"Tesla does no marketing" was long one of the business world's favorite factoids. This was never
exactly true (Tesla selling its roadster first instead of a less expensive model
definitely reflected marketing thinking) and I feel the wrong lesson was often taken
from it.
Fame Is the Name of the Game
The issue is not whether a product can sell itself, because Tesla vehicles do not sell
themselves, but earned media certainly does, and it's been a major contributor to Tesla
becoming the most valuable car brand in the world (as of the time of this writing), beating
out a wide variety of
car gods with more glamour and heritage. And yet, when it
comes to owned, paid, and earned media, the latter often gets neglected, especially in B2B.
Granted, I don't think B2B brands can be really propelled by earned media in the same
way that B2C brands can (it wasn't enough for WeWork in the end), but it comes in handy.
And the funny thing is we all know this already.
Everyone knows it's better to be a famous brand than non-famous. Oracle isn't putting
their name on a pro baseball stadium for no reason.
And yet, earned media still often doesn't get the attention and resources it should.
And there are two primary reasons for this. First, as illustrated in this nice little
Forbes article, earned media channels cannot be controlled in the same ways that owned
and paid channels can, making it hard to improve and predict your metrics with the
level of rigor that is demanded today.
And second, the marketing and media relations teams in many organizations tend to be
siloed from each other, even when they report to the same manager.
Why Marketing and Media Relations Need Each Other
Even though these disciplines work quite differently from each other, a lot of
low-hanging
inbound fruit doesn't get picked when they don't work together. Earned media
is more
credible than other forms, making it a highly-effective sales lubricant, with
93%
of sales reps saying that they leverage media coverage when communicating with prospects.
And it's really important when you're going after prospects who've never heard of you, or
who've had no previous awareness that you sell something relevant to them. A respected
trade publication can perform the same job as that all-important first friend who vouches
for you as you try to gain entrance to a new circle of friends.
That first cause of B2B earned media neglect that I mentioned is the nature of the beast,
and cannot be entirely tamed, though that Forbes article does make some helpful suggestions
that can have some effect.
But that lack of collaboration I mentioned as the second cause is entirely internal,
and therefore very much amenable to improvement. And I see three core reasons why you should.
1. Media Relations Needs Help
When marketing is largely siloed off from what media relations creates and does, your media
relations people may find themselves a little too dependent on product managers, which can
lead to
media content that reads like a feature list instead of a feature story.
Or they may lean too heavily on PR firms, which can lead to a lot of fruitless attempts
at getting articles written solely for the purposes of attracting journalists (as opposed to
articles asked for by or negotiated with journalists) published.
The problem with the latter is that unsolicited content should not be created solely for PR,
because unsolicited content created solely for PR is propaganda, and nobody wants to read
that. Instead, news or insights should be shared with the public, via PR.
The problem with the former is that even when dealing with trade media in highly technical
fields, you don't want your content weighed down with too many details. What the media cares
about is what's special, what stands out, and what's unique (i.e., what's new).
And what's more, a lack of coordination can actually lead to marketing and media assets that
don't agree with each other, a not unheard-of problem at tradeshows and the like where you
have content for just-launched products authored by different sources in close proximity.
2. Marketing Needs More Reach
Earned media is a great way to get more reach (and more high-value reach) and achieve other
marketing KPIs that can be hard to hit through owned or paid methods in B2B, like
brand awareness.
Even if it doesn't contain a lot of marketing-specific messaging or information, favorable
media coverage establishes your legitimacy and authority in your industry, making it
important to share on your social media channels alongside your blogs, whitepapers, and
other content.
It also gives your marketing team a break from having to constantly
churn out their own
stuff (while improving your SEO), or it can fill a gap in the content calendar when a
normally-scheduled item is late.
What's more, trade media need clicks too, and they are often very hungry for content. You
can work with their people to create bylines and other content that interests them and
their readers, making for another way to establish legitimacy and authority.
Some trade media will even let you publish case studies and other content right on their
website, which is a great way to get them in front of decisionmakers who might not
be involved in the buying process early enough to consume such content other ways.
LinkedIn calls these decisionmakers "hidden buyers." They comprise
50% of the buying team
and they rarely consume standard marketing content, because they're not already experts in
what you sell. But they still need to be reached, especially if they haven't
already heard
of you.
It takes close collaboration between media relations and marketing to make these
things happen, as marketing might not even be aware of what media relations is doing, or
what leverageable media-published content is out there on the web, leaving a lot of money
on the table, and media relationships uncultivated.
3. One Side May Be Neglected Versus the Other
When marketing and media relations are siloed from each other, one side may be
overrepresented, with the other side neglected. Why? Because the boss they both
eventually report to came up through one side or the other, but not both.
If media relations is viewed through a marketing lens, media relations risks being
dismissed as "the department of things marketing is too introverted to do."
If it's the opposite, marketing risks becoming "the department of tradeshow support
and ad hoc requests."
If the former happens, you risk brand awareness suffering, leading to a marketing funnel
that chronically underperforms, even if well resourced and well done. After all, a
steak without sizzle can be mighty tasty, but a steak that sizzles is much easier to sell.
But if marketing is the side that atrophies, you risk your media relations efforts
becoming a money pit, because they'll be all sizzle and no steak (unless you've got a
rockstar CEO acting as your de facto CMO), so you'll have to keep conjuring larger,
more extravagant, and more expensive forms of sizzle to keep the media engaged. Both
situations are undesirable.
Earned media is a great force multiplier, but you need a marketing-related force to
multiply (i.e., you need the sizzle and the steak to go with it). And keeping some of
your storytellers far away from third parties who write stories for a living is hardly
efficient, especially since your content people might be asked to create media content
by your regional marketing and sales leaders anyway. Which is why....
Marketing and Media Relations Should Work Hand in Hand
Your media relations people often have huge and very influential personal networks,
making them ideal people to
distribute your key marketing content, messaging,
thought leadership, and insights. And media relations may need a
little help from marketing connecting the dots amongst the technical features so a
coherent picture can be presented to the world.
You can't necessarily reorganize your company, but you can assign some KPIs for
marketing and media relations to share (like bylines published or brand mentions).
You can also make certain that media relations assets (and those published by third
parties) are also part of the marketing content calendar. This will help both sides be
better aware of what the other is doing, and maximize the effectiveness of both.
