“Our experience in the B2B tech space has highlighted just how critical media relations are for tech companies, regardless of size. In a fast-paced, competitive market with complex products, success hinges on more than just visibility—it’s about reaching the right audience with the right message. This means understanding the specific niche or vertical and selecting the best media channels to engage that audience. It’s also essential to stay attuned to what the audience cares about now, aligning messaging with their current interests. And, of course, a deep understanding of the client’s product and the problems it solves is key to crafting effective, resonant campaigns.”

Dina Petrosky, Smart Connections PR partner & co-founder.

Here we present our journey in the B2B tech sector over the last 25 years, delving into the importance and benefits of media relations in the B2B tech industry, our journey as a frontrunner in this field, and what the future holds for the sector. While we’ve traditionally focused more on verticals such as manufacturing and contruction, we have been very busy and invested in working businesses in the cybersecurity, cloud technology and data storage as of lately, and we have an exvcellent track record with innovative startups.

B2B Tech Market Overview

Sales in the B2B tech sphere are expected to jump from $62.9B in 2023 to a projected $79.1B by 2026 in the US alone, with a 7% increase in B2B tech revenue growth forecasted in 2024 compared to 2023:

The B2B tech markets globally display similar trends, with a report from HG Insights showing that IT spending in the global B2B market was forecasted to rise in 2024, with regional IT spending forecasts showing:

$1.7 trillion in AMER regions (USA, Central, & South America)

• +3% compared to 2023

$1.2 trillion in APAC regions (Asia-Pacific)

• +5.1% compared to 2023

$908 billion in EMEA regions (Europe, the Middle East, & Africa)

• +1.8% compared to 2023

With disruptive technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain and IoT turning mainstream, the global B2B tech market is teeming with opportunities for both existing companies aiming to enhance their existing product offering and for tech startups entering new b2b tech markets. This should result in a highly competitive landscape with businesses of all sizes vying for attention.

In such situations, effective media relations can be an excellent strategic tool to cut through the noise and reach decision-makers. It is a competitive differentiator capable of elevating brands, generating qualified leads, and driving organisational growth.

The Craft of Narratives that Work: Understanding Media Relations

Media relations involve the strategic management of communication between businesses and the media. It revolves around building and maintaining relationships with journalists, editors, influencers, and other media persons to secure positive coverage where it matters.

Companies can build successful media relations on three pillars:

• Relationship building: Cultivate strong relationships with media professionals to foster trust and credibility.
• Consistent communication: Maintain open and transparent communication with media and communicate consistently to uphold the brand image.
• Storytelling: Creating compelling narratives that resonate with journalists, key decision-makers, and other target audiences to secure media coverage.

Translating Headlines Into Sales: How B2B Tech Industry Benefits From Media Relations

The need for media relations is accentuated in fast-paced sectors such as B2B tech in part due to the rapid news cycles, complex products & services being sold and strong competition. From our experience working in B2B tech over the last 25 years, we feel the key ways media relations can empower B2B tech companies are as follows.

Keeping Up With Rapid Innovation and News Cycles

The B2B tech industry is in a constant state of flux. With the overnight launch of new products or services, the whirlwind of innovation never stops. This presents two main problems:

• 1: B2B tech businesses have to swiftly get the word out on their latest offerings
• 2: They have to compete for attention in a saturated market or niche.

Having a cordial media relationship ensures that you have a team of media professionals that can help generate awareness surrounding new launches or maintain engagement levels in a timely manner. This allows tech companies to gain early market traction, acquire brand recognition, assume the role of an industry leader, and stay in the news for all the right reasons.

Demystifying Complex Products and Services

B2B tech solutions come in various shapes and sizes, with enterprise-grade applications such as SaaS products, cloud based software, and innovative hardware. Such a spectrum of products and services injects a certain degree of complexity that may act as a barrier to tech adoption. Effective media relations can bridge the gap between technical expertise and public understanding. It helps simplify concepts to help promote the service and benefits being offered, especially when they are a part of decision-makers. This resulting accessibility helps attract qualified leads and gain a brand reputation, but it may also be leveraged when dealing with a crisis situation.

