Category: News

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.  

As we come to the end of the year, it feels like the right moment to look ahead at what 2026 might bring for B2B tech and PR. As you might expect, AI does make a few appearances in this year’s predictions, but it’s far from the whole story. We asked a few of our team members to share the trends they think will matter most – and if you fancy seeing how last year’s forecasts held up, you can take a look at them here.

Trend one: Businesses can no longer afford to ignore AI search

Hannah Buckley, Head of Content and Service Development 

“2025 has been the year when more and more B2B companies have begun to take notice of AI-driven search,” says Hannah. 

“2026 will be the year when they begin to take it seriously.”

Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, are fundamentally designed for content generation, not information retrieval. However, more and more people are using them for recommendations and to answer everyday questions, sometimes bypassing traditional search engines altogether.

ChatGPT traffic is up 4.9% month-on-month, while Google’s fell 2.8% marking a sustained shift in user discovery habits. Even with a modest 0.24% traffic share, the growth rate signals behavioural change: more people are beginning their searches in AI platforms, especially in content-heavy industries like finance, news and tech.

“AI search isn’t going anywhere, if anything it’s just going to get more and more powerful in the coming years so now’s the opportunity for B2B companies to capitalise on it, waiting another year could be a costly mistake,” says Hannah.

“Businesses can’t afford to ignore the AI-search opportunity, it has completely changed how people access information, both personally and professionally, and failing to embrace this change in search behaviour will mean their competitors will begin appearing in their place.”

The shift won’t kill traditional SEO, but it will fragment it. Audiences are redistributing across Google, Bing and AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity – meaning brands must adapt their PR and content to be found across all of them.

LLMs prioritise rich, expert-led sources, making earned media and owned thought leadership essential inputs for AI discoverability. Every credible article or citation now doubles as training data for tomorrow’s AI search.

Finally, Hannah says: “Businesses that fail to factor this into their plans will begin to lose out as decision-makers increasingly turn to ChatGPT, AI Overviews and other LLMs to do the bulk of the due diligence for them.”

Trend two: Visible leaders will drive LLM visibility

Sophie King, Associate Director

As AI search reshapes how information is found and trusted, it’s not just brand content that will matter – but who’s behind it. LLMs will increasingly summarise and surface expert voices, and as a result (and not without irony), credibility will need to be demonstrably human again. The names and profiles of founders, CEOs and senior leaders are now key inputs in how both people and algorithms decide who to believe.

“As LLMs become core to research and product discovery, brands need identifiable human voices to build trust and visibility,” says Sophie. 

“This is placing even more importance on executive profiling, positioning founders and senior leaders as credible authorities. Executives are no longer just spokespeople; they’re part of a brand’s discoverability infrastructure across platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini.”

To influence both buyers and LLMs, B2B tech brands need to treat their senior leaders as strategic visibility assets. What does that look like in the real world? It means developing media-ready profiles, giving executives clear thought leadership pillars which support commercial priorities and ensuring they are contributing expert commentary to trusted industry outlets.

Brands with leaders who are regularly quoted, searchable and associated with specific areas of expertise will be more discoverable across AI platforms – and will also be more credible to human audiences.

Trend three: Engagement beyond your feed will fuel LinkedIn growth

Natalia Kaczmarek, Digital Content Manager

In 2026, LinkedIn will really put the ‘engage’ back into engagement. Posting consistently used to be the main driver of profile growth, but as the algorithm shifts away from passive signals such as likes and posting frequency, more weight will sit with those who actively participate. For brands, this means thinking beyond what goes on your own feed and developing a clear approach for how you interact with others.

“Thoughtful comments that go beyond polite nods, and reposts that add a clear point of view, will travel further than a simple ‘like’,” says Natalia.

With organic reach from company pages continuing to decline, growth will come from joining key discussions early, whether that’s with customers, partners or recognised industry voices.

“Brands should treat comments as content in their own right, not as housekeeping, and make them useful enough that others want to respond or reference them,” says Natalia.

Natalia explains that a simple daily routine is the most effective way to build consistent visibility. Start by identifying active threads where your expertise can add something useful or constructively provocative. Contribute there first, then publish your own post once you’ve already shown up in the conversation. This creates momentum and gives your posts a better chance of being seen.

