Category: Brand Awareness

In this blog, Mark Wilson, Creative Director at Whiteoaks, discusses:

  • How B2B buyers are increasingly using AI search to find answers
  • Why AEO-optimised video can help brands appear in those answers
  • How strong creative, captions and supporting copy make AEO video more effective

 

For years, B2B video has been judged by whether it can hold attention and leave the viewer with a clear impression of the brand. AI-led search has added another requirement: the content must also make its meaning clear before anyone presses play. And that changes the creative brief.

A potential buyer can now encounter a brand through an AI-generated answer, a comparison video or a selected video moment long before reaching that brand’s website. This shift in online search behaviour is moving people away from browsing pages and piecing together information themselves towards asking more direct questions and expecting tailored and immediate responses.

That means brands need to think differently about how their content is structured, framed and understood by the platforms delivering those answers. Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) is the process of making content easier for search engines and AI tools to understand and surface in response to those questions.

For B2B brands, the opportunity is therefore to create AEO videos with a clearer purpose, built around the questions buyers are asking and supported by the context answer engines need to interpret it.

AEO isn’t just about written content

Video is crucial to AEO because it helps to provide concise answers to complex questions – essential skill for marketers of very technical B2B solutions. Buyers may be trying to understand how one solution compares with another, how it will integrate with their existing operations and what the long-term implications could be.

Q&A videos work well because they reflect the questions buyers are already asking and allow brands to respond directly without turning every answer into a sales pitch – which we know often puts buyers off! Each question gives the content a distinct focus, making its relevance easier for viewers and answer engines to understand.

Comparison videos can support buyers when they are weighing up different solutions and approaches to solve their challenges. The strongest examples go beyond placing two solutions side by side. They explain the criteria, the trade-offs involved and which option may be better suited to a particular problem.

This requires confidence from the brand as a credible comparison acknowledges differences, limitations and suitability rather than presenting one solution as the obvious choice in every situation. That honesty helps buyers make sense of a complex decision while demonstrating genuine expertise.

Context to support AEO video

An effective AEO video needs enough surrounding context to help answer engines understand what it covers, who it is intended for and which question it addresses. That context should be considered during the creative process rather than added once production is complete. That includes the video’s title, page copy, description, transcript and captions – all of which should reinforce the same narrative and purpose.

Accurate captions are particularly important for accessibility reasons and they are also useful to people who are silent-scrolling – research shows that a whopping 85% of social media users watch videos without sound. For technical B2B subjects, getting the detail right is especially important because poorly transcribed product names, acronyms or specialist terms can quickly weaken brand credibility.

Bottom line, the clearer the relationship between the video and its surrounding content, the easier it is for LLMs to understand its relevance. Supporting context, however, cannot compensate for an unfocused brand narrative, conflicting messages or poor visuals.

Creative quality determines whether the AEO video lands

Internal marketing teams have the expertise needed to answer buyers’ questions, but translating that knowledge into a focused and engaging video can sometimes be difficult and time-consuming.

This is because subject matter experts may feel a bit uncomfortable on camera, product or brand messaging can become too detailed and limited video production resource can result in content that feels too long or overly technical. Even a strong idea can lose its impact without a clear structure and experienced creative direction.

The role of the external creative partner is to shape that expertise into a story people can understand and remember. This means identifying the central question, helping contributors communicate naturally and deciding which points are best explained through speech, graphics or visual examples.

Filming and post-production can then bring that structure to life via thoughtful editing, cutdowns, animation and on-screen prompts, which all help to simplify complex ideas, maintain attention and give the finished film the quality expected from the brand.

Whiteoaks Studio supports internal teams throughout that process, from developing the brief and video script to preparing senior leaders, filming, editing and producing the supporting visual elements. This results in a purposeful video that answer engines can interpret and buyers will want to watch.

Publishing AEO videos with a purpose

AEO should influence the video brief from the start rather than being applied at the point of upload. Publishing a general product video with a few search terms in its description is unlikely to strengthen visibility among the right audiences in today’s AI-led search environment.

A more effective approach is to plan content around the questions buyers ask at different stages of their research. Each video can then address a specific need while contributing to a broader and more useful body of content. As search behaviour continues to evolve, this gives B2B brands a stronger opportunity to remain visible, demonstrate expertise and help buyers understand complex decisions.

Don’t let AEO pass you by in the quest for brand visibility. Talk to the Whiteoaks team about your AEO video strategy today.

In this blog, Hayley Goff, CEO at Whiteoaks, discusses:

  • Why visibility is only the starting point to being remembered by audiences
  • Why built environment brands need proof-led messaging that goes beyond generic claims
  • How strong differentiation comes from consistent communication that links technical expertise to buyer priorities

 

Many built environment brands are investing heavily in visibility. Far fewer are giving buyers a memorable reason to choose them.

Of course, visibility has an important role to play in a market shaped by economic pressure, regulatory scrutiny, sustainability targets and long buying cycles. It’s critically important that brands remain present in the conversations their audiences care about.

But visibility alone is just the starting point. Buyers rarely choose the most visible brand. They choose the one they remember and trust when procurement decisions are made. This is especially important because the market is so crowded. More brands are competing for attention across earned and owned channels. At the same time, it feels like everyone is talking about innovation, sustainability and digital transformation. Standing out from this crowd seems very difficult.

Visibility needs direction

More content, social engagement and a greater presence at key built environment industry events are invaluable, but only when they are connected to a clear point of view. Without it, the market may be aware of an organisation, but not see any reason to use its services.

