PR agency or ‘Growth Partner’? How B2B agencies have to adapt to market demand  

The days of PR for profile’s sake seem a distant past. Just focusing on coverage and brand awareness is no longer the sole objective of today’s PR function. This applies more keenly to the scaleup market where marketing resources (and budget) are scant and success or failure is critical at the early stages. 

Often, the right types of traditional PR may deliver actual leads to the door. Take our client eflow, who is serving the needs of fintech companies who have to remain compliant in a rapidly evolving regulatory space. Whilst its products resolve such industry issues, a straightforward ‘product release’ in itself might not be enough for the media nor its customer base. But build in broader messages around soaring fines in the financial services market and an audit / helpline, and you might be more likely to not just drive press interest but also actual Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) to the sales department (in fact, for one story, we achieved 6 MQLs).

In the evolution of the industry (and economic climate) here are a few things to factor into your PR support programme, ensuring a holistic, integrated approach that aligns with your rapid scaling needs.

1. Speed-to-Influence: you need to accelerate your influence in a crowded market by blending not just rapid media outreach and thought leadership, but tracking your competitors to ensure you are outperforming them. When you start with an agency, make sure the messaging and strategy goes hand-in-hand with the delivery – you can’t afford not to hit the ground running.
2. Impact Analytics for Agile PR: your agency needs to offer PR metrics and data-driven insights that directly link media efforts with growth KPIs that scaleups track. This might include metrics tied to lead generation (MQLs), investor/shareholder engagement, competitive media share, or talent attraction to show PR’s direct influence on scaling goals.
3. Market Leadership Storytelling: involve your agency in the shaping of your brand story, tapping into high-impact campaigns which differentiate you quickly, and experimenting with different narratives. You can expand on and develop the successful ones, and keep hold of those calls to action or straplines. This process might feature quarterly co-creation workshops to ensure brand alignment with your growth objectives.
4. 360 Degree Market Positioning: Go beyond traditional media to integrate digital channels that resonate with scaleup audiences, like LinkedIn-driven executive profiling, award nominations, key listings and growth-focused podcasts. Make sure your agency is tasked with consistency across all communication channels while boosting visibility and credibility. That resulting “you seem to be everywhere” is key to building momentum and credibility.

If you integrate the above as part of the PR service, you’re going to effectively be hiring a growth partner as well as a PR agency. And a team that integrates with your sales and marketing function (and leadership team) and doesn’t see a line drawn between you and them is what you need to make 2+2=5. 

Finally, ensure your PR service is managed from the top both sides at least at the outset – you need the best input to get the best results. And for a growth strategy to really be effective, the rest is hard-work, commitment and passion, as well as an obvious buy-in to your vision – but that goes without saying, I’d hope.