Blogs - Whiteoaks PR

For B2B tech brands, staying relevant and front-of-mind with your audience is critical. While innovative products and services set the foundation for success, it’s consistent and well-crafted content that keeps your brand in the spotlight and drives meaningful engagement. A steady flow of PR and marketing content helps maintain visibility, build credibility and reinforce your authority in the industry.

But, as many B2B tech companies know, creating this consistent stream of content can be a challenge, especially when internal teams are pulled in multiple directions. Here’s why consistency in content matters, and how PR agencies can step in to ensure your business keeps up with the demand.

The power of content

Content is the backbone of any PR strategy. It’s not just about getting your brand out there – it’s about telling your story in a way that resonates with your target audience. High-quality content serves multiple purposes: it positions your company as a thought leader, showcases product innovations and provides valuable insights that decision-makers look for when considering partnerships or purchases.

For B2B tech brands, where buying cycles are long and decision-makers are often meticulous, this type of content is critical. It reassures prospects that your company is credible, knowledgeable and capable of delivering on its promises. Whether it’s an industry report, a blog post on emerging trends or a case study showcasing a recent success, well-placed content can significantly impact how your business is perceived.

Why consistency matters

One well-crafted piece of content is great, but it won’t keep your brand top-of-mind. To build lasting relationships with prospects and customers, you need a steady stream of PR and marketing content across different channels. This consistency creates multiple touchpoints, increasing the likelihood that potential customers will engage with your brand at the right time in their buying journey.

However, consistency isn’t just about frequency. It’s also about the quality and messaging within the content. Each blog post, press release or social media update should reinforce the same core messages and align with your overall business goals. Inconsistent quality or off-brand messaging can confuse prospects and damage your credibility, making it harder to build trust.

The role of PR

For many B2B tech companies, maintaining this drumbeat of high-quality content is easier said than done. Internal marketing teams are often stretched thin, juggling product launches, sales support and various other responsibilities. This is where a Performance PR agency can become an invaluable partner.

PR agencies bring a fresh perspective and have the resources to ensure that content creation remains on track. By working closely with your team, they can craft content that aligns with your brand’s tone and messaging while keeping the output steady and focused. They also have the media connections to strategically place your content in front of the right audience, whether that’s through thought leadership articles, press coverage or industry-specific blogs.

In short, a PR agency can help you maintain the balance between quantity and quality, ensuring that your content continually reinforces your brand’s authority and drives engagement without putting additional strain on your internal resources.

Consistency drives growth

At its core, sharing consistent PR and marketing content is about building relationships. Each piece of content serves as a touchpoint with your audience, nurturing leads and building trust over time. This trust is especially important in the B2B tech space, where buying decisions are high-stakes and involve multiple stakeholders.

A well-executed, consistent PR strategy creates a virtuous cycle: the more valuable content you produce, the more visibility you gain, which in turn leads to more opportunities to showcase your expertise. Over time, this positions your brand as a leader in the industry and drives long-term growth.

Remaining at the forefront

For B2B tech businesses, the challenge is clear: without a steady stream of high-quality, consistent content, your brand risks being overshadowed in a competitive market. But with the right PR partner, you can keep your brand at the forefront, ensuring that decision-makers consistently see your expertise, innovation and thought leadership.

The drumbeat of content is not just noise – it’s the rhythm that drives engagement, trust and, ultimately, growth.

Get in touch with our Head of Content to learn how we can support your content needs.

Generating high-quality leads is one of the biggest challenges facing emerging and growing B2B tech companies. Despite having innovative products or services, attracting and converting potential customers into leads often proves difficult. One approach that can play a part in helping to overcome this challenge is focusing on your company’s reputation.

A strong reputation, built on a foundation of credibility and trust, naturally attracts leads, making potential customers more likely to engage with your business and resulting in higher conversions and sustained growth. The solution lies in measuring and strengthening your reputation strategically.

In B2B tech, reputation is a critical factor. Potential customers are more inclined to engage with companies they perceive as credible and trustworthy. A strong reputation reassures them that your company can deliver on its promises.

However, reputation isn’t just about being well-known. It’s about being well-regarded in your industry for reliability, innovation and customer satisfaction. Companies that successfully build and maintain a positive reputation tend to see a significant impact on their lead generation efforts. But how do you measure and enhance something as intangible as reputation?