Staying Ahead of the Competition

Media attention is the thin line that separates high-performing B2B tech companies from the noise. Through strategic media relations, companies can differentiate themselves and increase brand visibility and awareness, helping companies eclipse competition. Not just in terms of market share but also by attracting highly sought-after talent and propelling investor confidence.

Building Trust and Credibility

It’s impossible to create an environment of trust and credibility amongst customers and investors if the same is lacking in the media. In fact, a strong brand image media is one of the first indicators of trust and credibility. On picking up this momentum, business-to-business tech companies can reinforce their legacy by transmitting the company’s trust and credibility through media partners to forge powerful and long-lasting customer relationships. At the same time, they play a mission-critical role in upholding reputation during periods of crises. This is especially true in relation to mitigating the negative effects of a company or market crisis (this is where our media training services also come into play), helping tech businesses maintain or rebuild their brand reputation.

Driving Organisational Growth

Maintaining cordial media relations is a powerful tool for business growth. After all, it helps generate qualified leads, promote brand awareness, nurture trust, and protect reputation. Given this effect, positive media coverage originating through strong media relations increases sales and revenue, shortens sales cycles, and compounds return on investment. Such tangible results play a clinching role in determining the success of a B2B tech venture, especially in verticals such as retailtech and proptech.

Our Media Relations Journey

The rapid evolution of the B2B tech industry called for revolutionising our media relations approach. The first step was to understand the challenges involved, which would include overnight technological advancements, a shift in media consumption habits — online news consumption, for example, is at a completely new level now (PDF) than compared to 20 years ago; however, this trend might change –, and heightened competition.

The next phase involved converting these challenges into opportunities. One such initial challenge being to avoid the oversimplification or sensationalization of tech products and services, which would detract from the core value proposition. Our approach to overcoming this hurdle involved gaining a deep understanding of the target audience while weaving technical complexities into compelling stories.

Next, there was a shift from traditional media outreach outlets as the sector transitioned to digital platforms. While doing this, we flipped from reactive to proactive media relations management, which leveraged robust media monitoring systems to identify up-and-coming trends and high-potential opportunities. This procedural switch allowed us to position our B2B tech clients as thought leaders and secure consistent media coverage.

Throughout our 25 years of experience in the B2B tech space we’ve had to reimagine existing workflows to make them more conducive to penetrating digital channels and social media platforms. We worked on integrating digital media into our core media relations strategy to reach out to a wider audience. This was supplemented by the development of new skills and processes, including social media management, content creation, data analytics, and so on. Naturally, the above required the restructuring of our workforce to put together teams with diverse skill sets. At the same time, we also held on to our experts who had been exposed to and had an in-depth understanding of the technology industry.

Such a learning curve marked by the key takeaways of engagement through storytelling, data-driven insights, and talent upgrade allowed us to help our clients in this industry meet their media goals.

How We Implement Effective Media Relations In The Tech Industry

Although we’re still a boutique PR agency, we’ve been leading this field for a good number of years, not least because we managed to leverage our international network. In our 25 years of experience, we’ve seen the proliferation of technology, the emergence of new business models, and the transformation of media in the B2B tech space. The historical context and the hands-on experience have allowed us to formulate and adopt the best practices for successful media relations strategies for our clients. Here are some thoughts in this respect.

Cultivating Relationships with Media Professionals

From journalists to influencers, we’ve prioritised building strong relationships with media professionals to secure positive media coverage. The underlying factors that strengthen media relations include:

• Researching media professionals meticulously to evaluate their strengths, interests, and expertise. Upon discovering alignment with media coverage requirements, personalising the pitch with newsworthy angles for the target audience to improve success rates.
• Participating in industry events, conferences, and online communities actively. Our presence at such networking and engagement events allows us to connect and build rapport with media professionals in a natural setting.
• Offering media professionals exclusive access to news, views, and insights. Such timely tip-offs make us a credible source of valuable information, which helps in impactful placements in the future.

