Tag: AI

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

  • How AI is being used in B2B tech PR
  • Why AI is a tool and not a replacement for human judgement, creativity and relationships
  • The importance of responsible use and transparency


How many times have you heard about artificial intelligence (AI) this week?

A quick scroll on LinkedIn, a news headline, or even a passing reference in a Netflix drama, conversations about AI are becoming impossible to ignore.

AI may have started in the tech world, but it’s now influencing how B2B businesses across all industries communicate, compete and grow – and public relations (PR) is no exception.

AI in PR is making a measurable impact. However, as PR agencies and in-house PR teams rush to adopt new tools, there’s an important balance to strike.

In B2B tech PR, the value of AI lies in how it supports professionals, not replaces them.

Yes, it can improve efficiency. Yes, it can make data analysis easier.

But strategy, creativity and relationship-building still sit firmly in human hands.

The use cases for AI in public relations

Here are some examples of where AI tools can add value to PR professionals:

#1 In-depth, faster desk research
Research is one of the most common applications of AI in B2B tech PR. In fact, a recent study conducted by PR Week highlighted that three out of four agencies already use AI for this purpose.

By scanning news coverage, summarising long reports and spotting emerging themes across multiple sources, AI helps PR teams get up to speed on new topics quickly and in more depth. It can surface stats, pull quotes from thought leaders and highlight common narratives, saving hours of manual research.

For PR consultants working on complex subjects like cybersecurity, data analytics or cloud infrastructure, tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity can also breakdown technical concepts or compare industry viewpoints. This means teams can spend less time gathering information and more time applying it strategically.

#2 Overcoming writer’s block
We’ve all been there – staring at a blank page, and no matter how hard we try, the ideas just won’t come. This is where AI tools can really help. Whether writers need ideas for a headline or a structure for a blog, AI can help generate outlines or suggest different angles, helping them get unstuck.

AI can be a helpful starting point, but the content still needs to be shaped, checked and edited by a human content specialist. Tone of voice and context still matter, and that’s something AI can’t fully replicate. But when used thoughtfully, AI can help nurture the seed of an idea into something more structured, giving writers a solid base to build on.

#3 Global campaign support
Another common use of AI across PR is transcription and translation. For teams managing multiple interviews, international clients or content that needs to land in more than one language, AI can be a huge time-saver.

Let’s be honest, no one speaks every language. AI tools can help transcribe interviews quickly and provide initial translations of press releases, articles or social posts. These translations aren’t final, but they offer a solid starting point for creating accurate, local-language versions that reflect cultural nuance and tone.

This means faster turnaround across time zones, greater consistency in messaging and more time spent on tailoring content to local relevance, not just getting it out the door.

#4 Media monitoring and reporting
Finally, AI can help PR teams stay on top of coverage, conduct real-time media monitoring and streamline admin tasks.

With tools like Google Alerts often falling short, AI can fill the gap for things like real-time monitoring, competitor tracking and sentiment analysis, scanning the web in real time to show how people are actually talking about a company or issue.

By tracking keywords, coverage patterns and industry conversations, AI helps B2B tech PR teams respond quickly when stories break or sentiment starts to shift.

Where AI won’t replace human PR professionals

There’s no doubt that AI tools in PR are useful. Otherwise, PR professionals wouldn’t be investing in them.

However, not everything in PR can, or should, be handed over to AI algorithms.

For a start, PR is rooted in trust and relationships, and even an AI system running the Matrix wouldn’t be able to replicate human awareness, sensitivity, good judgment and ethics.

Building strong connections with journalists, navigating tough stakeholder conversations, handling a crisis with sensitivity, developing content that balances thought leadership with brand awareness, all of these require judgement, context and emotional intelligence.

The same applies to strategy.

Understanding the correlation between clients’ business and PR goals, interpreting nuance and making informed decisions based on years of experience is where human PR teams still matter most. AI can support the work, but it can’t set the direction.

Creativity too has its limits with AI.

While tools can generate ideas or scan past campaigns for inspiration, they lack the insight to craft a pitch that lands with a specific journalist, or an angle that differentiates a client in a crowded market. After all, AI and ML learn from existing data sets, so originality can be limited.

In B2B tech PR, where technical accuracy and positioning are key, relying too heavily on AI risks eroding credibility.

The real opportunity: support, not substitution

The real opportunity for AI in B2B tech PR lies in its ability to support teams, helping them work faster, smarter and with greater precision.

Used well, AI can automate the heavy lifting, but it needs clear boundaries.

Research still needs validating.

Media outreach still needs the human touch.

Thought leadership content and social media posts need skilled writers to avoid rinse and repeat-style content (please remove that rocket emoji and any mention of a cornerstone…). With LinkedIn as the main platform for B2B tech companies, it’s worth remembering that it prioritises content with originality and authenticity, and penalises anything that feels generic or AI-generated.

AI’s role will grow in PR

AI in B2B tech PR has a clear and growing role, but it’s not a replacement for people, and it shouldn’t be treated as one.

The PR teams seeing the most value are those using AI to strengthen what they already do well.

They’re not automating creativity.

They’re not outsourcing judgement.

They’re applying AI where it makes sense, and keeping people where they matter most.

As AI tools evolve, so will the opportunities. But the foundation of impactful and measurable PR and strong, long-lasting client relationships will remain very much in human hands.

And as AI becomes more embedded in agency workflows, transparency will matter more than ever, helping clients understand how it’s being used and the value it brings to their campaigns.

Find out about the team of experts (not bots!) behind our PR campaigns and get in touch to learn how we can support your business.