Measuring your reputation

The first step in improving your reputation is understanding where you currently stand. This requires a comprehensive assessment using a variety of metrics and tools. For instance, monitoring media coverage can provide insights into how often and in what context your company is being mentioned. Positive media coverage can boost your reputation, while negative press can damage it, which is why sentiment analysis of these mentions is crucial to understanding their impact.

Customer reviews and social media sentiment also offer valuable clues about your reputation. What are people saying about your brand? Are there recurring themes in the feedback you receive? By paying attention to these channels, you can better understand how your company is perceived by current and potential customers.

Another powerful tool is brand perception studies. These can be particularly useful for understanding both prompted and unprompted awareness of your brand. By surveying a representative sample of your target audience, you can gauge how well-known your brand is and what qualities are associated with it.

Strengthening your reputation

Once you’ve gathered data on your current reputation, the next step is to use these insights to enhance it. This is where a performance-driven PR approach becomes crucial. Rather than relying on generic strategies, you can develop targeted campaigns that directly address the areas where your reputation needs improvement.

For instance, if your media coverage has been lacking, you might focus on securing more positive press through thought leadership articles, product announcements or industry commentary. If customer reviews reveal dissatisfaction with a particular aspect of your service, you can address those concerns and communicate the changes to your audience.

Storytelling is another powerful way to strengthen your reputation. By highlighting your company’s strengths and successes, through carefully crafted compelling narratives, you can shift public perception in a more positive direction. Whether through blog posts, social media updates or press releases, consistently communicating your value proposition will help build a more robust reputation.

As you strengthen your reputation, you’ll likely notice a positive feedback loop forming. A stronger reputation attracts more leads, which in turn provides more opportunities to demonstrate your company’s value and further enhance your reputation.

This loop is particularly important in the B2B tech sector, where decision-makers are often cautious and methodical in their purchasing decisions. They want to be sure that they’re choosing a partner who is competent and trustworthy. By consistently improving your reputation, you’re giving them the confidence they need to take the next step and engage with your business.

For B2B tech companies, generating leads is not just about having a great product or service – it’s about being perceived as a leader in your field. By focusing on measuring and strengthening your reputation, you can create a solid foundation that attracts high-quality leads and drives long-term growth.

Discover our PR and media relations services and the role they play in strengthening business reputation.

Successfully launching a new product into the B2B tech market is no small feat. In what is typically a highly competitive environment, breaking through the noise to capture attention is crucial. One of the most powerful ways to do this is by making effective use of product demonstrations, incorporating creative elements to make them more compelling and memorable.

Product demos offer a unique opportunity to showcase your product’s value in a tangible way. Unlike static descriptions or product images, a demo allows potential customers to see the product in action, making it easier for them to understand its benefits and applications. But to truly resonate, demos must be more than just a feature walk-through; they should be tailored to the specific needs and challenges of your target audience.

Personalisation is key. By understanding the pain points of your prospects, you can craft a demo that directly addresses their concerns and shows how your product can solve their problems. This approach not only makes the demo more relevant but also builds a stronger connection with your audience, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

Incorporating storytelling techniques into your demo can significantly boost its impact. A narrative that aligns with the customer’s journey can turn a straightforward demo into a compelling story. For example, start by outlining a common challenge your audience faces, then demonstrate how your product provides a solution, illustrating the journey from problem to resolution.

Adding creative elements, such as visuals, analogies, or customer testimonials, can make the demo more engaging and memorable. The company’s spokespeople can be filmed, talking about the business benefits of the product and these videos then interwoven with ‘screen grabs’ of the product itself, or film of users working with them. These elements help to break down complex features into digestible snippets, helping ensure the information is more accessible to your audience. Additionally, a well-crafted story can evoke emotions, making the demo not just informative but also inspiring.

Maximising reach

To ensure your demo reaches as wide an audience as possible, consider utilising multiple channels for delivery. Live webinars, video tutorials and in-person presentations each offer unique advantages and can cater to different audience preferences.

► Live webinars: Provide an interactive forum where prospects can ask questions in real-time, creating a dialogue that builds trust

► Video tutorials: Allow prospects to engage with your product in their own time, offering flexibility while still delivering the core message

► In-person presentations: Offer a more personal touch, particularly useful for complex products where hands-on experience can make a difference

A multi-channel approach not only increases visibility but also ensures that your demo is accessible to different segments of your audience, wherever they are in their buyer journey.