Brands must be clear on what they want to be known for, which industry issues they have expertise to talk about and crucially, how that connects to the pressure their audiences are facing.

Without these traits, PR and marketing campaigns can sleepwalk into becoming a series of disconnected outputs, rather than a sustained effort to build influence. And without influence, there is little opportunity to be meaningful in the conversations that shape commercial decisions. Distinctive positioning is what effectively ties visibility and influence together.

The role of distinctive positioning

To be distinctive in the market and ultimately shape influence, organisations must stay well clear of the same tried-and-tested messaging. Sustainability, innovation, energy efficiency and digital transformation are all important themes, but often the default line of positioning in audience-facing communications.

To build influence, brands must decide what they want to be known for and which challenges they can credibly address. What proof do they have to back up their claims and the lasting memory they want buyers to take away after interacting with content?

As an example, instead of saying “we help create sustainable buildings”, brands should show how their initiatives support sustainability. Think of examples such as lower operational cost, better retrofitting, measurable carbon reduction, improved occupant experience or stronger asset value. These points should be backed by real numbers. If smarter building controls and ventilation systems lead to, for example, a 15% reduction in operational energy use, the impact these technologies have is immediately clear.

What strong differentiation looks like

Numbers are key to building proof-led messaging that cuts through the noise, especially when reinforced by case studies and customer reference programmes.

It is important that senior leaders communicate a clear point of view on a sector challenge – something they can do without sounding salesy or too technical. Audiences can otherwise be left with plenty of information but no clear reason to care. The strongest communications strategies are unique and always make complex propositions easy to understand, connecting technical strengths to business outcomes.

Executive visibility can give a built environment business the individual human voice it needs among customers, prospects, partners, analysts and investors. And if its leaders communicate consistently across media placements, social media, website, sales content and at in-person events, that expertise becomes more relatable and memorable.

If a business can increase trust via influence, it can also more easily achieve its goals, such as a stronger share of voice or more visits to its website. A clear, measurable example of impact is a shift up the rankings of top built environment brands from unprompted consideration among potential buyers – evidence that the organisation is front-of-mind.

A clearer approach

A strong built environment brand cannot rely on being visible alone. It needs to be trusted and remembered for something specific. A business competing in this sector must never run silent when the economic weather is dubious. It must move from generic, run-of-the-mill messaging to a clearer position that reflects and amplifies its unique expertise in the market.

Visibility may get a brand into the conversation. Proof-led positioning is what keeps it there. Discover more about driving influence by getting in touch with the Whiteoaks team.

In this blog, Whiteoaks’ Digital Content Manager, Natalia Kaczmarek, discusses:

  • How to improve LinkedIn engagement and reach for B2B brands
  • How executive visibility on LinkedIn supports PR and growth
  • How to measure LinkedIn performance and content effectiveness

 

“I grew to 10k followers in 90 days. Here’s how.”

You’ve likely seen some version of that post on LinkedIn. It usually comes with a familiar set of tips: be more visible, more personal. Be more ‘human’.

And while there’s a grain of truth in all of it, it doesn’t always sit comfortably for senior leaders who are thinking more carefully about their reputation, their role and the business they represent.

This type of popular guidance is designed to drive engagement in the moment, rather than build credibility over time, or supporting wider PR and commercial goals.

But when some studies suggest organic company-page content makes up just 2% of the LinkedIn feed, compared with 59% for creator content, you know you have to do something.

So yes, ‘posting more’ or sharing more of yourself is part of the solution, but there’s more to it than that, and this is what we’ll explore here in this blog.

1. Consistency builds visibility, but that doesn’t have to mean posting daily

One of the most common pieces of advice on LinkedIn is to post every day, but in practice consistency is less about constant output and more about finding the right cadence for you and, importantly, one you can sustain without compromising the quality of your content. 

For most senior leaders, daily posting just isn’t realistic, and when it’s forced, it’s fairly obvious – rushed, repetitive or disconnected from anything meaningful, which ultimately does more harm than good.

A more effective approach is to settle into a steady rhythm. That might be two or three posts a week, or a regular pattern of considered thought leadership. What matters is that it’s consistent enough for people to start recognising your perspective, without diluting the substance behind it.

It also aligns much more closely with how LinkedIn works in practice. Regular activity gives the platform clearer signals about your relevance, creates more opportunities for engagement and, over time, allows your reach to build cumulatively. 

So how does this connect with your wider PR activity? If you have a LinkedIn presence, it means you’re already going to be visible when a piece of coverage lands, giving your story more context and staying power. Your story or post won’t suddenly feel out of place but a natural extension of conversations you’re already having. Instead of a one-off spike, it becomes part of a broader, more credible narrative.

If you’re posting regularly, you’re also more likely to maintain momentum when campaign noise isn’t as loud. 

Where it often goes wrong is when people overcommit to posting on LinkedIn at the beginning, only to fall silent a few weeks later. Those bursts of activity followed by long gaps make it difficult to build any real momentum or familiarity with your audience.

2. Reach is driven by engagement 

It’s easy to assume posting regularly is the main driver, but really it’s only one part. What really expands your reach is how people engage with your content.

When your followers engage, whether through comments, reactions or shares, your post moves beyond your immediate circle and into theirs. The more meaningful the engagement, the more LinkedIn interprets your content as relevant and the wider it’s distributed. 

