In B2B marketing, the most interesting PR often comes from noticing what the industry has stopped noticing.
A lot of B2B press releases begin in the wrong place: they start with the company. But a journalist is looking for something their audience will find useful or surprising …and nobody cares about an individual company.
That is why some of the best PR ideas come from looking in a different direction.
- What is happening in the market that nobody is talking about? What are customers quietly frustrated by?
- What accepted industry practice is overdue for challenge?
- What assumption is everyone making, perhaps without much evidence?
- What has changed in buyer behaviour that the sector has not caught up with yet?
Those are better places to begin.
Research can help. It does not always need to be epic. A small survey of customers or distributors can reveal something useful. The trick is not to report every answer, just any results that might make people stop and think.
This gives a press release a job. It is no longer simply announcing that we exist, it’s contributing something to a conversation.
The company does not have to be the hero. Often it’s better if the evidence takes that role. A product launch becomes more interesting when it is attached to a specific customer problem. A point of view becomes more credible when it is supported by data.
The question before any PR activity should be simple: what would make someone outside of our company care?