Enhancing impact with strategic PR

PR can play a key role in enhancing the effectiveness of your product demos. Performance-driven PR strategies are often tailored to resonate with your target audience with refined narratives, compelling visuals or even interactive Q&A sessions, helping to ensure that demo content engages with the right people.

Gathering feedback from demo participants is also essential for ongoing success. When effectively collected and analysed, insights can be used to refine your product and improve future demonstrations. This iterative approach ensures that your demos are not just a one-time effort but an evolving tool that continually engages and converts.

In the B2B tech sector, a successful product launch requires more than just innovative technology. It demands a strategic approach to capturing attention and building trust. Engaging, personalised product demos, delivered through multiple channels and enhanced by PR, are a powerful way to achieve this. Products are then more likely to make a lasting impact in the market, paving the way for a successful launch and sustained growth.

Talk to us about the role of demos and the difference they can make to your product launch here.

When people think of PR, they’ll undoubtedly mention securing media coverage. So let’s indulge that old PR archetype for one second: securing coverage, being quoted in the press, having a feature written about your brand – that’s media relations, or the process of taking a story about your brand and delivering it to the media outlets which matter most to your organisation.

While that’s certainly one aspect, as you’ll recall, we’ve explored how modern PR is much more – encompassing social media, creative and content.

We asked our Senior Account Director and media relations expert, Alex Kent, what he was looking to achieve with media relations as part of an integrated PR campaign.

“The aim is a campaign that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Each piece of activity should work together to maximise impact and achieve the goal for that campaign in a measurable way,” he says.

So as Alex suggests, even though media coverage is still vital – it’s not just about getting mentioned. It’s about getting mentioned and making sure that coverage works hard across all channels to drive measurable impact.

Multichannel amplification

How can other channels help maximise the impact of our coverage? Multichannel amplification, as we call it, is one of the most effective strategies. This involves repurposing published content across various platforms to boost its visibility and extend its lifespan. For instance, a feature article in a major publication can be shared on social media, included in an email newsletter and highlighted on your website.

As each channel captures a different segment of your audience, repurposing content across them allows you to reach those who might have missed the original published piece, thus ensuring broader and more targeted engagement.

Employee advocacy

Consider this: if each employee in your organisation has an average of 500 LinkedIn followers – a network of professionals and peers they’ve connected with throughout their careers in your sector – imagine the impact if even half of your employees shared that coverage. The reach of that piece would dramatically increase.

Beyond the expanded reach, employee shares add a layer of authenticity; coverage becomes more relatable and trustworthy, which is particularly valuable in B2B contexts.

The credibility factor

Coverage gained through media relations – earned media – is one of the most credible forms of brand visibility. Unlike advertorials or paid advertisements, which are very much viewed with scepticism, earned media is seen as authentic and unbiased. Being featured in a reputable publication signals trustworthiness and conveys that your brand is to be taken seriously. This distinction is especially crucial for B2B buyers, who heavily rely on peer reviews and credible sources when making purchasing decisions.

Consistency breeds credibility

If your brand is consistently appearing – favourably – in media coverage of reputable publications, over time it’s going to increase your brand’s visibility. If prospects are seeing your brand mentioned time and time again in the publications they respect, you’re also going to start building trust with them. Positioning your brand as a credible leader in your industry will make it easier to convert them into customers.

The importance of strong media relationships

Every successful media campaign needs a compelling narrative – because let’s face it, in a world drowning in content, it’s the stories that make us ‘feel’ which are memorable and impactful. But without knowing the right people to tell it to, it’s difficult to get a story out of the gate. Therefore if you want to land coverage in the right outlets where a story is going to resonate with your target audience, strong media relationships are a must.

At Whiteoaks, our 30-year heritage means we’ve built a roster of media relationships based on trust, compelling, verified stories and human connections. It means we have choice and scope to target the publications and outlets which align with your audience and business goals.

These relationships are built on a keen understanding of the individual preferences and focus areas of journalists and editors. As a result, our pitches are more likely to be prioritised, leading to consistent and favourable coverage – an essential component for maintaining your brand’s visibility and credibility.