Teams should also monitor the metrics LinkedIn now provides for comments, such as impressions and replies sparked, and link these to the profile visits and new followers driven by comment activity.

Meaningful, authentic interaction runs through all of these trends, so it’s no surprise that low-effort or AI-generated responses will be the first to have their reach limited.

Trend four: PR will become the starting point for your strategy

Hayley Goff, Chief Executive Officer

In 2026, PR will become the starting point for all campaigns – shaping the direction, narrative and creative ideas that everything else builds from.

“It’s no longer just about securing coverage, it’s about setting the tone for everything else,” Hayley says.

“PR defines the positioning, shapes the messaging and helps craft the creative ideas that carry across every channel, from media placements to blogs and digital advertising. It’s the glue that holds a campaign together.”

This shift mirrors a theme we’ve explored throughout our Silo Series: campaigns only work when PR, content, SEO, social and creative all move in the same direction. When those disciplines operate separately, the narrative becomes fragmented. When PR leads the thinking, those silos break down. The insight, message and creative direction are aligned from the outset, giving every channel the same foundation to build on.

Around 70% of B2B buyers now engage with video during their purchasing journey, which is why Hayley expects PR to take on a much larger role in multimedia storytelling. As audiences spend more time with video, animation and interactive content, PR will need to shape narratives that work across these formats too.

Trend five: Authentic video will rise above the noise

Mark Wilson, Creative Director

More than half of B2B marketers report that video generates the highest ROI. At the same time, AI-generated content is filling feeds, and viewers are becoming wary of anything which feels too slick. That combination puts real weight behind honest, human-led video.

Whiteoaks Creative Director Mark Wilson says brands shouldn’t worry too much about imperfect lighting or framing – those details can actually signal authenticity. The real opportunity lies in showing what AI can’t replicate: genuine people, unscripted moments and spontaneous, human-led content. 

“This shift will increase the need for businesses to create relevant, authentic and real video content, as people still buy from people,” he says. If you prioritise honest, human-led video, you’ll build more trust and stand out in a sea of synthetic content.

What do you make of our team’s predictions? If you’re a B2B tech brand, how do these trends line up with your view of PR and your goals for 2026? If any of them reflect where you want to go next, we’d be happy to talk about how we can help you put them into action.

 

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.

New eBook!

When PR campaigns begin to stall, budgets get squeezed or goals shift, the answer isn’t “do more”. It’s to pause and reset. A deliberate reset helps clarify what’s working, what isn’t and where to focus so you can move forward with direction, rebuild and kickstart your PR into a high-performing trajectory.

Our new eBook, “Hit the button: The big PR reset”, is a practical guide to resetting and realigning PR with business priorities to deliver measurable results. Bringing together expertise from across our Senior Leadership Team, it covers everything from refreshing strategy and messaging, and resetting KPIs to securing leadership and finance buy-in.

Read the full eBook to:

  • Diagnose where PR is under-performing and, importantly, why
  • Learn how to integrate digital PR and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) to build visibility
  • Turn owned data into stories that resonate
  • Prove impact with clear KPIs and CFO-friendly reporting

Read the eBook

Ready to hit reset? Get in touch for personalised recommendations on how a Performance PR approach can help you align goals, prove impact and deliver lasting results.

 

 

 

In this blog, Tara Williams, HR Director at Whiteoaks, considers:

  • Where internal comms goes wrong
  • The consequences for engagement and motivation
  • Why this is the best time of year to put it right with expert help

Sharp, up-to-date and eye-catching internal communications are vital to motivate your employees, align them with your business aims and nurture the right culture that aids growth.

But are you sure your social media content, welcome packs, newsletters, training videos or handbooks are up to the job? Many communications teams keep putting off the task of updating their employee-focused content and the result is the HR equivalent of stale turkey sandwiches after Christmas.

Out-of-date, tired and repetitive – it may have been snapped up eagerly once but now gives everyone the impression the business is low on energy or lacks strong direction. Employees lose focus and trust drains away.