Creating Newsworthy Content

In the present time and age, simply creating content isn’t enough. We focus on building compelling narratives that resonate with media players and readers alike. Here’s how we ensure our content is worth the buzz:

• Identifying deep news angles to make the story more relevant and relatable to pique interest and engagement.
• Producing strategic press releases and curating well-planned media kits to facilitate journalists into learning about client companies and including them in their stories.
• Taking industry events and news cycles into account while pitching stories. We also leverage a multi-channel distribution approach to maximise reach and impact.

Tracking and Monitoring

Like any other relationship-building effort, media relations require proactive involvement to enhance the symbiotic relationship. Rather than relying on just intuition, we employ an assortment of metrics that measure media relations health. Our tracking and optimisation efforts include:

• Analysing the performance of each media campaign to correlate the role of media relations in campaign success and identify areas of improvement.
• Setting goals to track progress and perform timely interventions. We communicate these goals across key stakeholders so that everyone is on the same page.
• Monitoring media mentions to keep tabs on media coverage and identify trends; this information can be leveraged in multiple ways, not least as a method of understand in which direction the wind blows.

Case Studies and Success Stories

We’ve embraced the principles highlighted in this article to aid several technology companies in nurturing productive media relations, leading to a series of campaign successes. The following case studies demonstrate our capabilities in real-world conditions.

Case Study 1: Boosting Visibility for CTERA In The Government Sector

CTERA, an established leader in edge-to-cloud file services, needed help in growing its brand in the government sector. Our strategy produced:

• Media coverage totalling potential readership of 13 million with an estimated coverage of views over 90,000.
• With coverage being secured in Federal Health IT, Intelligent Data Centres, IoT Now, Blocks and Files and VMblog.
• This led to an increase in brand visibility and momentum for the company within the Government sector, with the establishment of media relations within this niche marketplace being a key factor.

Case Study 2: Amplifying Product Launch for Kaleao

Kaleao wanted to emerge from stealth mode with their KMAX hyperconverged integrated software and hardware platform through intensive trade and business coverage media. Our strategy produced:

• 15 pieces of standalone, focused media coverage.
• 13 analyst briefings via high-level firms such as Gartner & IDC.
• 100% success rate in publications reached out to.
• Excellent quality coverage was received in business and trade media, with key media relations being established.

Future Trends in Media Relations That Will Impact the Enterprise Technology Industry

While media relations in the enterprise tech industry have undergone a serious transformation over the last few years, we’re not at the end stage yet. This evolution will very likely continue, and some of the key trends that will mushroom include:

• Task automation using AI-powered media monitoring tools to perform tasks like keyword identification and sentiment analysis. This will shorten decision-making timelines and make technology companies more responsive to changes in the market.
• Personalisation of outreach and content creation workflows using AI. AI engines will be used to match journalists and publications and tweak the pitch to match the profiles of the shortlisted media professionals.
• Incorporation of immersive technologies like Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) to experience the product or service.
• The rising popularity of micro-influencers that are in charge of a highly active community. Strategic micro-influencer marketing will expand B2B tech business reach and transfer trust and credibility.
• Experimenting with contemporary content formats, like podcasts or reels, to engage target audiences, generate buzz, create awareness, or educate potential customers.

In our view, effective media relations is the bedrock for B2B technology success today. While we’re not excluding other PR strategies and marketing tactics, in fact we strongly believe they complement each other at different degress and based on various particularities of the business or the market, we’ve had the opportunity to test and review quite a few of these and arrived at the conclusion that media relations is essential in producing tangible results. That said, it remains imperative to understand the industry, develop strong relationships, and develop a powerful narrative, in order for enteprise technology businesses to enhance visibility, attract high-quality leads, and drive real growth.

Smart Connections PR offers expert guidance for navigating the changes in the field of media relations and achieving organisational goals. Get in touch to know how we elevate your brand.