Measuring media relations

Every piece of media coverage should be strategically designed to support broader business objectives, such as lead generation, brand awareness or thought leadership. It should never be viewed in isolation but as an integral part of your overall PR and marketing strategy.

In previous blog posts, we’ve discussed how KPIs can gauge the success of PR efforts, and the same principles apply to measuring coverage. When coverage is effectively amplified using the methods mentioned above, its impact becomes quantifiable. Engagement rates on shared articles, website traffic driven by media placements and conversions linked to media mentions can all be attributed to your efforts. This is central to our Performance PR approach, ensuring that every piece of coverage contributes meaningfully to your business goals.

Integrating media relations into broader PR strategies

Media relations is just one piece of the integrated jigsaw that is Performance PR – it is no longer a standalone entity; a clipping in a newspaper; a link to an article. It should be seen as the catalyst to seek new opportunities to achieve expanded reach, visibility and new audiences through integration with its sisterly disciplines of content, social media and creative. By doing so, you can ensure that your efforts not only generate coverage but also drive measurable business outcomes.

If your media coverage isn’t driving your business objectives or loses momentum after the initial buzz, it might be time to reconsider whether you’re maximising its potential. Why not drop us a message? Let’s explore how we can help make your media coverage work harder for your business.

Marketing emails, online adverts, cold calling. As consumers we can often feel bombarded by direct marketing and sales techniques. In the world of B2B tech, traditional strategies that push products and services might seem enough to establish a brand and drive sales, but they sometimes fall short of establishing a meaningful connection with the target audience. Why? Because prospects can feel alienated by tactics that only aim to create conversions.

This is where thought leadership comes into play; a strategy that enhances direct promotion by building credibility and fostering trust to drive long-term business growth.

The power of thought leadership

Thought leadership offers a tangible alternative to the traditional, product-focused marketing approach. In essence, it’s about positioning a brand as an expert organisation in a chosen field by sharing valuable insights, predictions and commentary on industry trends and technological advancements.

When a company is seen as a thought leader, it gains credibility and trust. This trust can significantly influence the perception of a company, making prospects more likely to consider its products or services when they are ready to make a purchase. In fact, as many as 73% of B2B decision-makers think that thought leadership content is more trustworthy for evaluating a company’s capabilities than marketing materials.

Where a B2B tech brand consistently produces high-quality thought leadership content, expertise is demonstrated to readers. Prospects gain added value via educational content, helping them to make informed decisions.

Integrating thought-led content into performance-led campaigns

Thought leadership content can take many forms. Articles and blogs can focus on relevant topics, issues or challenges and offer insights or predictions from individual thought leaders. Research reports and whitepapers can delve deeper into complex topics, using stats to back up the narrative. Key spokespeople can even participate in podcasts or webinars to share their thoughts on a key topic or talking point, all without any pushy sales tactics.

To maximise thought leadership efforts, brands should consider adopting an performance-driven PR approach. This involves strategically promoting thought leadership content across various channels to ensure it reaches the right audience.

Whiteoaks has experts in media relations, design, social media and content creation who come together to deliver

Sharing thought leadership content on social media platforms also allows brands to directly engage with audiences without the big sales push. Content syndication on platforms like LinkedIn or X can increase visibility and drive more traffic to a brand’s website, enabling the conversation to reach as many potential prospects as possible.

A performance-driven approach also means continuously measuring the impact of thought leadership efforts. By analysing metrics such as engagement, click through rate and conversion rates, it’s possible to identify what’s working and what needs improvement to drive results.

A balanced approach for sustainable growth

By integrating thought leadership content into an overall marketing strategy, brands can not only enhance their direct promotion efforts, but also build a foundation of credibility and trust that drives long-term growth.

As B2B decision-makers increasingly turn to thought leadership content to evaluate companies, those who invest in this strategy will be better positioned to win both their trust and business.

Learn more about integrated B2B tech PR campaigns here.

The sales funnel is all about those important steps that a potential buyer goes through to become a customer. It’s vital to know where a prospect is in this process so the next best move can be decided. With the main goal of turning prospects into customers, B2B tech businesses first need to tackle the ‘awareness’ and ‘consideration’ stages of the funnel to get their brand front of mind. What they might not realise is the importance of PR in those opening two phases.