For many businesses (certainly not for all) the run-up to Christmas can be a period of lower intensity when there is time for HR or comms teams to take a fresh look at the content on all their internal channels.

Research shows internal comms need attention

Why? Well, the Institute of Internal Communication’s 2025 Index, surveyed almost 5,000 UK employees and found only 13% were prepared to award their organisation ten-out-of-ten for the way it communicates with them.

About a quarter (26%) of employees gave responses indicating they were “deeply disconnected” from the organisation and its leadership and 13% “wanted more”, some of them feeling their organisation’s leaders were unspontaneous and always scripted in their communications. The report emphasises the effectiveness of communications when employees feel they are genuinely from the CEO or departmental heads – especially when it comes to explaining strategy.

There is clearly work to be done on workforce engagement. This year’s Gallup State of the Global Workplace report found that only 10% of UK employees regard themselves as “engaged”. Of course, it is easy to find people willing to be negative, but these figures are too low for comfort and lead to poor retention. Three-in-ten UK employees told Gallup they were watching for or actively seeking a new job.

The after-effects of stale internal comms

The fact is – many internal comms materials are under-performing.

Badly-crafted internal coms make it more likely employees will rely on the internal rumour mill and their colleagues for up-to-date information. But there is a more deep-seated problem with loss of trust in everything from the HR department to the leadership. Employees may feel their leaders are ducking the real issues, such as AI and how it will affect their work.

On a purely practical level, out-of-date internal comms also increase business risk when employees are left in the dark about important changes to working practices, regulation or new initiatives.

Why now is the right time to collaborate on new content

The run-up to the festive season is a good time to overhaul internal comms if there is a slight drop-off in intensity, making it easier for comms professionals and HR to get senior leadership attention.

Working with people who are experts in content and know how to join all the dots together right across every channel, teams can start creating training videos that are more relevant. They can use senior executive input to sharpen up internal messaging on strategy. The aim is to craft content that is pin-sharp, up-to-date, captivating and motivating.

Perhaps the entire employee value proposition is overdue a serious refresh. Whatever it is, your internal comms will benefit from external, objective expertise in messaging and design.

Get everyone focused on the right things

With new ideas, the whole organisation will feel fully connected, with everyone working to the same goals and more aware of how they achieve them. If you work in HR, you won’t be scratching your head about why so many employees never seem on-message.

If November and December are quieter times in your business, now is the time to do it. Don’t be left with internal comms materials that are the equivalent of stale turkey sandwiches.

To find out more about how Whiteoaks can help transform your internal communications across social media, video, onboarding packages, HR policy audits, handbooks and the refreshing of your employee value proposition, book a meeting with me or with our creative director Mark Wilson.

 

In this blog, Hayley Goff, CEO, Whiteoaks, recaps the recent Whiteoaks webinar “Global PR Growth Strategies for B2B Tech Brands”, providing insights including:

  • Global PR campaign models
  • The need for local insight to avoid severe pitfalls
  • The importance of co-ordination and planning

There comes a point when every ambitious B2B tech business wants to expand into new markets – and many continue to do so with the right PR partners. But there is a widespread misconception that what works in one market will work in another.

The reality is very different – cutting and pasting what works in one country into another seldom produces the results businesses want, leading to wasted budget, inconsistent messaging and brand dilution.

Without understanding of local markets and skilled co-ordination, campaigns are at risk of failing to connect with target audiences. Many B2B businesses, however, do not have a well of money and need to maximise the impact of every pound, dollar or euro. It is difficult to know which PR strategy to adopt for international success and who to engage with.

Tips from the experts

This was the subject of a recent Whiteoaks webinar where I was joined in conversation by Kirsten Leathers, executive vice president, V2 Communications in the US, Kristina Karachevtceva, PR manager at Hyve Managed Hosting, and Sophie King, associate director at Whiteoaks.

Bringing together B2B tech decision-makers, we discussed a common challenge experienced by businesses: while global PR networks have reach and resources, there can be a lack of accountability when an agency works well in one market but not in another. When a business wants to change who is delivering its PR campaign in a specific country, problems occur.

The alternative – engaging multiple agencies – can be very difficult to manage, however, unless there is a lead agency to act as a single point of contact co-ordinating campaigns, ensuring consistency of messaging and standardising reporting.