Recent LinkedIn analysis suggests a typical post reaches just 2-6% of followers in its initial distribution, while the platform increasingly pushes content to non-followers based on topic relevance. 

As you plan, consider the kind of posts that invite responses. What sparks conversation? What makes people want to add their perspective? Think of it as building a two-way interaction, rather than simply deciding what you want to broadcast. Because posting alone is not enough. LinkedIn no longer relies mainly on your follower base to decide who sees your content. It tests relevance first, so your content needs to feel relevant to the audiences you want to reach if you want the platform to keep distributing it further.

3. Employee advocacy works best when it’s built on perspective

At one end of the spectrum, some organisations don’t activate their people at all. Their LinkedIn presence sits almost entirely at brand level, which limits how far their content can travel and how it’s received, especially as organic reach for LinkedIn pages has declined.

At the other, employee advocacy is treated as simple amplification. Posts are reshared, sometimes word for word, across multiple profiles. While that might increase surface-level visibility, it doesn’t create meaningful engagement as it can feel repetitive and therefore easier to ignore.

Effective employee advocacy is about giving people the space and direction to share their own perspective. That means encouraging individuals to talk about the themes that matter to the business, but through the lens of their own experience, expertise and point of view. By all means give employees clear themes and direction, but don’t give them a script. 

Employee posts should add depth, context and personality to your organisation. People find it much easier to respond when it’s coming from a person, not being pushed out by a brand.

From a PR perspective, advocacy is particularly valuable. Instead of a single brand voice pushing out a message, you have multiple credible voices reinforcing it in different ways. That gives your activity more reach, more depth and more opportunity to resonate with different audiences.

4. Overuse of AI is flattening performance

AI has made it much easier to produce content at scale, and while we’re not against AI per se, it does become an issue when it starts to replace thinking rather than support it. As more people rely on it in the same way, LinkedIn’s content has started to feel very uniform. 

The same tones, formats and language patterns appear again and again, and when everything starts to sound the same, people stop paying attention.

It applies to engagement too; when comments are uniformly AI generated they don’t move the conversation forward, and they don’t signal meaningful engagement either. And this is so important because LinkedIn rewards relevance and interaction. So if content feels indistinct, it’s less likely to prompt a response. And without that response, it becomes much harder for it to travel beyond your immediate network.

Content that does perform well draws on specific experiences, clear examples and a defined point of view. It might include data or insight that’s either backed by evidence or comes from first-hand experience. It also needs to sound like it could only come from you. If a post could be written by anyone, it’s unlikely to perform meaningfully.

Measuring engagement and consistency on LinkedIn

Visible metrics such as likes, impressions and follower growth are easy to track, and do have value. They give you a sense of activity and reach at a surface level.

However, if you’re investing in consistent posting and building engagement, it’s just as important to take a qualitative view as well. 

For instance, study which topics are consistently prompting responses. What formats tend to hold attention and sustain reach? Who is engaging, and how often, and with what? It’s the patterns over time that matter, and when you post consistently long enough to see those patterns emerge, it enables you to measure it properly, and refine your approach.

Without that, it’s very difficult to assess and even less to build on.

This is also where LinkedIn starts to connect more clearly to PR-driven commercial outcomes. Look at how consistent visibility and engagement, driven by PR stories and content, are contributing to stronger inbound interest, more relevant conversations and, ultimately, opportunities that can be traced back to your activity.

Track which types of posts or content pillars are prompting discussion, whether certain individuals are helping to extend the reach of a topic and which themes are attracting engagement from your target audience. You might also look at whether media coverage, campaign moments or thought leadership pieces are generating follow-on engagement on LinkedIn, or whether specific formats are consistently driving responses.

This is the third blog in our “Turn Up the Volume” series, where we’ve been exploring how LinkedIn can be used to amplify B2B tech PR. We’ve already looked at how momentum builds and how PR stories travel, as well as the role LinkedIn plays as an amplifier. 

If you’re looking to turn LinkedIn activity into something commercially meaningful, our Executive Visibility Programme helps your leaders build a strong personal presence without adding to their workload, while reinforcing the PR you’re already doing. Get in touch to start building visibility which delivers more than just engagement.

In this blog, Natalia Kaczmarek, Whiteoaks’ Digital Content Manager, discusses:

  • Why current market pressures make integrated PR more important, not less
  • How sustained visibility builds credibility across earned and owned channels
  • Why stopping comms activity can make recovery harder in the long run

 

For PR and marketing teams working in the UK built environment, the current economic climate is difficult in more ways than one. The US-Israel war with Iran has added fresh, and worrying, pressure to energy markets, with oil prices rising sharply and the wider economic impact already feeding into UK concerns around costs, inflation and energy security.

At the same time, built environment organisations are operating against a backdrop of fuel poverty, tighter scrutiny on sustainability claims and the practical challenge of improving energy efficiency across ageing building stock. The sector is being asked to help solve some of the UK’s biggest long-term issues, from decarbonisation and retrofit through to housing demand and skills shortages. The pressure is definitely on – and it’s commercial, operational and reputational all at once.

Visibility supports confidence

In periods like this, it can be tempting to pull back on brand-building activity and focus only on immediate business priorities. While that instinct is understandable, reducing visibility across earned and owned channels can create a different problem. When markets are uncertain, audiences pay even closer attention to which companies are present, credible and able to speak clearly and confidently about the challenges ahead.

That is why continued investment in PR is so important, especially now.