Raising awareness among the target audience

The ‘awareness’ stage of the sales funnel often involves introducing a brand to potential customers. The goal is to reach as many relevant prospects as possible, making them aware of the brand’s existence and value proposition. So how does PR add value to this stage?

A performance-driven integrated PR campaign can actually lay the foundations for increased awareness. One way is through media coverage. By securing placements in relevant industry publications, blogs and news outlets, the brand gains visibility among its target audience. Press releases announcing new products or company milestones can position the business as a key player in the industry.

Alongside traditional media, social media can create a buzz around the brand. Creative campaigns on channels including LinkedIn, X and Facebook can engage, entertain and inform followers and prospects. It’s another opportunity to draw in potential customers who may have previously been unaware of the company. A mix of informative content on owned channels, such as on the brand’s website, and earnt mentions on other platforms can widen its reach.

But not everything has gone digital. It’s also really important to get out there and attend events. Trade shows, conferences and industry functions provide opportunities for direct interaction with potential customers. Expertise can be shared, products can be promoted and leads can be added to the funnel for nurturing later on.

PR in the ‘consideration’ stage

Once a prospect becomes aware of the brand, they move into the ‘consideration’ stage, where they actively evaluate whether the product or service meets their needs. Performance PR continues to play a critical role here, helping to build trust and demonstrate value with measurable results.

Establishing the brand as a thought leader in the industry is crucial during this stage. Through expert articles, whitepapers and speaking engagements, integrated PR campaigns can position the brand as an authority in its field. This approach helps prospects see an organisation as not just a provider of products, but as a trusted advisor with deep industry knowledge.

Email campaigns are crucial in staying in touch with prospects during the ‘consideration’ stage. PR-driven content can play a role here. Insightful articles, interviews or news coverage can be incorporated into emails or newsletters directly engage with and nurture leads.

Customer testimonials and case studies can also be promoted through various channels. Highlighting success stories in which a product has solved real-world problems for other businesses can be incredibly persuasive. It builds credibility and reassures prospects that your brand is a reliable choice, increasing the chances of a conversion.

PR as a growth driver

Performance PR doesn’t just create buzz, it guides prospects through the early stages of the sales funnel, setting the stage for conversions. By boosting brand awareness and fostering trust during the consideration stage, PR efforts make the work of sales and marketing teams much easier. Prospects who are aware of and trust a given brand are more likely to engage with sales materials, respond to marketing campaigns, and ultimately, make a purchase.

The impact of PR on the sales funnel is clear: it first drives prospects into the funnel, and then ensures they move smoothly towards making a decision. It’s an essential tool to support business growth.

Want to find out more about Performance PR’s impact on the sales funnel? Talk to one of our experts today.

Increasing brand awareness is a non-negotiable for growing businesses. Without strong brand visibility, potential customers may overlook your products or services, opting for competitors who have built a stronger and more established reputation. Growth plans are hindered as a lack of awareness translates to fewer leads, fewer instances of customer engagement and ultimately lower sales. One way to enhance brand awareness and recognition is via entering, and ideally winning, industry awards. But why are industry awards so effective in building a powerful brand, and how can B2B tech organisations submit a winning entry?

Celebrating excellence in the industry

Industry awards serve to celebrate excellence within a specific industry. They’re not just certificates or trophies that sit on office shelves, but external validation of the effort, hard work and dedication applied by specific individuals or teams to projects. This endorsement builds trust with potential customers and partners, reassuring them of the organisation’s quality and reliability. Awards can often come with media coverage, increasing your brand’s reach. This exposure helps differentiate the organisation from competitors and puts your brand in front of a broader audience.

Awards also play into team recognition and morale. They recognise the hard work and dedication of your team, boosting job satisfaction and increasing the chances of employee retention. This recognition can also attract top talent to your company. Award wins can be showcased on your website and social media channels, as well as in job descriptions and wider marketing strategies to appeal to jobseekers who are looking to join a celebrated organisation.

Benefits can also come from attending the in-person ceremonies often attached with being shortlisted for awards. These events provide a chance for attendees to network with other stakeholders in the industry and increase brand awareness.