Collaboration and preparation are vital

For global PR success, collaboration between agencies in each country is essential, ensuring they deliver the right messages while adapting to what can be very significant differences between markets.

These factors are important because companies often spend time refining their messaging and positioning and then send it out to their agencies without any real feedback loop or insights into the local market. Within the main messaging of a campaign there should be strings of stories that are created for specific audiences or which local agencies can adapt successfully in line with the over-arching aims.

Crisis communications tactics also need to be agreed beforehand with full understanding that the legal ramifications of statements can differ between countries. This level of planning ensures that responses are fast and accurate – avoiding redrafts and the potential for serious mistakes.

The necessity of understanding varied cultural, media and business practices

To be successful a campaign needs to accommodate cultural distinctions. Some launches may benefit from local media coverage as well as trade media, but the ability to stimulate interest often depends on understanding how the country’s news organisations work – and what are currently hot topics for them. It is too easy to assume everyone everywhere has the same challenges and concerns.

Not only is language a barrier but different countries have different media ecosystems and business practices. In many countries, top-tier media want interviews in their own language and may focus exclusively on the impact of any product or service on their local market.

Local factors have major influence

Awareness of local factors is always vital. PR efforts may fail to land because of bad timing – coming out when events in a specific market are distracting people, such as national holidays, major news developments or industrial disputes. Ill-informed PR partners may operate in a way that simply does not fit into a region’s different pattern of weekly work. This is important in the Middle East, for example, where the working week runs from Sunday to Thursday.

Weak pick-up may be caused through failure to appreciate how terminology varies, or use of inappropriate images. The latter point is important because in some countries it is inappropriate to show the soles of feet or palms of hands, for example.

Regulation is also an important consideration in the tech world, especially in relation to data and cyber security. Awareness of the differences in market-specific regulation around the world is essential.

PR takes time to achieve maximum impact and should be measured

PR is a long game for the most part, and companies seeking to expand should accept that establishing a local PR presence is necessary to build any kind of momentum and credibility.

One of the keys to success in cross-border campaigns is being able to measure impact through KPIs which one lead agency should monitor to ensure effective delivery. Businesses entering new markets need a reason – a why – and their messaging needs to be built around it – whether it is pursuit of warm leads or the opening of a new office.

The metrics that emerge from the messaging discussion should be agreed at the outset and agreed across all partners. If there is misalignment of key metrics, then assessing the impact of a campaign becomes very difficult. This in turn leads to fragmented communications that slow down momentum.

Collaboration should be easy

Yet collaboration is now so easy. It only takes the effective use of SharePoint or Google Docs to make a huge difference to operations and KPI monitoring. Timings across different countries can be coordinated for launches or announcements to ensure best possible results, for instance. Where budgets are very tight, PR partners can be canny about targeting specific English-language publications or using wire releases – a method that remains effective in some countries.

There can be many challenges in a B2B tech PR campaign that runs across the boundaries of countries and selecting the right lead agency takes time and diligence. But when companies get it right, this lead agency approach will help accelerate global expansion.

To find out more, including Hyve Managed Hosting’s experience of working with Whiteoaks and V2 to achieve its global growth ambitions, watch the “Global PR Growth Strategies for B2B Tech Brands” webinar now.

In this blog we discuss:

  • How AI-powered search is changing visibility
  • Why GEO complements SEO, and how PR builds the credibility, authority and consistency AI systems rely on
  • Practical ways to measure AI visibility using citations, quality coverage, sentiment and domain authority

“Search engines are dead!” 

It’s the kind of bold claim marketers love to throw around whenever something new comes along and shakes things up. But this time, there’s almost certainly a real shift. Since Google’s global rollout of AI Overviews in 2024, users are now getting more instant answers – created by artificial intelligence – in the SERPS than lists of links. 

And it’s not just Google’s AI Overviews, other AI-powered engines are also being adopted more widely; ChatGPT now sees around 700 million weekly users, up from 350 million at the start of the year. Google’s AI Overview reaches two billion monthly users and Microsoft Copilot has surpassed 100 million monthly activities.

