No matter your size, thinking big is pivotal to success in B2B PR.
That is how you achieve thought leadership and brand recognition.
It’s easy to think small – to stay in your comfort zone, where you knock off a press release every once in awhile, and call it good.
Successful PR, however, is all about pushing boundaries, embracing new techniques, and staying ahead of the curve.
Learn how you can take your B2B public relations to the next level, and think bigger for your company.
The following are 8 ways that you can amplify your company’s content, and meet your B2B public relations goals.
8 Ways to Bring Big Ideas to Your B2B PR
1. Work Backwards From a Clear End Goal
Start with your end vision. What would you like to accomplish as a company? A great way to bring an idea to life is by starting with the end-product. A key component to your vision might be to write down that dream headline that you would like to see when your vision comes to fruition.
For instance, would you like to get press coverage for your involvement in charity? Then start big. Imagine the successful headline that will put you on the front page. It could be something like, «Local B2B Firm Meets Goal of Feeding 1,000 Hungry Families.»
Have you already thought of your dream headline? Once you have it, work back from there. Set smaller, more manageable goals that will help you reach that big headline. You’ll find it easier to get more people on board and involved when you have a set end-goal to pursue.
2. Invite Influencers to Contribute to Your Content
Influencers are a big deal in niche industries, and can amplify your content’s reach. While it may be difficult to get an influencer on-board for a full guest post, it’s a much easier task to get a blurb or pro tip from an influencer that you can then leverage within your content. Imagine the power behind such blog posts as,
15 Pro Tips From the Security Industry’s Leading Experts
or…
[Influencer’s name] Weighs in on the Biggest Problem Facing the Security Industry
Once you have this content locked down, you can leverage your influencer involvement to promote it. Build anticipation for the content by talking it up on social media before it is released. Once it’s out, tag the influencers involved on social media so that they can share it with their audience. Share it several times to ensure that the maximum amount of people get a chance to read it.
The most practical and useful way to engage influencers in a way that creates value for everyone involved is through content. – Lee Odden
3. Make Your Content Recyclable and Magnetic
Your content shouldn’t have an end-date. Once you hit publish, there’s plenty you can do to extend its usefulness. For example, make it easily shareable. Create click to tweet links of several important snippets of your content that people can easily share on Twitter. Create social media images with influential parts of your content that others in your industry will be interested in sharing.
4. Find Content That’s Already Popular…And Make It Better
It can sometimes feel like your competitors have all the successful content. But you can use this to your advantage. Use programs like BuzzSumo and SEMrush to find what content is currently blowing up within your industry. Then take that piece of content and give it an all-star upgrade. Amplify its value with a more modern design, in-depth content, and even additional pro tips.
Once you have a superior piece of content, it’s time to distribute it like crazy. Use social media and email marketing to get as many eyes on it as possible.
And don’t forget to use this content to shine a light on new content. Include a link to just-published content within your popular post. Think of it as the virtual equivalent of hanging out with the popular kids. The goal is that some of that fairy dust will end up on the new content.
5. Focus on Big Pieces of Content
One large, high quality piece of content is going to outperform 10 other lower quality pieces of content put together. To accomplish this, your content creation should begin with a solid content strategy that aims at truly high quality content, as well as promotion of that content. In-depth content such as eBooks and guides may take more time to put together, but in the end will lead to increased credibility and owned media potential.
Stepping up your content production game requires strategic planning. – Juntae Delane
6. Leverage Special Content For Visitors Who Share
Sharing isn’t just for kids. When readers share your content on their social networks, this is PR gold. But how do you convince readers to share?
Instead of your traditional gated content that requires the user to input his or her contact information, why not make special content downloadable in exchange for a social share? People get the free eBook (or video, or case study) once they share their download announcement on social media. This gives them the content they want, and boosts the recognition of your brand at the same time — a clear win-win situation.
7. Test the Waters for Big Events
Events are a key way to establish yourself as a thought leader and industry authority. But this is sometimes easier said than done — it can be overwhelming to jump feet first into a large-scale event. Make it easier on yourself by testing the waters first with a smaller event.
It doesn’t have to be a large, fancy affair. Make it more intimate and less structured. Invite a wide range of people to participate — perhaps include an industry analyst, someone from the media, a business customer, and an author, to speak on a current industry topic or trend. This kind of environment can foster many thought leadership quality discussions that you will have been responsible for creating.
Then, if all goes well, you can start planning a larger-scale event that will no doubt garner more attention.
8. Become Part of a Niche Community
While it’s great to participate in larger industry communities, don’t ignore the power that the smaller niche communities (such as on LinkedIn) hold for your content promotion. Oftentimes, participating in smaller, niche communities can give you more of a chance to engage with and provide value to others in your industry.
Participation in these communities allows you to establish yourself as an industry expert, create brand awareness, and share your valuable content. There’s even a chance that your content may be chosen for syndication by other blogs and publications in your niche. In short, these smaller communities are a great stepping stone on your way to bigger, thought leadership opportunities.
Key Points to Remember…
- Include influencer input in small ways to attract more attention from a wider audience.
- Use popular content from competitors to create even better, more in-depth content.
- Prepare yourself for hosting a large event by starting with a small, intimate one.
- Get involved in smaller, niche communities where you will have more opportunities to engage and be heard.
Just because you are a small B2B business doesn’t mean that your B2B PR ideas have to follow suit. Use these 8 tactics to start thinking big and you’llamplify your content’s influence and achieve thought leadership success.