A PR agency to assist in the process

While there are many advantages to winning or being shortlisted for awards, casting a wide net and applying for every award available is not the right approach to take. Researching industry awards that align with your business goals and values takes time. You must consider what your company most excels at, for example. Also, which category is most applicable? If your main product is software-as-a-service, there will often be specific categories offered by award providers that focus purely on this type of solution. It’s then easier to back up an entry with relevant data and testimonials that give your business the best chance of both being shortlisted and winning the award.

As a performance-driven PR agency we help our clients build brand awareness and credibility by identifying them towards the most appropriate awards and categories to enter. Award entries often have strict word counts, so every sentence needs to be impactful. Our team of specialist content writers have vast experience of devising award-winning entries. These experts can incorporate the most relevant information into the most concise, yet compelling answers to questions.

With award entries often coming with a range of criteria, our experts’ attention to detail ensures every award entry fits the brief and conveys exactly why your business is worthy of the recognition.

Building a recognisable brand

In the competitive world of B2B tech, building a recognisable brand is essential for growth and success. Industry awards offer a powerful solution to this challenge by providing a platform to celebrate and validate your company’s excellence.

When done right, award entries are a strategic investment that can drive significant benefits for your business and brand. Partnering with a performance-driven PR agency can be invaluable in this process, helping to identify the most relevant awards and categories, and crafting compelling entries with meticulous attention to the entry requirements.

The results? Not only does winning the award give you another accolade to add to your trophy cabinet, but it can also increase brand reach in the media, help you stand out from the competition and even boost team morale.

Want to find out about how we can help you achieve industry recognition? Chat to one of our experts today.

Maximising event attendance to become a thought leader

Establishing thought leadership in your industry is essential for gaining recognition and credibility. For emerging and growing B2B tech businesses, being seen as a thought leader can make the difference between being an industry frontrunner, or an also-ran.

Despite having innovative ideas and a unique value proposition, many B2B tech companies struggle to position themselves as thought leaders. This can be particularly frustrating when significant efforts have been made in product development and securing speaking slots at key events, yet prospects and partners still gravitate towards competitors perceived as more knowledgeable.

Getting your voice heard

Becoming a thought leader involves more than just having good ideas. It requires consistent and strategic efforts to communicate your insights and expertise to the right audience.

Many companies face the challenge of getting noticed in a crowded market where numerous voices are vying for attention. In tandem with your PR and marketing campaigns, the key is to leverage every opportunity to showcase your expertise, and one of the most effective ways to do this is by maximising your event attendance.

Events offer a unique platform to connect with industry peers, potential clients and partners and become part of a meaningful conversation. However, simply attending events is not enough. To truly stand out and be recognised as a thought leader, you need to strategically use these opportunities to create and share valuable content.

Leveraging event insights

By partnering with a performance-driven PR agency, you can turn event attendance into a powerful tool for building your thought leadership credentials. PR agencies can identify events that align with your business goals, appeal to your target audiences and offer the best opportunities for exposure. They can support your attendance by providing expert team members to join you at events, or even on your behalf, to gather valuable information and perspectives.

PR professionals are adept at identifying key themes and trends at events. They can capture the most important discussions, keynote speeches and panel debates, which can form the basis of or spark ideas for you own unique, compelling content. This content not only highlights your expertise within the industry but also positions your business and key stakeholders as forward-thinking leaders who are ahead of the curve.

Content developed from event insights can take various forms, including whitepapers, articles and blog posts. These pieces should not only reflect the key themes of the event but also relate to your business and the broader industry. By making this connection, you demonstrate your ability to connect industry trends and hot topics with practical applications, showcasing your thought leadership.

Whitepapers can delve deep into the topics discussed at the event, offering detailed analysis and your unique perspective. Commentary articles can provide a more immediate response to the event, highlighting your thoughts on the key takeaways and their implications for the industry, while blog posts offer a more personal touch, sharing your experiences and insights from the event and can be supplemented with your photos from the event.

Amplifying your content

Once you have created this content, it is essential to leverage it. For instance, your sales and marketing teams can use these materials as powerful handouts at future events or meetings with prospects to reinforce your expertise and credibility. Sharing this content on your website and social media channels can also help reach a broader audience and position you as a thought leader in the digital space.

A Performance PR agency can be invaluable in this process. Our team of experts can help identify the most relevant events for your industry and business goals. They can also assist in developing a strategic plan for attending and leveraging these events and the information gathered to maximise your thought leadership potential. By working with a Performance PR agency, you can ensure that your efforts to be seen as a thought leaders are strategic, consistent and, importantly, effective.