This matters because AI is changing how people search, discover and make decisions. Instead of browsing pages, users are now increasingly relying on AI-generated answers that pull together information for them. That means fewer clicks through to websites and less visibility for brands focused only on traditional search. To stay visible, brands need to make sure their content and reputation feed the information AI tools use to create those answers.

What determines visibility in AI search?

In the past, the goal was to get your web pages to rank for key phrases. Now, the goal has shifted from ranking to inclusion: being cited or referenced within AI-generated responses. To achieve that, your brand needs to be recognised as a reliable source the AI can draw from when forming its answers. That’s what we call AI visibility – how often your brand, products or content are mentioned or referenced in AI-powered tools like Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT or Perplexity.

SEO vs. GEO

As AI changes how people discover information, the race for rankings is giving way to a new goal – inclusion. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is emerging as the way to help content appear in AI-generated answers and summaries. If you’re a B2B tech brand, you might be thinking: we’ve spent years on SEO – creating content, earning backlinks and targeting keywords – and now we need to learn GEO too? The short answer is yes, but if you’re already investing in PR, especially digital PR, you’re ahead of the curve.

AI systems are trained to identify credible voices and surface reliable sources. Brands featured in reputable publications, backed by expert commentary and linked to by authoritative domains are more likely to be included in AI-generated results. And those are exactly the outcomes strong PR delivers.

Why PR and GEO belong together

So if PR can shape the datasets which AI uses to define authority, then really we shouldn’t be thinking about them as two separate disciplines at all. They’re two parts of the same engine driving how your brand gets seen and trusted online. As we’ve been exploring through the Silo Series, we need to start breaking down barriers between how we think of PR and other channels. In the series we’ve already talked about how PR fuels pipelines and now it’s obvious that we should also be thinking of AI-powered search in the same way. 

How your PR engine can power AI visibility 

  • It creates the credible content AI wants to feature: Authoritative, well-placed PR stories make your brand more likely to be cited as a trusted source because AI systems look for these kinds of voices when generating answers. Thought leadership, expert commentary and original research from PR offers that credibility.
  • PR builds the digital signals AI recognises as authority: Media coverage, podcasts and interviews across respected outlets create the consistent signals AI models use to decide who to trust. The more visible your brand, the more likely AI is to include it.
  • PR helps your brand’s long-term visibility: As AI search favours evergreen, informative content over fleeting news, any PR which focuses on analysis, advice and insight will be more likely to be included in AI summaries.
  • Good PR builds trust: Accuracy and transparency are core to PR and essential to AI visibility. Fact-checked stories, reliable messaging and credible coverage help ensure your brand is surfaced in AI results. 

The above fundamentals – credibility, authority, consistency and sentiment – sit at the heart of everything PR already does. They also happen to be the same signals AI uses to decide which brands to feature and trust. That means if you’re already investing in PR, you’re going to be in a good position for AI visibility. And as we’ve said throughout the Silo Series, that’s proof that PR, SEO and AI visibility aren’t separate disciplines.

These factors also align closely with Google’s E-E-A-T model – experience, expertise, authority and trust – which still shapes how brands are recognised and represented online. And, just to add, it is thought that backlinks from respected domains remain one of the strongest signals of reliability. So all that SEO work that you’ve done over the years wasn’t in vain!

Measuring AI visibility 

So, how do you track and measure your AI visibility in LLMs in a world of endless prompts and AI-generated responses?

Third-party AI visibility platforms are starting to make this possible, promising to help brands track and improve their presence. Most are still in their early stages, and some perform better than others.

Even without these tools, you can measure the signals that build AI visibility. Track where your brand is mentioned, the quality of coverage and the backlinks it earns. Monitor sentiment, message pull-through and domain authority to gauge credibility and trust. Share of voice and engagement show how visible and relevant your brand is across channels. These are the same indicators AI uses to assess authority, so strengthening them through PR already improves your standing in AI search.

If you want your brand to appear where your audiences are searching – in AI-generated overviews and search engines – talk to us about Visibility+. It’s our integrated PR and GEO service for B2B tech brands, designed to align your content with what AI tools and search engines prioritise.