In the built environment, visibility is sometimes treated as secondary to immediate commercial priorities, but in reality, it plays an important role in supporting them. When buyers are cautious and procurement becomes more complex, brands need to give decision-makers confidence in their expertise and market understanding. The same is true for investors, partners and policymakers.

That is particularly important in the current market, where the conversation is increasingly shaped by energy costs and the challenge of meeting net zero goals. If a brand is not contributing to those conversations with a clear and credible point of view, it becomes easier to overlook.

Integration creates momentum

An integrated PR programme gives built environment brands a more effective way to respond to market turbulence. Rather than treating media relations, social media, thought leadership and creative as separate activities, it brings them together around a shared message and a clear commercial objective.

That matters because audiences do not experience communications in silos. A prospect may first see a senior leader comment in the trade press, then come across the same business on LinkedIn, then visit the website to read a blog. Each touchpoint shapes perception. When those touchpoints are aligned, they reinforce one another and give the brand more authority.

Strong media coverage should never stand alone. It can inform social media content, support thought leadership programmes and strengthen wider brand messaging. An article from a senior leader should not simply be published and left there. It should be amplified through the spokesperson’s own channels and used to extend the life of the message. In the same way, sector commentary and campaign assets should work together to build a more consistent and credible presence.

This joined-up approach is particularly important as the built environment sector is shaped by long sales cycles, complex stakeholder groups and issues that carry regulatory and reputational significance all at once. That makes consistency far more valuable. An integrated Performance PR programme therefore helps communications teams build momentum over time, using each channel to extend reach, reinforce credibility and keep the organisation connected to the issues its audiences care about.

The case for continued PR investment

When budgets come under pressure, communications investment is often reassessed. But stopping PR activity altogether can weaken market presence at the point when credibility matters most. Brand visibility is cumulative, therefore maintaining strong media relationships and consistent thought leadership become more valuable when they are sustained over time. Once activity drops away, momentum can be difficult to regain.

For built environment firms, that can mean losing share of voice in discussions that directly affect market perception and commercial growth. It can also mean missing the chance to demonstrate leadership on the issues clients and stakeholders care about most.

It is also why Performance PR campaigns need to be measured clearly against business objectives. In a tougher market, communications teams need to show that PR activity supports wider business goals, whether that is increasing share of voice, improving engagement with target audiences, strengthening executive visibility or driving traffic to key content.

If maintaining visibility has become more challenging in the current market, this is the time to take a more joined-up approach. An integrated PR programme can help your organisation stay present, credible and connected to the issues shaping the sector. Get in touch to see how Whiteoaks can help.

In this blog, Hugh Cadman, Interim Head of Content, discusses:

  • What news hijacking means in practice
  • Why it can be such an effective tool for B2B technology brands
  • Why strong media relations are critical to making it work

 

You are the boss or CTO of a scale-up tech company and you find yourself quoted in the media on an unfolding news story. It has a high level or relevance to your product or service and your company’s name gets recognition.

It didn’t happen by accident. Your Performance PR partner had previously laid all the groundwork. They took the time to come to know your business inside-out and knew which kind of story would be best for you to comment on. They prepared a bank of possible commentary in advance and knew which media to approach. It meant that when the story broke, they were already one step ahead.

All it took was a little tweaking to make it fit journalists’ requirements as quickly as possible. Then you had the final say before anything went out.

Once the publication used the comments, more invitations to contribute to breaking news followed, boosting your profile and establishing your business as dynamic, relevant and up-to-the-minute in every respect.

This is news hijacking, and in B2B tech PR, it is a technique that can insert a relatively little-known company into a global conversation. It is the ability to offer expert commentary on a news story as it unfolds, whether in print, online or broadcast media.

News hijacking drives the kind of visibility you want in B2B technology

When done well, news hijacking results in high-profile, high-quality media coverage that drives brand visibility and positions senior spokespeople as credible experts on a topic. It is not only about being a trusted name, but also about being ready with a relevant comment at the right moment.

Journalists often work to tight deadlines, so brands that respond quickly and add genuine value are far more likely to secure coverage. That is where a strong media relations strategy makes all the difference, helping spokespeople move quickly and get in front of the right journalists at the right time.

Cyber security expertise on display

Cyber security remains the classic example because breaches, incidents and attacks on major companies or critical infrastructure can be dramatic, demanding expert insight of interest to a large audience.

The skill in this sector is choosing the right incident and being aware of sensitivities. Many cyber security companies eager to boost their profile do not want to appear opportunistic in the wake of someone else’s misfortune.

Apart from anything else, it’s not good for business. But that doesn’t mean avoiding all comment or only uttering obvious generalities.

Performance PR firms have the know-how

A Performance PR specialist knows how to calibrate commentary to give reporters and presenters what they need without being condemnatory or smug. PR specialists also have the reputation, the contacts and the channels of communication to get the whole thing rolling in the first place.

If an interview with broadcast media or podcasters is required on a developing story, it can be daunting. But any PR firm worthy of its fee should provide a full brief and run-through of the key points to cover. This is where media training proves itself invaluable, but it is not a necessity as it is not your own company that is under scrutiny, but someone else’s.

Building on a successful news hijack

Success in news hijacking doesn’t end with publication or broadcast. It’s then up to the PR agency to ensure contact is maintained and further opportunities seized upon. News hijacking is under continuous review, building on what has gone well, taking the initiative to secure more articles and opinion pieces on the back of the publicity achieved.