Want to find out more about how to maximise event attendance for thought leadership? Talk to one of our experts today.

We recently likened integrated Performance PR campaigns to an orchestra.

Each channel – social media, content, media and creative – represents different instruments. When they play together they engage the audience and crescendo to create a powerful, memorable PR campaign.

But imagine this: the oboist is actually really a flautist, the harpist is off sick and the conductor has only been practising a year.

Can they pull it off? If the individual players lack the necessary proficiency and expertise, they likely won’t play their parts correctly, let alone sound good together.

Just as a successful orchestra relies on skilled musicians, an effective PR campaign depends on professionals, knowledgeable in each discipline to build a cohesive and impactful performance.

Expertise

Social media, creative, media relations and content are the instrumental parts of an integrated PR campaign and having extensive knowledge in each component means excellence in each discipline. Fortunately at Whiteoaks we have a team of dedicated experts who know how to hit all the right notes. To prove it, we asked them what it takes to craft an integrated PR campaign and why specialists are essential.

Creative

While other disciplines largely stay in their lane, creative’s role is to straddle multiple channels and bring them to life. If we continue our orchestra analogy, creative is like the percussion section which adds excitement and colour to the soundscape.

In integrated PR, messaging must always remain consistent, but creative is where diversity can be afforded.

“Without a strong message, the execution falls apart; there is no point to it. Creative also runs off the messaging, and the best campaigns are those that bring the messaging to life in a unique and different way,” says Whiteoaks Creative Director, Mark Wilson.

He adds: “The most engaging campaigns are those which take a risk from the ‘norm’ and try something different.”

This is especially important in B2B circles, where audiences see a lot of the same thing. However, while creative needs to be engaging, it should always remain relevant – a fine balance.

Social

Social media offers immense potential for your content – be that blog posts, whitepapers, videos or infographics – to go viral and significantly boost your campaign’s reach, visibility and impact.

Specialist expertise ensures these campaigns are technically sound, culturally relevant and timely.

The tech industry thrives on knowledge sharing and innovation, as enthusiasts, professionals and consumers are highly active on social media. This makes it the perfect conduit for a technology PR campaign.

Natalia Kaczmarek, our Digital Content Manager, highlights the value of social media for tech brands.

“The dynamic nature of the industry demands real-time engagement, immediate feedback and continuous communication, all of which social media excels at providing,” she says.

Natalia’s top advice for tech brands to excel in social media for their integrated PR campaigns revolves around one word: consistency.

“Posting consistently keeps your brand relevant in the algorithm. This doesn’t mean you have to share new posts every day. Consistency helps you meet your target audience’s expectations of when to anticipate new content, which is key to boosting engagement and post reach,” she says.

Consistency in messaging, themes, and narratives helps create a compelling story that resonates deeply with your audience.

Having an expert like Natalia on your campaign ensures you have someone with a robust understanding of the analytics tools needed to provide insightful data on audience behaviour, preferences and engagement – essential for refining and optimising campaigns.

Media

We asked Alex Kent, our Senior Account Director, about the biggest media-related challenges in tech PR. He pointed out that securing media coverage is something most agencies can do, but actually being seen and heard in such a saturated market is one of the toughest hurdles.

“B2B is noisy! There are a lot of people with opinions, especially on LinkedIn, where those opinions are unfiltered,” he says.

Creating a successful media relations tech PR campaign requires a deep understanding of the media landscape and a clear vision of your goals.

According to Alex, you should: “Start with an objective and work backwards. Once you have the objective, figure out what story supports it. Only then can you design the tactics to get that story in front of the right people.”

Having an experienced PR consultant who can place the right stories in the right publications is a powerful way to reach customers.

“As I tell any junior team member, there’s no substitute for experience. The only way to know what to recommend to a client is through years of practice,” Alex adds.

Content

Creating content as part of an integrated tech PR campaign involves producing valuable and relevant materials which resonate with the target audience.

Whiteoaks’ Hannah Buckley, Head of Content and Service Development, stresses the importance of specialist knowledge and how it means that content is created with the target audience in mind and so is ‘written in their language’.