In this blog, Richard Peters, Senior Content Creator at Whiteoaks, explores:

  • How to run B2B tech PR internationally without losing clarity or control
  • The roles, cadence and enablement that keep multi-country teams in sync
  • How Performance PR makes outcomes comparable and decisions faster

Global communications programmes often struggle when regions move at different speeds. Messaging built for one country gets copied elsewhere, timings drift and partner delivery is uneven. Different approval paths, media cycles and KPIs add to the problem, making it difficult to see what’s working, where and why. The result is patchy coverage, diluted narratives and spend that is hard to defend when leaders compare markets.

In Europe, the complexity increases. Research shows buying groups often involve nine to ten stakeholders and decisions can take around ten months. That means programmes must build momentum steadily rather than rely on short bursts around launches.

Common hurdles

Clarity
A master story that reads well in one market can lose shape as local teams tweak for tone or legal nuance and rush to hit news windows. After multiple handovers, language is flatter and proof points feel generic.

Pace
Every country runs to a different clock. Some are comment-led with short lead times, others demand depth and analyst context. If you try to run at one speed everywhere, activity won’t fit local needs, announcements will land unevenly and teams may default to fast-but-familiar channels over slower, higher-value ones.

Reporting
When regions count different things or define the same thing differently, comparison becomes guesswork. It’s harder to see which countries are building awareness, influencing pipeline or need support. Results become harder to prove and budget harder to justify.

Local relevance
Buyers want insight that matches their market reality, phrased in terms they use, from people who understand their sector. Studies show buyers prefer information in their own language, which is a clear signal to build localisation into the plan rather than bolt it on near the deadline. Without that, media interest fades and sales teams are left with content that does not help them progress conversations and ultimately seal deals.

Governance
International programmes need a clear owner of the narrative and sensible division of roles. Without that, global approvals become bottlenecks, centrally produced content needs heavy rework in-market and friction grows, slowing delivery and reducing chances to join key conversations.

A practical way forward

A lead-agency model offers a solution. One central agency coordinates strategy, messaging and execution across regions or partner agencies, setting the plan and guidelines while local teams tailor for their markets. This gives B2B tech firms a consistent global “look and feel” plus in-country expertise where it counts.

The lead agency sits at the centre, delivering performance-based PR principles, ensuring consistent processes, effective practices and clear and consistent brand positioning across the network. Common outcomes and comparable reporting give leaders one view of progress while local teams shape angles and cadence to fit their media environment.

Through region-specific reporting, business leaders get clarity on results, enabling them to see impact and make faster, better-founded decisions.

Making content resonate

In some countries analyst context and long-form explainers work best; elsewhere short video and sector case studies resonate more. But while the core stays intact across markets, the delivery flexes.

Success depends on alignment with local conditions and media expectations: local spokespeople and proof points, practitioners who understand cultural norms and preferred channels, and awareness of what journalists want. Is that data-led reports, short commentary, news-jacking or creative assets? High-quality translation ensures copy reads naturally, producing coverage that belongs in-market and content sales can actually use.

Benefits that scale

Over time, a lead-agency approach scales with the business. Centralised coordination plus local expertise builds brand consistency, streamlines communication and deepens relationships with media and stakeholders. Together, this approach creates cumulative benefits that support sustainable growth and reputation across markets.

If you are looking to enter a new overseas market but lack the local knowledge you need for expansion, explore international PR for B2B tech brands and get in touch with the Whiteoaks team today.

In this blog we discuss:

  • How silos between PR, content marketing and sales cost leads and revenue
  • How PR sparks angles which fuel integrated campaigns and drive prospects through the funnel
  • How to measure PR’s value in engagement, leads and deals

Imagine you are a B2B buyer. You spot a headline that grabs your attention – wow! It really speaks to the challenges you’re facing right now and makes you want to find out more. A sales rep follows up, but the message feels different and it’s thrown you off. By the time an email arrives, it has shifted again.

Each touchpoint is well-intentioned, but instead of reinforcing your interest, the inconsistencies make you wonder: do they really understand my problem? Can I trust what they’re saying? At that point, your attention drifts and you’re already considering another supplier.

