In B2B Public Relations (PR), one of the most popular questions we get asked is if it is better to do targeted outreach or just pop it on the wire. Of course, the ideal situation would be to have enough budget to apply both, but which one is most effective?
Senior Executives might want to see numbers, and they usually want those numbers to be large. This is why opting for the newswire route can be preferred. It allows any piece of PR to be dispersed to hundreds of media outlets and, in turn, have generic audiences. The benefit is a simple process. After the piece is written, send it to the distributor and they will do the rest but that comes with high costs and questionable reach.
But does anyone really go to a publication and read wire press releases?
If you’re not Apple, Google, Facebook or Samsung, the answer is mostly like not that often. The wire will deliver coverage numbers, but it might never reach your target audience. It will be sent to a vast and diverse range of publications but not necessarily ones that are read by your customers, partners or peers.
The other approach is to have an agency deliver an end-to-end solution that targets specific industry verticals. An agency can develop a compelling story, draft the press release, distribute it and pitch it to targeted publications. The cost will be lower than a wire if you factor in all of the steps to get a press release drafted and out. The news will also reach specific trade publications that actually matter to audiences.
B2B Content: Getting the Right Expertise Onboard
While coverage numbers will be lower, the news will actually get in front of the people you want to influence. It builds momentum in the industry and creates relationships with key journalists. Overall, the value created by 10 pieces of trade coverage will be far greater than the 150 pieces of coverage on Cleveland.com, Yahoo Finance or the Peoria Journal Star.
If budget is no issue, B2B tech and telecoms companies can benefit from doing both and delivering both depth and breadth but when efficiency matter targeted outreach is the best way to go.
A Real-World Case Study
We have seen the difference between solely focusing on the wire and doing targeted outreach. Looking at the results of a media monitoring and business intelligence service, we could see the value gap based the two different approaches.
In Q1, a global B2B tech business had 500 pieces of media exposure using the news wire amounting to a reach of 60 million with an advertisement value of $500,000. A business playing in the exact same space, used a targeted approach with an agency and, although this delivered less media exposure (450 pieces), the reach was far greater with 120 million and an advertisement value of £1,500,000.
So even though the first company had a larger amount of media outlets, it spent more on the wire to deliver less value for the business. The second business had a higher advertisement value and was more efficient with their PR spend.
They reached higher value individuals that could directly impact decision making. Each piece of coverage created awareness, encouraged engagement, is discoverable online, and created a track record in their industry.
Making the targeted approach as simple as newswire
At Ilex, we talk with our clients to learn and uncover what their main messages are, or what they should be. These are then developed by us into interesting, relevant PR campaigns crafted towards each client’s specific target market. We already have relationships with notable tech and telecoms media outlets, ensuring that these target markets are reached economically.
If you would like to learn more about PR, or maybe what else Ilex can do for your business, book a consultation today.