“We write about highly complex topics across everything from cybersecurity to the latest innovations in healthtech, so it’s only right we take the approach of having a team of dedicated, specialist content writers,” she says.

She adds at other agencies, you may find ‘all-rounders’ within a team creating content for your brand.

“When content isn’t written by a specialist B2B content creator, you can really tell,” she says. This isn’t the case at Whiteoaks.

Specialist expertise ensures that content is not only engaging, balances technical depth with accessibility but also strategically aligns with the campaign’s objectives.

Integrated = team

Our experts bring experience, understand challenges and can adapt quickly. Working together with clients is key, and when experts who’ve completed many successful projects team up – as is here at Whiteoaks – they become a single force.

As Mark puts it: “We work really well as a team. We’re a medium-sized organisation, agile, and we can just go and talk to each other across the desks. We’re all genuinely interested in making our clients’ campaigns work – we’re driven by their success. And we love what we do.”

Make sure it’s only experts who are conducting your integrated Performance PR campaign. Take the first step in raising your game by contacting us today

Performance PR – a proven approach to results and accountability

So, you’re a successful tech brand eager to attract new clients and establish industry credibility. You decide to invest in PR, and enlist a top-tier agency on a monthly retainer, which promises coverage in leading industry publications. The campaign has some success, but it’s not what you’d hoped for, especially considering your investment. There’s a distinct lack of tangible results, the phones have remained eerily quiet, and the promised influx of engagement and referrals fails to materialise. Frustrated, you abandon the PR element of your marketing and communications campaign. All you have to show are several large holes in your budget, and a boss piling on the pressure for results.

This is a frequent scenario we hear from marketing and senior leadership teams within technology businesses, who come to us deflated and disappointed with their incumbent PR agency. After poor performance, insufficient results and a lack of accountability, the high cost is the final nail in the coffin. Expensive retainers, missed targets, and lack of transparency, which leaves brands with zero recourse, is a model that has given PR a bad name. But thankfully, there is an alternative. One that addresses all of these issues, and it’s something that we have preached and practised at Whiteoaks for over 30 years.

This is Performance PR

At the heart of Performance PR is a commitment to offering fixed fees for fixed outcomes. We work closely with clients and agree to targets that connect with their overall business objectives. We guarantee that if those agreed targets are not met, the client gets their money back. It offers peace of mind for the client and accountability for us.

The measurability conversation

While some will argue that you can’t measure PR, that is not the case with performance PR. In fact, it is essential to validate successes and understand a campaign’s impact. Campaigns should be designed and measured around the target audience; has it reached who it was intended for? Has the audience engaged with the campaign, and how? And at what scale?

Modern performance PR

Performance PR also presents a shift away from traditional media relations to modern PR, which includes integrated campaigns involving social media, content, and creative work. Measurability is central to performance PR, so being able to quantify these components is key to ensuring targets are hit. We measure our campaigns with key performance indicators (KPIs) which can include traditional coverage volume but depending on the audience, objectives and campaign, may also include things like website referrals and social media engagement. As integrated campaigns have a lot of moving parts, they require distinct areas of expertise to execute them effectively. The Whiteoaks team is made up of experts in different areas including social media, design, and content creation. We all work together to build and drive truly integrated Performance PR campaigns.

Performance PR and business objectives

Unsurprisingly, a lot of PR agencies will talk about being results-driven or result-oriented but it’s only performance PR that can actually walk the walk. We understand that marketers in tech brands are under a lot of pressure to deliver the leads that will fuel growth – and with Performance PR, campaigns are designed to deliver the metrics that are aligned with a company’s business objectives – which is key to gaining senior management buy-in.

Why we excel at Performance PR

Performance PR isn’t just another superficial marketing tactic at Whiteoaks; it’s ingrained in our approach, as it embodies our values and behaviours. Our values underpin our performance-led approach – quality, teamwork, integrity and commerciality. And in our employee-owned business, every staff member is personally invested; your results are our success too. This results in better outcomes for our clients. Performance PR allows us to be one hundred per cent accountable to our clients, and to continually improve and evolve our services. As a result, over our 30-year heritage, we’ve become a trusted partner to many.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we do Performance PR here at Whiteoaks and how it can help you achieve your business objectives, get in touch: https://whiteoaks.co.uk/contact/