In this #ContentChat recap, Erika Heald is joined by Michelle Garrett, a PR consultant for B2B organizations in technology and manufacturing, to discuss how content marketing and public relations teams can align their efforts. They explore what it takes to break through with media, how customer stories can be valuable in owned and earned channels, and why some contributed content channels aren’t worth the investment.
Watch the entire conversation on YouTube or read through the highlights below. Order your copy of Michelle’s book B2B PR That Gets Results for more practical advice for improving your public relations strategy.
The Power of Collaboration: Aligning Content Marketing and Public Relations Strategies
Content marketing and communications are about telling a story and connecting with people.
“When you do B2B content creation, communications, media relations, PR—all those things— you are primarily helping somebody tell their story and connect with people, which is what you would do if you’re a good writer; if you’re interviewing somebody, you’re telling their story to help them connect with people.”—Erika Heald
PR can be especially powerful for reaching new audiences and building trust. However, PR is not an overnight solution or something you can turn on and off.
“It’s really important for me to work with clients who understand what is and isn’t possible and have expectations that are really in line with what PR can help them do, which is a lot, but it’s not an overnight solution.”—Michelle Garrett
“If no one’s ever heard of your company, you’ve got to start somewhere. And usually, that would be with trade media for B2Bs and even sometimes the local business journal or something like that. Ease into it. And all that comes up in search. A reporter at a top-tier publication might be searching for story ideas, and it might come up in their search, for example, so it does help your visibility in a number of ways.”—Michelle Garrett
Every engagement can have value and build credibility in your space so you can pursue higher-tier opportunities.
“You want to be everywhere, and PR and content help you get there. I don’t want clients and companies to look down on any opportunities they have to be featured in the media, on a podcast, in a blog, on a webinar, whatever it is. It doesn’t have to be the Wall Street Journal to really have meaning and help your company achieve those goals.”—Michelle Garrett
“Getting earned media coverage for things that you’ve produced on the content side of things is so powerful. And then it gives you so much more credibility and a larger audience.”—Erika Heald
How Content Supports Media Relations
Owned content, like a customer case study, can be pitched to trade publications as a story, especially if there are accompanying visuals and access to the customer.
“Sometimes we’re taking content that [my client has] already written or that someone else has written for them, and we are using it to plug it into our earned media efforts. So we are pitching a customer story that they published on their site, for example, to a trade publication. They love those, especially if they have strong visuals, if they have high-resolution images, and maybe video or something like that. You don’t have to have that, but it does help.”—Michelle Garrett
PR is a necessary way to build and elevate a thought leadership profile. Remember that subject matter experts make the best thought leaders.
“We do a lot with thought leadership. Interviewing the thought leader, sometimes that’s the CEO, for example, once a quarter, sitting down, and ghostwriting a piece. We publish that on their site. But then that can also be pitched to a trade publication, for example, who’s eager to publish pieces that contain real thought leadership.”—Michelle Garrett
The Value of Proprietary Research for PR and Content Marketing
PR and content teams should collaborate to commission research that fuels both of their program strategies. We previously discussed how to use surveys for your content marketing strategy with Michele Linn of Mantis Research.
“[Proprietary research] is one of those real biggies that frequently neither PR nor the content team have enough budget on their own to work with an outside party to create. But together, [research] is one of those great things that gives you really great search visibility, but then also gives you something fantastic to pitch to the media.”—Erika Heald
“Once you have the research, there are so many ways you can use it in PR and your owned content. You can really slice and dice it a number of ways, pull out the key insights, pitch those as a story. Reporters love that, especially if they can look under the hood and see that you did a really thorough job in your research, in your survey, or however you conducted the research.”—Michelle Garrett
Navigating the Differences Between Trade and Business Media
Trade media are more receptive to deep articles covering nuances of specific industries. But that doesn’t mean they will accept any story or will respond to every pitch.
“[Trade media] are all about what’s new and exciting and interesting in your industry. So they’re going to be talking about stuff that’s a lot more niche, a lot more deep, a lot more granular, and a lot earlier than other places.”—Erika Heald
Customer stories are great for trade media if the customer is willing to be named and share their before and after experience. The media needs to provide their readers with tangible lessons and insights that help them overcome their challenges.
“We do a lot with the customer stories when we can. If the customer won’t be part of the effort for legal or other reasons and you can’t say who the customer is, that’s a little bit limiting.”—Michelle Garrett
“Sometimes the trade pub wants to interview the customer on their own, even though you’ve sent them the story with the facts that they would need. Sometimes, they still want to talk to them just to verify and get their own quotes. And so it’s good to know if that customer is able to do that and is agreeable, has time, and so forth.”—Michelle Garrett
You have to be strategic about what you offer trade publications and how frequently you reach out. Product news is a direct fit, and you can nurture those relationships and generate additional coverage outside of news cycles with thought leadership, customer stories, trend commentary, and research.
“We pitch thought leadership to trade publications; they often like that. Now, I wouldn’t say you could pitch that every month. You’re going to pitch your product news, but when you’re trying to fill in the gaps [you can pitch] customer stories, thought leadership, a trend piece, and research if you have that.”—Michelle Garrett
The business press will often ask about a company’s financials. Private companies do not have to disclose this information. Spokespeople can simply say, “As a private company, we do not disclose our financials.”
