4 Pillars of B2B SaaS PR

4 Pillars of B2B SaaS PR graphic

SaaS advisor, founder and investor Jason Lemkin is a skeptic, bringing a discerning mind to every facet of his career. He’s especially skeptical of the PR industry and that’s exactly why his opinion should be trusted, even though he’s been fired as a client by at least three PR firms. Jason and I don’t agree on everything PR related, but we agree on PR’s impact on the entire SaaS business from recruiting to fundraising to social proof. We at BLASTmedia call this impact the ‘Four Pillars’ of B2B SaaS PR: investors, employees, partners and customers. 

Here’s why those pillars are important and how PR impacts each:

Investors

Another SaaS expert and VC Mark Suster said, “great PR could add $10 million to your valuation or increase your chances of closing a round 2x, and either case is a reason to make sure you have good press. It’s much harder to get funded as a company nobody has heard of.” Investors are in fact human beings, and they’re influenced by the opinions of others. The third-party validation and perceived expertise that comes from the company and thought leadership media coverage has a direct impact on how a VC views a startup.

Employees

The talent ecosystem is one of the most insurmountable challenges for SaaS leaders. Recruiting, retention and satisfaction of high-end talent doesn’t come easy and certainly don’t come cheap. Positive PR for a company of any size is an asset along the employee lifecycle. Highlighting a truly unique culture and leadership style through a contributed article from a C-suite spokesperson on Entrepreneur or Forbes, securing a feature on TechCrunch about a funding round or a local business journal writing up a growth story all bring attention to the potential growth a company can provide for a talented employee. Our clients often see an influx of resumes when one of these stories hits and they plug it into their digital ad recruiting strategy.

Partners

From channel to integrations, potential partners want to know they’re working with the leader in a category. B2B SaaS PR helps businesses set themselves apart from the competition, specifically in crowded spaces like HR and marketing tech where there are thousands of players all pushing similar messages. Business development leaders can harness the power of PR for supporting current partnerships, as well as growing new ones. You can also leverage PR via case studies with shared clients to tell a story of how your partnership can drive success, showcasing your partner and strengthening your relationship.

Customers & Prospects

Marketing leaders in SaaS businesses are often measured on one main metric: leads. While B2B SaaS PR isn’t going to be your primary lead driver, thought leadership, company features and product coverage all feed the lead funnel at different points in the customer journey.

  • Awareness – Often the first touchpoint with prospects, targeted media coverage can elevate your brand, product or executives to the right audience for the first time – putting them into the sales funnel.
  • Consideration – What specific problem does your product solve? Coverage demonstrates a problem and its solution, as well as addresses market gaps, providing answers to prospects’ frequently asked questions.
  • Purchase – B2B software decision-makers don’t buy after the first touch point. Product coverage, analyst relationships and a thought leadership strategy work together to drive customers to purchase.
  • Retention – Media coverage gives customers confidence that they are working with the market leader. Prescriptive thought leadership content and media placements continue to educate customers and keep them engaged with the brand.
  • Advocacy – The best customers are believers, and the right press can turn them into outward advocates. Case studies highlighting customer outcomes and use cases in vertical industries, like this piece we secured for our client’s customer story in Forbes,  make for impactful PR coverage.

If you are only using PR to influence one pillar and are interested in learning more about how we leverage SaaS PR strategies to impact the whole business, contact Lindsey Groepper to set up a conversation.

3 Ways PR Can Help Generate B2B Sales

While PR isn’t going to be your only — or frankly your most cost-effective — direct lead driver, it can help feed the B2B sales funnel at different points.

PR is a value that shouldn’t be ignored according to Mark Suster, two-time entrepreneur, turned VC.  Mark stated, “If I had $1 dollar left to spend on marketing I would put it to PR. If anybody tells you differently, be suspect. Most people don’t understand the silent benefits [of PR].”
Continue reading “3 Ways PR Can Help Generate B2B Sales”

How Speaking Opportunities Can Help Build Thought Leadership

In the world of business-to-business (B2B) PR, we get stoked when we’re able to leverage an executive for thought leadership opportunities. As an executive title usually carriers weight in any industry, it’s safe to assume an individual titled as such has enough tenure or relatable experience, their opinion is one of which worth listening. Continue reading “How Speaking Opportunities Can Help Build Thought Leadership”

SaaS Leaders Deskera and SignUpGenius Tap BLASTmedia to Lead B2B PR Strategy

(INDIANAPOLIS— July 24, 2017) — BLASTmedia is pleased to announce the addition of Deskera and SignUpGenius to the company’s roster of SaaS clients. The national PR agency, which specializes in working with B2B technology companies, was also recently tapped to lead media relations efforts by two other SaaS companies—DemandJump and Signal Vine. Continue reading “SaaS Leaders Deskera and SignUpGenius Tap BLASTmedia to Lead B2B PR Strategy”

BLASTmedia Named as One of The 2016 Best Places to Work in Indiana

(INDIANAPOLIS— May 1, 2016) — BLASTmedia, a national public relations agency, is honored to announce its selection as one of the 2016 Best Places to Work in Indiana by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. The statewide award program identifies, recognizes and honors 100 companies in Indiana that benefit the state’s economy and workforce.

