Planning 2021: Part Two Of Our Three Part Series For Martech Marketers Continues Here

“Raising awareness” is by definition what PR does, so if your PR doesn’t do that, there is a whole other issue. But of course valuable PR should support your commercial objectives. 

We always like to ask clients what pain points they need to resolve. Helping really dig into what needs fixing is often a more meaningful way of setting commercially valuable objectives. 

We know the martech ecosystem is more crowded than ever, factors such as Chinese companies expanding west, continued new start-up entrants to the market and M&A making the big boys bigger, are all at play. If this is hampering your ability to land deals, then brand and product differentiation or share of voice versus competitors may be key goals. Messaging and SOV analysis as well as domain authority tracking using the right software are all techniques we use to measure success, mapped to increasing sales success over time.

If your pain point is that people don’t really understand what you do or do differently, then audience education shifting perception is the goal. Quantitative message penetration and qualitative perception audits at the start and end of your campaign will benchmark progress. But agency roadshows, lavish entertainment, VIP dinners and stands at conferences are gone and we can all safely say your common-or-garden webinar is now a little bit too ubiquitous. So re-think the obvious: does your audience want to gather for another Zoom or would they prefer a personalised, gamified digital activation that taps into new audience trends?

Of course for many marketers right now, the pain point is ‘not enough sales’, with the best laid plans hit hard by a struggling economy. But martech companies need to compete for share of attention more now than ever before in order to achieve this. Our most recent Business Content Trends Index shows 38% of business decision makers in the technology and media sector are spending just 3-4 hours a week reading, watching or listening to business related content, which means a lot of companies are competing for that time. 

Bold campaign thinking is needed. PR agencies are well placed to come up with ideas for content in less expected formats that build on your narrative. The Business Content Trends Index shows that vox pops / video case studies and creative content (for example insights presented as a comic book or graphic novel) is more popular among business decision makers than, for example, the frequently used data-led whitepaper. 

And, yes, it takes a little bit of activation budget but the ROI justifies it. Great campaign thinking will not only drive awareness and differentiation but also web traffic, social engagement and ultimately sales. Plugging in your social and Google analytics to agency software platforms will provide holistic and irrefutable data to communicate success to the board. 

With your insights gathered and alignment on goals and ideas to help achieve them, the last step is looking at routes to success.  

Sign up by emailing us at martechplanning@withpr.com to hear more and to ask questions at our Q & Brew planning webinar, Tuesday 1st December 08.30 GMT. Our CEO Debbie Zaman will be joined by digital marketing expert Jennifer Begg and insights specialist Jane Hales