This might sound like an extreme example, but it reflects a wider reality. Data shows 52% of sales professionals say misalignment costs revenue, yet only 23% believe their sales and marketing are strongly aligned.

The PR, content and sales silo

But how can PR help with sales? Surely PR is PR, and sales is just sales? It’s going to take more than a headline to nurture interest and bring a lead closer to conversion. The problem is that we tend to think of PR, content marketing and sales as three separate functions, each working in its own silo.

Joining the dots with Performance PR

This is where Performance PR comes in. Unlike traditional PR, Performance PR encompasses not only media relations, but also social media, creative and content marketing. And that’s really interesting because it is often content which is crucial for connecting the spark of a story with the detail of a sales conversation.

In Performance PR, content marketing is built in. The stories created through PR are developed into content, which explore topics in greater depth, then shared through the right channels so it reaches the right people. And rather than being judged solely on coverage as a traditional PR campaign would be, the impact is measured by what really matters to the business: engagement, qualified leads and deals moving through the pipeline.

PR as the spark

PR is often where many of the best ideas begin. The angles and stories it generates can be fed into wider marketing and lead generation campaigns, providing the material which can help engage buyers.

Take our work with cyber security company Bridewell. Together, we spotted a gap in the market; there was no authoritative research into the state of cyber security across critical national infrastructure. So we commissioned and developed their annual report which became a credible, newsworthy story which our media team placed in top-tier media. But it did much more than win headlines. It became a barometer for the industry which could be repurposed, quoted and shared, extending its value far beyond launch day. The report also provided the foundation for a whole range of content, such as blogs and articles, social campaigns and sales materials.

Subsequent to the campaign with Bridewell, research among 600 UK cyber security leaders showed the company had risen from ninth place in 2023 to the top five for unprompted consideration. In plain terms, more buyers thought of the company first, as a result of our work.

How PR helps feed the funnel

In Performance PR, content marketing and campaigns work as one connected effort to move prospects through the funnel, with the angles from media stories as the spark which starts it all.

Top of the funnel: PR creates awareness

A strong piece of research, a news angle or thought leadership in the media puts your brand in front of new audiences. When it appears in respected outlets or speaks to a genuine gap in the conversation, it carries more weight than marketing copy, because the credibility is earned rather than manufactured.

Middle of the funnel: PR themes fuel content marketing

The stories PR generates give marketing teams a foundation to create material which goes deeper into the topics. Imagine the media team commissions research which shows, for example, that ‘70% of finance leaders feel unprepared for upcoming regulatory changes’. That headline lands in the trade press and gets significant eyeballs as well as people talking.

From there, the marketing team can build the topics out into their campaigns. The research becomes a blog post which explains the specific challenges finance leaders face. It develops into a practical guide which explores the implications of non-compliance and eventually into a case study showing how one of your clients successfully navigated the same issue with your support.

This is the middle of the funnel at work. Prospects who were curious when they saw the headline now have the chance to dig deeper, test your expertise and understand more about what you do and why it matters to them.

Across the funnel: PR stories carried through campaigns

The value of that initial PR grows even more when it’s repurposed and delivered directly to target audiences. Coverage and research insights can be turned into nurture emails, promoted LinkedIn posts or the hook for an event. We often support clients in doing exactly this, ensuring each reuse keeps the authority of the original PR story while reinforcing the message through different channels. All the while, it helps prospects move closer to a decision.

By the time a sales conversation starts, the prospect has seen the story in the media, engaged with explanatory content and received campaigns which connect directly to their challenges.

Alignment drives stronger leads and engagement

When there’s alignment between PR, content marketing and sales, prospects already understand the issues you solve and have engaged with credible content along the way.

That depth of interaction shows up in the numbers: longer time spent on your site, higher click-through rates, more relevant email responses. When it comes to onboarding new business, it translates into fewer dead-end conversations and more prospects who are genuinely interested. It also shortens the sales cycle; the groundwork has already been laid, so sales can focus on building the relationship and closing the deal.

