We recently talked about why it’s getting harder to get media coverage at Trade Shows, and how organizations must now become their own media.
We know that’s not a small thing, even with the many AI tools that are now available to help. Many in-house PR and marketing team members are already performing multiple roles. That’s where a reliable agency can help. We understand that organizations have their reservations, so we wanted to address some of them.
1. “Hiring a PR agency is too expensive”
This is more often heard by organizations in start-up mode. While some agencies can be expensive, cost alone doesn’t determine value. The right one will tailor their services to your needs and goals, allowing you to invest only in the activities you require help with. By focusing on what is most likely to deliver measurable results, you avoid paying for unnecessary extras.
2. “An agency will take over. We don’t want to lose control of messaging and activities”
And why should you? It’s your company. A good PR and marketing agency will work with you to understand how it can leverage your strengths and augment existing capabilities. The team will work collaboratively with yours to understand your business, target audience, competitors, and USP to build strong positioning and messaging statements. They will recommend paths of action to get those messages out to the market and explain the reasoning behind them, but every decision remains yours.
It is worth remembering that by hiring a reputable agency, you’re leveraging expertise built over time. Often an agency will challenge established ways of working. Being open to new perspectives and challenges to familiar assumptions will help you extract the greatest value.
3. “We worked with an agency before but didn’t boost sales fast enough”
We know that your leadership team wants marketing spending to translate into sales immediately, but that’s like expecting a purchase from the first sales call. You shouldn’t believe an agency that tells you it will. PR and marketing activities help to create buyer demand by building awareness, credibility and trust. And that can only be done over time.
In B2B markets the buyer journey is long. Your target audience won’t consider a brand they haven’t heard of. Brands that are shortlisted are the ones that show up consistently, endorsed by third-party industry influencers, including reputable media outlets, analysts and other brands.
When only 5% of your target market is actively buying at any one time, if you conduct short-burst marketing and PR activities you risk not being seen by 95% of your prospect audience. By investing in a considered and sustained PR and marketing strategy you build a visible, credible and trusted brand, that is already established in the minds of buyers before they begin evaluating options.
4. “An agency won’t understand our technology”
The right one will. Ask about their experience in your sector and their previous clients. Have they established relationships with journalists, analysts and other influencers within the industry your organization operates? How do they understand your market and the challenges your buyers are facing?
A specialized agency will build teams containing people that have worked within your sector and are deeply aligned with your technology and audiences. But that should be only part of the decision. The agency team should combine this expertise with the ability to uncover a narrative that resonates with your target audience and an innate understanding of the activities that will deliver the strongest return. They will ask informed questions, challenge assumptions, translate your expertise and innovations into messaging, and implement strategies that build long-term awareness, credibility and trust.
5. “We’ve managed PR and marketing activities in-house for a long time. We’re doing fine”
If you’re achieving your goals, and have already created awareness, credibility and trust working with the right industry influencers that is great! However, ask yourself if you’re now pivoting activities to influence AI-powered agents and search.
Today’s B2B buyers rely less on sales reps and more on self-education, with 89% now using AI-powered searches at every stage of the journey. And as those searches often end at an AI-generated summary, you need to shift your emphasis to PR and marketing activities that allow your brand to be cited within the agents.
The brands that can do this rapidly to take advantage of AI will have the upper hand. You can recruit new talent and retrain existing teams, but that could take time. Alternatively, you can work with PR and marketing agencies who have already incorporated AI search into their approach.
6. “We’re using AI already; we don’t need an agency to get our messages out”
In an age when journalists, editors and analysts are drowning in pitches, press releases and articles, many don’t read those that are AI-generated. AI can help you with many PR and marketing activities, but is it nuanced enough to truly understand your industry and leverage your positioning and messaging to build a narrative that really speaks to your audiences?
Earned media remains the foundation for visibility, even via AI-powered search. A PR Week study found that 95% of AI citations come from unpaid media coverage, with 85% coming from earned. AI can help you with some things but to stand out your company should continue to build strong relationships with industry influencers and invest in human-led storytelling that resonates with B2B buyers.
What a successful agency partnership should look like
Working with an agency to enhance PR and marketing activities must be considered, and hesitations are understandable. To reduce risk and the learning curve, select one with long-established expertise in your industry. When evaluating your options, ask questions, and also consider the questions the agency is asking you.
An experienced team can help you hone positioning and messaging and build a consistent narrative that shows how you are solving your buyers’ challenges. It will help you place your brand with the right industry influencers and ensure it is cited in the AI-powered searches that inform today’s B2B buyer decisions.
The most effective agencies don’t just adapt to technologies such as AI; they integrate them into operations. They combine human-led storytelling and relationship-building with AI tools that help you strengthen positioning, improve targeting and measurement, and ultimately increase the probability of your brand being visible, credible and trusted by your target buyers.
A shift is already happening across B2B markets, and the question is no longer whether AI will influence buyer behavior, but how prepared companies are to be part of the sources it draws on.
We recently won an American Business Awards’ Gold Stevie® for the marketing and Thought Leadership Program we created for our IoT client Soracom. Contact us to find out how and discuss your PR and marketing needs.
Calysto is currently offering a free analysis of the success of your current PR program as well as a free Share-of-Voice report on your company (or product) vs. its key competitors.