Continue reading “BLASTmedia Named as One of The 2016 Best Places to Work in Indiana”

The Evolution of Public Relations

Public relations may seem like a modern profession, but people having actually been strategically placing stories in the media for years. As far back as the late 1800s, famous historical figures and occurrences were promoted through smaller scale weekly newspapers.

The Early Years

One of the earliest cases of crisis management through PR was in the 1890s when 80 baseball players left the National League. As you can imagine, fans and owners were in an uproar. With the help of a little media outreach, the National League was able to help straighten out management-labor disputes and secure the relationships amongst the players, fans and owners.

Old timey MLB team photograph
Photo Credit: MLB.com

While this may not be the most modern form of PR (and was certainly not called “public relations” at the time), it’s important to be able to relate what happened here to the basics of our job: using interpersonal communication, literature, public events and art to persuade other individuals to believe in our client’s services and/or programs.

The First Publicist

Historical figures such as Henry Ford and Theodore Roosevelt have been attributed with being the first to utilize the basic PR concepts: “positioning” and “ready accessibility.” In other words, these men were able to position themselves as thought leaders who were easily accessible to the press. But it wasn’t until 1906 that a man came along and changed PR forever: enter Mr. Ivy Lee.

Ivy Lee was the first public relations counselor and was hired by famous industrialist John D. Rockefeller. Our friend Rockefeller was facing some serious issues in Colorado, known as the “Ludlow Massacre,” a strike against his fuel and iron plant. In the wake of his panic, Rockefeller turned to our good friend Lee to get the problem fixed, using some traditional media outreach.

So what did our old PR pro Lee do? He decided to change Rockefeller’s tycoon image into one of a man who was concerned for the livelihood of his workers. With this new image in hand, he was able to talk to the press, workers and stage events.

What is PR now?

Through the years, PR eventually evolved from newspaper boys yelling, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” to now, where PR specialists focus a large majority of their time on content creation. With the development of the Internet, PR changed drastically. According to Jack Leslie, Chairman at Weber Shandwick, PR has moved from a broadcast model to an engagement model, meaning PR professionals are in a constant two-way conversation with the media.

Now PR specialists are focusing less and less on traditional efforts and are trying to make outreach and engagement with the media more organic. By doing so, the messages that we are offering to editors seem more natural and specific to their interests, rather than a mass email that reads generic and regulated.

From award applications and speaking abstracts to analyst outreach and media relations, our focus is to shape a certain message for our clients based on underlying marketing goals. For example, if our client is looking to connect with potential investors or share their company image to acquire new talent, we might suggest a momentum press release sharing our clients product roadmap, recent awards and current successes. We’ll then pitch an over-arching story to select members of the media (think VentureBeat for investors and local newspapers for employee acquisition).

Below are examples of additional strategies and tactics we use that map back to marketing goals:

  • Analyst relations – so products and services can be recommended to companies who aren’t aware of options or who value analysts’ recommendations
  • Contributed content campaigns – to promote our client as an industry thought leader
  • Media relations gift guides – to allow media contacts to demo products and include them in upcoming gift guides or reviews
  • Award applications – to gain exposure about the company and its offerings

The above is just a small sample of tactics we deploy that lead back to a goal established by our client. Content marketing has taken the lead as one of the best strategies for any marketing goal identified.

Here’s a real life example:

Our client was interested in securing coverage and downloads for their annual report and to promote themselves as thought leaders in the marketing industry, while gaining exposure for its product that can help businesses increase conversions. With this goal, in mind we drafted a press release stating the relevant data from the report. We also shared a downloadable link to the report with the media and a PDF version for reference. About a week later, we supplemented the release of the report with bylines describing best practices to increase conversions along with images. And finally, we created an infographic that was then promoted. Our social media tactics complemented our PR efforts which assisted in our goal of securing downloads. Below are the results of our 60-day campaign.

  • The Form Conversion Report has been downloaded directly 1,859 times
  • The webinar to share key results from the Form Conversion Report attracted nearly 1,000 participants
  • Media relations efforts garnered 67 pieces of earned media coverage in publications, including Bulldog Reporter, MarketingProfs and Adweek
  • In total, the report received 167,663,871 total impressions

Want to implement modern marketing strategies for your company or brand? Contact Lindsey Groepper to find out how BLASTmedia can help!