implied endorsement from customers. For PR teams, case studies can be very useful for joint media briefings, award submissions and trade media placement. In many cases they’re tough to come by, because business customers don’t always want to talk about their partner relationships in the press. So if you have them or can get them, use them.
Whitepapers and tip sheets
Sometimes the best way to showcase a company’s value is to spell it out, which is why whitepapers, tip sheets and other long-form content are valuable for marketing teams. But their use shouldn’t end there. These long-form pieces serve as jumping-off points for PR teams looking for byline or conference submission ideas. Additionally, they provide a key onboarding asset for PRs looking to get acclimated with a new space.
Data visualizations
Some organizations only have a handful of points that they’re willing to share publicly — so, again, use them. Just because you don’t have a full report doesn’t mean the data is useless. By packaging it into creative infographics, PR teams can gain additional legs for data that would otherwise go unused or underleveraged. Additionally, if a company highlights its design and UI as a key differentiator, data visualizations offer a way to showcase their creative prowess.
Short-form content
Great content results from great ideas – and sometimes those ideas rest with the senior executive team or other individuals outside the content marketing group. They may find their way into the occasional short blog post for the company site. Instead of letting these great ideas languish on a company blog, PR people should look to sync-up with the executive team, dig more deeply into their thoughts, and build out bylines and other PR-ready content. The media world is hungry for quality, authentic executive points of view, so don’t be afraid to tap the executive ranks to source ideas and drive further PR visibility for the organization.