If you want to make news hijacking a more effective part of your media relations strategy, speak to our experts about how we can help you spot the right opportunities, respond with authority and turn timely commentary into lasting media relationships.

In this blog, Hugh Cadman, Interim Head of Content, discusses:

  • The growth of AI search online and the impact on B2B tech brands
  • Why press releases are now doubly effective at hooking attention
  • The new AI visibility metrics to be aware of

 

The press release – the cleverly-crafted copy that announces anything from a new product or service to research findings – is it still relevant in the era of AI search?

Unequivocally, the answer is yes. AI-powered search is transforming the effectiveness of the press release for brands seeking greater visibility because it hooks in readers and algorithms alike.

A good release grabs the attention of human audiences when they visit a website or read it in a publication. But what doubles is potency, especially in B2B tech PR, is that its format is ideally suited to AI models during a search engine’s retrieval and ranking process.

Many AI search models like press releases

That’s true for searches in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews. The latter are the AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of search results. Nobody can ignore the scale of AI search now.

ChatGPT has 700 million weekly users, while more than 2bn people engage with Google AI Overviews each month and Microsoft Copilot has 33m active users.

You might think that reliance on AI-generated summaries will reduce the impact of press releases. But releases follow a defined structure that signals reliability and makes it easier for AI to parse and understand. For a company wanting to boost its profile, this is a major benefit, helping its content and its name stand out when users ask AI-powered questions.

Google’s AI, for example, analyses content in the same way as traditional searches, following the E-E-A-T model (Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trust) which determines so much of the way brands or businesses are recognised online.

Visibility goes one way – upwards!

A business that publishes a release on its website and distributes the content through a network like PR Newswire, as well as relevant trade media titles, expands the content’s visibility by many factors because of its ability to feature in traditional search and AI-powered results.

A release that is linked to by other reputable sources also does more than drive traffic to a website – it helps validate authority – which is vital for brand elevation. High-quality backlinks bolster overall SEO performance and boost visibility, and they also increase the likelihood that your brand appears in AI-assisted results where provenance and credibility signals matter.

Making press releases even more visible

In Performance PR campaigns, there are other ways of enhancing the attractiveness of press releases to AI that go beyond adding bullet points at the top. The inclusion of multi-media elements such as video helps AI interpret content more effectively, for example.

And journalists have caught up – 1 in 3 explicitly want multimedia elements from PR teams, with more than half more likely to pursue a pitch if it includes visual assets with your story.

Reputable research is a mainstay of B2B tech PR and a release that provides reliable and original new data obviously adds credibility to a story and provides evidence audiences seek. But authoritative data also attracts AI, helping engines rank content more effectively. Therefore, when planning your next research project, it’s important to think about the media headlines from the very start.

New measurements of success

After a release has been distributed to media outlets, published on a company’s own website in line with GEO best practice, or disseminated through a commercial network, platforms such as Google News or Discover may highlight it as a featured result.

Yet in this new world of AI search, traditional metrics such as click-through rates and simple measurement of website traffic are no longer the primary indicators of success. A growing share of visibility now happens without a page visit. Buyers are discovering brands through summaries, citations and third-party references long before they arrive on a website.

That means measurement needs to broaden. Alongside coverage volume and quality, PR teams are increasingly tracking indicators such as share of voice on priority topics, the frequency and prominence of brand mentions across authoritative sources, and backlink quality. They are also interested in branded search demand over time, and whether the brand is cited in AI-generated answers for the kinds of category questions that influence early-stage shortlists.

Just as importantly, teams need to track the accuracy of how the brand is described, not only how often it appears.

This is where press releases play a bigger role than announcement mechanics. They help establish, and reinforce, the narrative a brand wants to own, so that when a company is cited, its story is interpreted in the right way and includes the key messages that matter most to the business. Consistency across releases, coverage, and owned content increases the chance that AI systems and human readers connect the brand with what it wants to be known for.

You need a steady flow of content including press releases

AI search engines are constantly evolving and can integrate new content and rank it within hours, underlining the need for regularly updated or fresh content. On a website this dictates the need for a steady flow of well-written pieces that meet the evolving requirements of AI search while hitting the mark with audiences reading them directly.

In a B2B tech organisation, the capacity to maintain that pace is often constrained by time, competing priorities and the reality that not everything warrants a press release. The goal is not a constant stream of announcements. It is a consistent flow of credible content, supported by media coverage. This gives search engines and AI systems enough high-quality signals to understand the market you operate in, the problems you solve and the proof that supports your claims.

These are all areas that Performance PR partners in the B2B tech sector can take care of, ensuring content is regular, relevant and optimised for AI search. With AI-powered search so rampant, the right partnerships and proactiveness from your PR team are essential.

If you need expert content and media support to meet the new requirements of AI-powered search, contact the team today.

In this blog, Mark Wilson, Whiteoaks’ Creative Director, looks at:

  • Key reasons why B2B tech companies should consider a rebrand
  • The scope of a rebrand, from messaging and logo to video and website design
  • How an integrated rebranding programme boosts market positioning and company perception

 

There comes a point in any B2B tech business’s lifecycle when it feels like it’s time for a rebrand. There can be any number of reasons – the need to scale up, a change of ownership, the launch of a new product suite or a sense that everything just looks and sounds a bit tired.

Without a rebrand, audiences may assume there is nothing new going on because a company’s graphics, website and messaging have been the same for half a decade. Sometimes, however, the impetus is simply to match a competitor’s rebrand, or to move on from a setback and make a fresh start.