 

By Hayley Goff, Chief Executive Officer

For a business with genuine artificial intelligence capabilities, the world should be one of significant new opportunities and strong growth.

Automation, AI, analytics and low-code platforms have been converging for several years and the appetite for advanced, data-driven technology has increased rapidly. Research by analysts Deloitte found more than 50 per cent of organisations plan to use or implement AI and automation this year (2023) and almost all (94 per cent) see AI as critical to success.

This is a huge opportunity for AI companies, especially in mature markets such as the US and UK. Surprising as it may seem, however, companies with AI capabilities often underperform when it comes to explaining themselves.

Tech businesses that have immense talent in applying machine learning, computer vision, or natural language processing to significant business problems, are frequently lost for words when it comes to telling their own stories. Once they seek to get their message out, they may feel they are adrift in a very unfamiliar landscape of media organisations and marketing events where it is difficult to determine who or what matters and how long or how much it takes to achieve any impact.

The problem is that if a business fails to explain itself well, the B2B tech media may simply ignore it. A business with AI capabilities will achieve little if it is unable to talk interestingly and succinctly about what makes it stand out or why it is relevant to what is happening now. We can all send emails to publications, but are they the people with any real clout or connections? Getting this wrong can cause a significant loss of momentum, even in a hot area such as AI, where competition is intense and potential customers are very careful about how they spend their budgets.

This is especially true when a B2B tech business enters a new territory. It’s a little too easy, for instance, for US-based firms to assume they speak a common language with all their potential prospects in the UK, Europe and Scandinavia, even though the entire tech world is so heavily influenced by US innovators. Failing to address the specific circumstances and challenges of companies in the UK and Europe or to use idiomatic British English in the UK undermines any growth strategy. Audiences quickly feel they are being considered as an add-on or after-thought.

Crafting the message out for AI companies and getting it out there takes skill

Achieving any benefit from B2B tech PR can take time, hard work and requires insight and skill. A company with an AI solution or function should work with B2B tech PR specialists with local knowledge and connections. It is important to develop the true story about a company’s AI – which is not always easy to explain in simple terms. How does your AI make you stand out? What does it do that matters to the distinct audiences in the UK or France or Germany? Can this be developed in a way that makes relevant media take notice and increases credibility?

Many companies offering AI capabilities may also struggle because they have a purely anecdotal understanding of how rivals are perceived in these markets and the kind of language and terminology used. A B2B tech PR specialist like Whiteoaks International can conduct marketing, content and share-of-voice audits and craft strategies and tactics that make an AI business stand out. This will be informed by an understanding of the challenges and opportunities in each market and how other businesses currently address them. A business can, for example, see how perceptions of it are shifting over the course of a PR campaign, gauged by quarterly monitoring of the terminology the market uses when considering its offering and capabilities. This is a measurable outcome. A campaign can be divided up into specific topics or business challenges to achieve tighter focus.

Strategies to increase awareness and influence opinion will target the media and people that matter most with articles, eBooks, blogs, tips and best practice guides that relate the benefits of a distinctive AI capability to the challenges prospects face right now, or pressures and opportunities from economic, political or social events and trends. Integrated content marketing, as part of an over-arching PR campaign, enables AI companies to work on development of a full array of marketing and content assets, mapping on to agreed and carefully thought-through objectives.

An integrated campaign respects the distinctive characteristics of each market, and for Whiteoaks, involves the WIN PR Group of tech PR agencies who understand one another and work in similar ways. For a company in the AI sector, this is important. The messages in a PR campaign need to be tailored to each market, but maintain overall consistency – otherwise, credibility is quickly lost and coordination breaks down. With the WIN Group, companies gain the right balance between local knowledge and consistency in methodology, messaging and reporting.

AI may be the hottest topic in town, but it still takes skill and expertise for an AI company to get its message out clearly to the right people, with outcomes it can measure.

Forget your fears about artificial intelligence putting you out of a job. Now it’s artificial humans you need to worry about, perhaps putting you out of… a life?

Artificial humans are already here on Earth and they hope to take over in 2020. The concept of virtual characters who have the ability to show emotions and intelligence was unveiled by Samsung-backed start-up Neon at January’s CES technology show in Las Vegas. This annual extravaganza of global innovation never fails to provide glimpses of the future, but if this is our future then what hope do we ‘natural humans’ have? How long is it before we become entirely unnecessary?

Following months of intense hype, Neon showcased some of its life-size “artificial humans” to CES attendees. Chief executive Pranav Mistry claimed these digital avatars represent a new life-form. Somewhat grandiosely he explained his vision, “There are millions of species on our planet and we hope to add one more.” Pre-show images of these Neons, as they were dubbed, came along with the mysterious slogan: “Have you ever met an artificial?”

Fortunately for the future of the human race, the general consensus following Mistry’s presentation seemed to be a great big mehhh, and the unleashing of Neons to the world was described as a train wreck by tech journalists. Phew! We can breathe again. At least until this incredibly creepy idea is inevitably perfected for CES 2021.

The controversy didn’t stop there. The decision to offer Ivanka Trump, the US president’s daughter, one of the show’s keynote sessions caused uproar across the Twittersphere. Critics said other women with way more expertise failed to be granted lower-profile slots at the show. But now we know artificial humans are on the way, does it even matter? Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and star of US TV series Shark Tank seemed to speak for many when he said of Ivanka’s appearance, “I don’t care one way or another.”

Aside from all this excitement, the main CES trend was technology companies looking to get on the climate change train. The show was flooded with products offering solutions to lowering your carbon footprint, or boasting unique selling points based on energy efficiency. With so many start-ups getting onboard with innovative ways to reduce our carbon footprint, maybe humanity does have a bright future after all.