“I work with both publicly traded and private clients. The publicly traded ones will be asked to share their financials. Private companies can decline to do that. I don’t know if everybody knows that, but it is true. Startups often don’t know what to say if they’re asked about that. And if you’re not public, you don’t have to disclose it.”—Michelle Garrett
“If I was publicly traded and I was going into business press, I’d make sure I was ready to talk about my numbers.”—Michelle Garrett
Be strategic about when you choose to announce things based on what’s happening in the world and your industry.
“If you’re going to go talk to the business press when there’s a news cycle going on that involves your industry, be careful about what you’re doing; be sure that you’re not trying to either ride those coattails or to bury something because that’s usually not going to happen.”—Erika Heald
Prepare before any media interview.
“You’ve gotta be careful about what you’re saying publicly, and you’ve gotta be preparing. And if you’re not prepared, you should be talking to your PR or comms person, or getting some media training, or just taking some steps to understand how you’re gonna sound when you start talking in front of the press or the audience.”—Michelle Garrett
Be selective about paid media opportunities and assess an outlet’s content quality before engaging with them.
“I don’t have anything against paid media. I just think that you need to disclose that it was paid. That’s all. I even encourage my clients in the B2B sector, when we’re doing trades, that if they can afford to pay for anything, an ad, an advertorial, any publication takes that as a good faith measure.”—Michelle Garrett
“I had a client that had kept being pitched by this pay-for-performance marketing agency. And [the pitch] was ‘you don’t pay until we place this article that we write for you’. And, of course, the article was not written by humans—it was written by AI.”—Erika Heald
“And who’s pitching you saying that they guarantee that you can go viral, they’re selling you Forbes contributor links. That’s what they’re selling you.”—Erika Heald
Maximizing the Impact of Media Coverage: Repurposing and Amplification
Share your earned media coverage on social media and tag the journalist.
“You should certainly share [earned coverage] on social media and tag the journalist and the media outlet. I always find it funny that a lot of people don’t seem to understand that that’s important, and why. It’s not about vanity for the reporter. The more people that see a story read a story, the more likely that journalist is going to be to write another story about a similar topic, and maybe they’ll call you for a quote or something because you shared the story and helped drive the visibility of that story.”—Michelle Garrett
Have a media page on your website that includes company background and visuals for the media to use in their stories.
“The newsroom [page], or the press area, a lot of companies don’t even have that on their side. Or if they do, it’s buried. And that’s very frustrating because if you are in PR you really want your client to be prominently featuring on their site all the information that a journalist would need to do a story. That means your media coverage, press releases, backgrounders, headshots, logos, other photography that might be helpful.”—Michelle Garrett
“It’s impactful to have that in its own section instead of having press content and press releases in the blog. Who’s ever going to go to your blog if we can’t tell what’s a press release and what’s third party media coverage and what’s actually owned?”—Erika Heald
“The contact information, the media contact, should be somebody who is on top of it. That means a phone number, an email, a way that somebody can get ahold of your company and get a response usually the same day or within 24 hours tops. You should really be monitoring that.”—Michelle Garrett
How to Align Content and PR Efforts
Content, PR, and social media teams need to meet regularly to align on opportunities and discuss how they can best support and amplify each other’s work.
“A lot of times I work with companies that have a very small marketing team, like a one person marketing team. And so they’re looking to outsource. And sometimes, in that case, the two are not talking to each other. So if they, for example, outsource PR to me and they outsource content to an agency or somebody else, and they are kind of the go-between there, that doesn’t always match up.”—Michelle Garrett
“If it’s a one-person marketing team or a bigger marketing team, you have to encourage them to work together. And social media should also be there because I’ve been in that situation, too: The client has a social media agency. I’m the PR person. They might let me sit in the meeting, but social is not thinking about what we’re doing on the PR side at all.”—Michelle Garrett
“You could have spreadsheets and meetings, and you could collaborate where there’s a pipeline, and sometimes maybe PR leads the effort if it is an executive spokesperson, and content leads the effort if it is a customer story, or however you’d work that out. But that doesn’t mean that only the PR team can use that thought leadership piece, and only the content team can use the customer story.”—Michelle Garrett
Host joint interviews with content and PR when speaking with executives and thought leaders to inform your content and PR strategy.
“Your executives only have so much time. You should be doing a joint interview with your comms person and your content person, asking the questions they need and getting that synergy in place, so that way, you know what all that content is that you’re going to be creating around that idea.”—Erika Heald
Have a clear goal for your PR and content strategy, and be consistent in your activities to reach that goal.
“Really think about what your goals are, where your audiences are, and be consistent about it.”—Michelle Garrett
Listen to the full conversation on YouTube for more insights, including:
- How many survey respondents are necessary for research to be taken seriously (11:42)
- What it takes to pitch a trend article (16:31)
- Why contributed content columns aren’t always as impactful as you might think (25:13)
- How the business press landscape has changed and why most companies are better off focusing on trade press (37:00)