Whatever the reason for it, a rebrand is not magic, but it can have a dramatically positive effect on external and internal perceptions, especially if it is part of a broader reappraisal and messaging renewal.

The integrated rebranding strategy

Best results come from a fully integrated programme that combines creativity and design expertise with understanding of how B2B branding and PR work together. This is a Performance PR approach that teases out how the business sees itself, where it wants to go next and how that meets its customers’ needs – and uses this to weave together a complete or partial rebrand.

Fresh insights into market positioning and messaging help create a new look and feel for everything from marketing materials to website design, video content and social media posts. LinkedIn headers, PowerPoint templates, blogs, customer quotes, eBooks and event invitations – everything should be revised and rebranded harmoniously, instead of in silos.

Companies can include internal communications in a rebrand, covering newsletters, stationery, slide decks, email formats, eBooks, guides and instruction manuals. This should energise employees and make them feel they share the momentum in a dynamic organisation.

Kicking off the process with a new look at messaging

Planning for a rebrand needs to be meticulous without becoming bogged down in tiny details. The rebranding process should start with getting senior leaders together – not to flick through some online sample books, but to capture the rebranding brief.

This is an opportunity to cover the full scope of what is required from a rebrand and the aims and objectives behind it. Many rebrands run into problems because they set off without a guiding principle or single-minded proposition. Ill-conceived rebrands can easily end up repeating what competitors are already doing.

Values and personality

A rebrand is a chance to clarify what the company stands for now, and the mission and values that will guide it next. From this foundation, the work becomes translating intent into a single-minded proposition which is, in essence, the real reason why a prospect would decide to buy a product or service from the rebranded company.

In Performance PR, the single-minded proposition is used to measure the effectiveness of each element of the rebrand, ensuring everyone who sees, reads about or listens to the company, is receiving the right messages.

That proposition then needs to be expressed through a clear set of key messages that appear in every piece of content. The wording can shift depending on the audience, but the substance should stay steady, carrying the company’s values and personality into the market in a way that is recognisable and repeatable.

Establish the scope early on

It’s vital that the full scope of the project is established early on, to manage costs, keep timelines realistic and avoid sudden changes. A structured approach makes that easier. It helps a business decide what needs to change now, what can wait and what should remain untouched for continuity.

Should the project encompass logo refinement, for example? It can be risky to drop a well-known logo, but refinements can convey both renewal and continuity, without sacrificing customers’ trust.

The same applies to digital touchpoints. In B2B tech, the website is often where prospects form their first view of the company’s credibility and capability. When businesses are scaling, the website can lag behind what the company has become, which then holds back lead generation and sales conversations.

Defining whether the work is a redesign, a restructure, a content refresh, or all three, prevents drifting requirements and ensures the website supports the new messaging rather than working against it.

Think about the advantages of short-form video

Video is often where a rebrand either comes to life, or falls flat. Applying a rebrand to existing video content ensures it reflects the new look, tone and messaging, bringing consistency to what prospects are already watching and reading.

A rebrand is also a good moment to create new short, animated video content. This is highly effective for explaining complex concepts or connections through simple graphics, punching home key messages in an easily-digestible way. They work well on landing pages, in sales outreach and on social media, where attention is limited and clarity matters.

Bringing video into the rebrand at the right point helps avoid the common problem of bolting it on later, when the identity has already been locked and timelines are tight. When it is planned in from the start, the visual style, voiceover, motion design and on-screen messaging all reinforce the same proposition, rather than competing for attention.

The final pieces of the jigsaw are training for internal teams to use the new identity and messaging correctly, while a set of brand guidelines makes it easier to stay consistent across content, campaigns and future assets.

Changing conversations

Conducted with insight and creative experience, a fully integrated rebrand can deliver results fast to meet all company objectives. By ensuring every element conforms to the single-minded proposition, a rebrand combines that vital spark of creativity with hard-headed business messaging.

Organisations can quickly stand out in their markets as more dynamic, innovative and responsive, changing the nature of business conversations in an entirely positive way. Their employees feel they are part of a forward-looking business that is never prepared to stand still.

If you are considering a rebrand and want to reduce risk, control scope and make sure the work supports real business goals, find out about Whiteoaks’ expertise in this area and how we approach integrated rebranding.

Following our recent look at when to invest in Performance PR, the second article in our “Your Questions Answered” series sees Senior Content Creator, Alex Eve, respond to a question raised during Whiteoaks’ webinar on Global PR Growth Strategies for B2B Tech Brands: how do you create maximum visibility with minimal budget?

He covers:

  • Why tight budgets mean it’s even more important to make every asset work harder across owned and social channels
  • The importance of clear, insight-led messaging that reflects customer realities
  • How spokesperson-led activity builds reach and trust, measured through PR metrics that link visibility to results

 

IPA Bellwether’s 2025 report showed that marketing budgets fell for the first time in four years, driven by declines in media strategy spending, market research and other paid-for marketing. However, credibility and visibility online are now more important than ever for B2B tech brands to catch the attention of potential buyers.

Marketing and PR budgets remain instrumental in improving that visibility by building authority, driving traffic and earning trust with audiences. The answer is a strategic approach that makes the most of the resources available and maximises their potential.

Repurposing content across owned and earned channels

The first way of earning visibility on a tighter budget is to focus on efficiency. For example, a research report commissioned by your business should always be viewed as a source, not a single output or one-off PR exercise.