Measuring PR’s impact on pipeline

Traditional PR measurement has often stopped at coverage volume or impressions – how many articles appeared and how many people might have seen them. But of course with Performance PR, it’s all connected back to business outcomes, and therein the value lies. So when we want to know how PR and the resulting content has made an impact, helped move prospects down the pipeline and been a contributing factor to sales, this is what we measure:

  • How much traffic has PR-inspired blogs, guides or case studies driven to websites? How much engagement and action have they inspired on social media?
  • How many downloads or sign-ups has content generated? That could be from whitepapers, guides, webinars or events.
  • How many marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) interacted with those assets along their journey?

Where did PR-driven content or coverage play a role in moving a prospect closer to becoming a customer?

The results speak for themselves when you can show the direct link between an earned story and a measurable outcome – a form filled in, a guide downloaded, a meeting booked or a deal closed. Performance PR can help you achieve this, but only if you stop thinking of it, along with content marketing and sales, in a silo. When all work as one, that’s what really feeds the pipeline.

If driving new business is a challenge for your B2B tech brand, learn how we can support your lead generation efforts. Speak to one of our team, or find out more.

In this blog, Richard Peters, Senior Content Creator at Whiteoaks, explores:,

  • How B2B tech firms can take a braver, more strategic approach to communications, even in a cautious economic climate
  • How generic content is eroding trust and engagement
  • How thought leadership delivered as part of a Performance PR approach can build visibility and credibility for the brand

Many B2B technology businesses today are feeling the pressure of an economy that is both tight and in flux. In the UK, 44% of CFOs rate external uncertainty as high or very high, and the outlook for capital expenditure, discretionary spending and hiring remains subdued.

This economic backdrop is reshaping how decisions are made. With borrowing costs still elevated, organisations are taking longer to commit and every line of spend is under sharper scrutiny. Securing buy-in from senior stakeholders has become more challenging, as proposals must now demonstrate a clear link to visibility, efficiency or commercial impact.

At the same time, competitive intensity is rising. More vendors are targeting the same audiences, and digital channels are increasingly saturated. Exacerbating the challenge, buyers are increasingly time-poor and expectation-rich. They’re looking for content that speaks directly to their challenges, offers genuine insight and helps them make informed decisions.

The cost of playing it safe

When messaging defaults to vague value propositions or recycled industry jargon, it fails to engage and often also ends up actively eroding trust. That’s a growing problem, with 51% of B2B buyers saying content was too generic and irrelevant in 2024, up from 38% in 2023. This signals a growing disconnect between what businesses are putting out and what their audiences actually need.

To address this problem effectively and ensure they ‘stand out’, firms require not just a differentiated offer but a smarter, more strategic approach to engagement. Organisations are beginning to realise that to raise their brand visibility, they will need to be braver in their communications: more targeted, more nuanced and more reflective of the real-world challenges their audiences face.

How firms can be bold and deliver content that cuts through

To achieve the cut through they are looking for, B2B tech firms should lead with expertise and focus on developing thought leadership that earns attention in busy channels and builds authority and trust with buyers and influencers alike.

That means being willing to reflect the nuance of their audience’s world: addressing real issues and offering meaningful perspectives, even if they challenge conventional thinking.

Against this backdrop, bold thought leadership can provide just that. As part of a performance-led approach, bold thought leadership, supported by strong media relations and consistent, engaging,  social builds credibility, sustains depth and allows for measurement against clear KPIs.

As evidence of the impact of bold thought leadership builds through transparent reporting, stakeholder confidence grows and braver positioning becomes easier to back. This approach helps build brand awareness and supports pipeline, helps attract channel and alliance partners and strengthens long-term value.

Being bold doesn’t mean being loud, it means being clear, credible and relevant. For B2B tech firms, that often involves stepping away from generic messaging and leaning into expertise that genuinely helps buyers navigate complexity.

A Performance PR approach can support this shift by tying bold ideas to measurable outcomes, helping build trust and visibility over time.

By reporting transparently and aligning with real audience needs, businesses can gradually build the confidence to communicate with more clarity and conviction, even when budgets are tight.

It helps you win mindshare today and deals tomorrow. Clear, evidence-led stories make it easier for buyers to choose you and for partners to justify joint activity.

Ready to let your expertise do the talking? Speak to the Whiteoaks team today.