But the latest evolution has seen B2B programmes reaching out to the customers’ customer, creating B2B2C. This is a much more human approach to B2B marketing focusing on people buying from people rather than from anonymous organisations. This personal approach to B2B marketing means that the end customer can have a relationship with the original supplier of the product or service that they are buying and form an opinion as part of the buying process.
Our approach
So when it comes to creating campaigns, what do B2B brands need to consider if the end goal is to become more human? Our experience in this sector has enabled us to help numerous clients across three key areas:
a) Thought leadership
Not just anyone can be a thought leader in their field. It takes authority, creativity, believability and consistency of message to engage with a potential audience. At Skout we work with you to determine your key messages, set the right tone of voice and design your messaging to hit the right audiences.
b) Content creation
Engaging customers and prospects by creating content that is relevant, insightful and educational, whilst also benefiting your organisation is important to a successful campaign. When you create content you need to think about where your audience is in the sales journey. Are they at the top of the funnel and need to understand who you are and what you offer, in the middle of the funnel where they need to be educated on product or service offering, or at the bottom of the funnel they need to be reassured that you can deliver before making a final purchasing decision?
Skout was an early adopter of this type of content marketing strategy for B2B PR, helping to secure a greater and more direct share of voice for clients. Our campaigns are created to address specific client requirements but are likely to include high value content creation (e-guides/whitepapers), blogs, social media programmes, media relations, research, infographics, exhibition support, awards, event management and broadcast.
The work is focused on ensuring that our clients have a good mix of content that will drive customers through the sales funnel from creating awareness to purchasing and product or service and then becoming brand advocates.
c) Measurement/ROI
Today’s clients are looking for return on investment (ROI) and accurate measurement of the success of campaign. Whilst AVE is no longer considered a valid way of measuring success or failure, volume of coverage can still be important. It’s also about where that coverage is, how influential the media is, the website traffic the campaign creates, engagement on social media, downloads of gated content and improving sentiment for your brand. Whatever your goals, there are a variety of different measures we can put in place to ensure accurate reporting.
How can we help?
- Expertise – As specialists in B2B PR we understand your target markets and the media landscape in which you operate and can guide you through every step of the process.
- Media knowledge – We pride ourselves on being able to identify the best story for your media. Our understanding of what will work for a journalist in your market means that we can help you to create news that will cut through the noise and create meaningful dialogue with potential customers.
- Original content creation – Our innovative approach to creating original content means that we can help you to determine the best stories that your business has and then determine the most impactful way of pushing this narrative out to create the highest levels of engagement.
- An integrated approach – We will ensure that all of our programmes are integrated into your overall marketing strategy so that your B2B PR delivers against your objectives in a measurable way.
Case study
We helped Wax Digital build brand awareness and generate leads using B2B PR that builds on many of the channels discussed above.