That one report can form the basis of a powerful and engagement-driving social media campaign with multiple posts and supporting visuals such as carousels, infographics and short animations. It can also provide snippets for a monthly newsletter or email campaign. Longer sections of the report can be adapted into separate thought leadership articles and website blogs.

Research insights can also be weaved into event concepts and messaging, providing you with a powerful differentiator against a sea of other attendees. The data from surveys can be used to fuel panel discussions or speaker slots, letting you engage directly with your audience while reinforcing your thought leadership position.

By repurposing a core piece of content, you can reinforce key points across numerous touchpoints and keep messaging front of mind for end audiences, helping your brand stay visible where it matters.

Messaging that makes an immediate impact

Every piece of content should be driven by a strong, consistent narrative with clear key messages. Rather than focusing on generic product features, insight-led points of view should be rooted in customer and market realities – how those features address the challenges they come across in their day-to-day working lives.

A strong, consistent narrative will outperform generic messaging that doesn’t cut through to the pain points that your customers are actually experiencing. Media-worthy content should also be targeted at a carefully curated press list, so it reaches the biggest, most relevant pool of readers when published.

Amplifying individual voices

Once coverage lands, don’t just leave it there. Always promote on your social media channels.

Never underestimate the influence of company spokespeople and their personal LinkedIn profiles.

A message may be more impactful if delivered by a thought leader, rather than the B2B tech brand itself. Senior leaders and subject matter experts can help the message travel further, with more credibility behind it.

Let’s take the example of LinkedIn as the most popular social channel amongst B2B buyers. Posting from personal profiles helps catch the attention of potential customers quicker, journalists can connect directly with experts rather than a corporate brand and the algorithm often favours the insights of individuals over companies.

If budgets are restricted, resources may be best directed to delivering consistent, high-quality content from a spokesperson with influence, while engaging with relevant conversations online. But of course, those efforts need to be measurable to justify the cost and present proof of ROI back to senior decision-makers.

Measurement with modern Performance PR

The impact of a spokesperson-led campaign can be measured via a mix of quantitative and qualitative metrics. For example, LinkedIn KPIs such as impressions, reactions, comments and profile views are all tangible proof of increased exposure, reach and a wise bit of investment.

In addition, media coverage and reach, speaking invitations and inbound leads derived from thought leadership insights can help translate visibility into credibility, increased influence and commercial results.

Commerciality is a key underpinning of the Performance PR approach, where a specialist B2B tech PR agency runs campaigns with measurable KPIs against agreed targets.

Less about spend and more about focus

Maximum exposure on a limited budget is less about spend and more about focus.

By creating strong, insight-led content, repurposing it intelligently across multiple channels and amplifying the voices of credible spokespeople, B2B tech brands can stay visible and relevant even when budgets are under pressure.

With clear Performance PR metrics in place, every activity can be evaluated, refined and used to build the case for future investment.

Discover how to gain maximum visibility on a budget with a Performance PR-led approach. View our webinar for more insights or talk with our team. 

In this is blog – the first in our “Your Questions Answered” series – Senior Content Creator Hugh Cadman addresses an important point raised during Whiteoaks’ webinar on Global PR Growth Strategies for B2B Tech Brands.

He covers:  

  • Why scale-ups should tell their story 
  • The growth and investment benefits of telling it in the right way 
  • Who can help them stand out in their market 

 

It’s a tricky question – when exactly is the right time to invest in PR to propel your business into the stratosphere? As a start-up or scale-up, or when your company is officially declared a “growing business”?  

Start-ups and the need for ignition

Most start-ups are busy with the task of establishing themselves, developing or finessing the product or service. They may worry they have no news to tell their audiences about and really should be focusing on generating investment or gaining customers.  

But almost every start-up has an exciting idea at its core – and its founders are likely to have distinctive insights on the market, technology and the challenges they solve. All this could be the fuel for an effective Performance PR campaign, working to measurable outcomes to ensure scarce cash is not frittered away. Well-crafted articles, blogs or comments in the right publications can really ignite interest for a start-up in need of a profile in its market. 

This is the most effective way to build the brand awareness needed for customer growth and to spur investor backing. 

Scale-ups have a good story

For scale-ups it is a different story. With a fully-developed product or service, they always have important multi-faceted messages to communicate. Sometimes, amid all the pressures of expansion, they just haven’t got round to it. That can be a strategic error because competitors in a similar stage of maturity may already have launched PR initiatives. Established brands, on the other hand, will use PR to starve any challengers of oxygen. 

Scale-ups seeking experienced investors may also find their lack of PR activity works against them. VC and private equity companies know that however brilliant your voice, singing in your own bathroom will not make you a star.  

Timing is everything

Unsurprisingly, despite the best efforts of business schools, there is no calculus that can tell you if now is the exact point at which you should invest in PR.  

As a B2B organisation, you need to take stock to see if you really have the product, solution, service and story to win an audience – and whether the timing is right. Are you ready to meet the demand or interest you may create? In most cases, the answer is surely yes. 

The way Performance PR works for scale-ups

Almost all scale-ups need PR just to compete. With expert help from specialists in Performance PR, young companies can use their story to win more customers or fresh investment. Performance PR works just as well whether you’re seeking acquisition by one of the giants of any sector, or attempting to attract scarce talent needed to take the business into new areas. 

