By: Kevin Winfield, Managing Director
The technology sector remains one of the most competitive and rapidly evolving industries with more and more businesses competing for the attention of the same audiences. As a result, many technology businesses have shifted their communications strategies to incorporate PR to differentiate themselves from their competitors. However, despite the vast majority of businesses reaping the benefits of those PR efforts, many leaders still see public relations as an expense rather than an investment and can become frustrated when they don’t see immediate results to justify the spend.
All organisations will be at different stages of their PR journeys from small-scale startups just dipping their toes in the waters for the first time to seasoned veterans who allocate significant chunks of annual spend to PR. No matter the stage you currently find yourself at, there are practical ways to make the most of your budgets to ensure you maximise every penny to build your brand.
Smarter account management
One of the most common mistakes that businesses can make when it comes to managing their PR budgets is the amount of time it can take to move from the planning stages of a campaign to its execution. This bottleneck is usually due to the fact that there are multiple people involved which can mean various pieces of content get delayed or left in unfinished states. To streamline this process, having one point of contact can ensure a more efficient communication and approvals process which means the execution can be carried out much quicker. Having one person act as the bridge between the business and the PR agency can also lead to more effective collaboration and less time spent giving feedback and eating into the budget.
Maximise every piece of content
The majority of B2B PR campaigns are largely content-led which means the agency you appoint will spend a large part of its time - and your budget, creating various pieces of content. To ensure you get the most out of your budget, you need to make sure you’re getting the most out of your content. Whether the agency is creating thought leadership, whitepapers, infographics etc, it’s essential that there is a strategy in place to make the most of each piece. Every piece of content can serve multiple purposes from being turned into a blog, social media post or even used in a sales decks. By recycling content and using it across multiple channels you are ensuring better ROI without the additional spend.
Not all news is newsworthy
Another familiar pitfall we see businesses make when planning their PR efforts is overinflating the importance of some news announcements. This results in your agency wasting time creating content that won’t land with the media. While your internal team might be very excited about your new website design, it’s more than likely that the media will not be as enthusiastic. To get the most out of your PR budget, you need to ensure that the agency is doing work that will meet your overall objectives and understand the time spent forcing a press release without their being an actual story is actually wasting your budget. The key is to work with an agency that you trust and can consult you on what is truly valuable to the media and not get bogged down with creating content that doesn’t align with your overall strategy.
Thinking beyond the budget
It can be tempting for organisations to view PR as just a financial commitment and just another invoice the marketing team is passing onto the finance department. In order to make the most of your budget, it isn’t just about how much money you spend but instead about the long-term investment of people, time and resources that are put in place to ensure success.
Many companies will struggle to see the immediate value of their PR investment but it’s essential to understand that PR isn’t just about quick wins and instead about the long-term gains of boosted credibility and industry positioning. With the right approach, careful planning, internal investment and avoiding unnecessary work, you can stretch your budget to ensure every penny works harder for your business.
If you're looking for a PR agency that will ensure you get the most out of your investment then please get in touch with our award-winning team at contact@thejargongroup.com.