Did you know? Our thought processes, our strategies and how we use our B2B tools need to change.
An academic at heart, I fell in love with public relations in college. Specifically, I was fascinated by political communication—the art of selling one’s principles to the masses. Studying communications in graduate school led me down the path of public relations for its own sake, independent of politics. I’ve now had the pleasure of working in a variety of industries, including healthcare, consulting engineering, flooring, construction machinery and automated conveyor systems. I’ve experienced both the thrill of consumer media relations and the challenge of b-to-b P.R.—and, I’m sold! After working with some very passionate clients and coworkers, I have an appreciation for the art that is b-to-b marketing.
If we only look at your company’s “news,” we are going to miss a lot of great placement opportunities. There’s “news” – something inherently new, noteworthy or different that’s also timely. But there’s also “thought leadership” – valuable information, based on your own experience and perspective within the industry.
More and more, we see B2B salespeople embracing social media to meet their personal sales targets. Marketing teams could learn a lot from salespeople (or their social media activities), just by asking a few questions (and spending some quality time surfing social media sites).
Media monitoring should be used to gauge public opinion, track issues and warn us of pending crises. It should be comprehensive and include all things digital. No matter your budget, you can still start some monitoring now.
Recent research shows that the United States constitutes less than 20 percent of the overall online market. For a global company, that means that even with a 100-percent-successful domestic social media strategy, you are, at most, reaching 20 percent of your online audience.