Potential leadership frustrations

One fact that all leadership teams should take into consideration is that in the B2B tech sector, PR requires experience and a little time. This can be a step change for business founders or small leadership teams accustomed to explosive growth and rapid impact. While results can certainly show up quickly, long-term benefits from PR in the B2B tech sector need more than press releases drafted by LLMs like Copilot or ChatGPT.  

Providing the fuel for PR requires collaborative work to determine the right messaging and most effective tactics to reach the right people. Some scale-ups find they have been working on assumptions – and it takes Performance PR specialists to identify the right audiences and how best to reach them.  

The pain-free approach to B2B tech PR

This is where there is a huge advantage in using a Peformance PR agency. A specialist B2B tech agency working to Performance PR methodology will take the pain out of these processes. And it will measure results from a campaign. This is an approach that can pay dividends for young businesses in the B2B tech world, where informality, time-pressure and a certain amount of improvisation are part of everyday life.  

The boards of young businesses should see Performance PR as a strategic investment that will help achieve growth and their critical objectives. So, if you ask yourself when it’s the right time to invest in Performance PR, the answer is usually NOW. 

View the webinar that triggered this blog and get in touch to find out how we can support your business in achieving its growth ambitions.  

In this blog, Hugh Cadman, Senior Content Writer, at Whiteoaks talks about the battle marketers sometimes have when they need to boost brand awareness and visibility but have trouble persuading their boardrooms to back them with investment in PR.

It covers:

  • Where Performance PR can make a convincing case for investment
  • Two real-life stories of building brand awareness
  • The cost of inaction

 

We see the same scenario play out time and again. Senior marketing decision-makers within technology firms know PR raises awareness, builds authority and strengthens campaigns – and they typically want to move forward with it.

Yet, momentum stalls when the conversation reaches the boardroom. The investment is delayed because senior leaders are preoccupied with the short-term hit, especially if there is no immediate return in terms of leads and revenue.

It is short-term thinking that misses key steps in the journey. In B2B tech you must build brand awareness and visibility before you can deliver conversion.

Convince the boardroom to press GO with Performance PR

If they are to achieve their goals, marketers need to convince the board that by failing to press the “GO” button on PR investment now, they are missing out on the long-term financial gains of raising their brand awareness and visibility today.

After all, brand visibility translates into benefits further down the line. For instance, having case studies and customer-win stories gives the sales team tangible proof of real business benefits. These are not only useful to convert prospects into customers, but are also vital when moving into new markets or territories.

To convince the C-suite of the value of PR, marketers need to be able to commit to actionable results.

That is where Performance PR can play a key role, ensuring that KPIs are agreed at the beginning of every campaign, setting targets to build brand visibility fast through expertly crafted content that is specifically tailored to the business’ target audiences. That way, boards have the reassurance of knowing their investment will deliver measurable value over time as visibility builds.

Two cases to prove the point

Take the case of AspenTech, for example, the global leader in asset management software delivering optimisation and digital transformation in industry.

Whiteoaks created and delivered a campaign that eventually influenced Emerson’s decision to acquire AspenTech in 2025.

The PR programme had accurately reflected AspenTech’s genuine expertise and changed as the business evolved from focusing on process simulation and optimisation to asset performance management and industrial AI.

AspenTech first engaged Whiteoaks to increase its presence in EMEA, targeting top decision-makers while further enhancing its reputation as the international frontrunner in industrial software. The Performance PR programme homed in on energy, industrial data-management, power-and-utilities, and metals-and-mining.

Over 17 years Whiteoaks built an in-depth understanding of AspenTech, its technologies, business units and their markets. The UK market was foremost but Whiteoaks also led an international campaign to ensure AspenTech benefited from consistency of planning, brand promotion, messaging and reporting.

The campaign combined thought-leadership, press releases, expert commentary and media briefings. In the UK alone it achieved almost 800 pieces of coverage that included The Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Guardian. The entire campaign delivered high performance over the best part of two decades.

Bridewell – cyber security in CNI

Another good example of the impact of Performance PR is Whiteoaks’ work with Bridewell – now a major cyber security company specialising in the protection of critical national infrastructure (CNI) in the UK and US. Whiteoaks worked with Bridewell from 2019, aiming to increase brand awareness among CNI organisations and to highlight its managed services.

The keystone of the campaign was an annual report into CNI cyber security which filled an important gap and provided authoritative insights.

The report, Cyber Security in Critical National Infrastructure, attracted the attention of important decision-makers in CNI protection and became the standard trends barometer. It was supported by high-quality thought-leadership in top-tier media, along with corporate profiling.

The outcome of this campaign was that Bridewell elevated its brand awareness as the UK’s leading CNI cyber security services provider.

Research among 600 cyber security leaders found it had climbed from ninth place in 2023 into the top five UK CNI cyber security providers for “unprompted consideration”. In other words, being at the forefront of minds in its target audience.

Work out the cost of doing nothing

Businesses may nevertheless feel that when budgets are tight and market conditions difficult, postponing investment in PR is the safer option. Inaction, however, usually costs brand visibility, which comes with steady erosion of relevance and credibility.

All the while, competitors shape the prevailing narrative and grow in profile.

This is the hidden cost of doing nothing – which mounts up quickly.

Whiteoaks’ Performance PR approach addresses many of the concerns businesses have about cost and outcome. This focuses PR activity on what matters most, aligning with business goals and proving value through metrics that go beyond impressions to become part of the growth engine.

If your business is struggling to plant its flag and your board would benefit from a more strategic approach, read our eBook about the Hidden Cost of Inaction and get in touch with our team to find out how Whiteoaks can help.