Business to Business PR Trends: A Guide on what to expect for 2013

1. Business to Business
PR Trends
What to expect from 2013

2. It’s all about the Content
 Significant increase in importance of content, particularly
online
 Information and content is now more valuable than ever in
shaping an organisations image in both the online and offline
worlds.
 B2B PR agencies must be able to source, organise and
customise a range of content for distribution across a myriad
of platforms

3. It’s all about the Content
 Corporate social media accounts are now a necessity
 Companies which provide insightful and useful content will
find themselves driving regular traffic to their blogs and
websites
 It is crucial that the content is new, fresh and valuable to the
end user.
 Content also positively influences a company’s placing in
organic search engines with valuable content and social
shares fast replacing keywords and link building as the main
focus for SEO strategies.

4. Human Influences
 New content relies heavily on its audience to share and
spread the message to the masses.
 Market influencers in your industry will become increasingly
important in their ability to shape and spread the image of a
brand across the various media channels.
 These brand influencers will aid in generating a personality
and human image to corporate businesses, improving their
credibility and reputation.

5. The Extra Step
 It is important for brands to stand out from the crowd
 Use of images, videos, presentations and infographics will all
continue to grow in popularity
 Take the extra step and use a more creative means for
communicating your message – a sure fire way to make your
brand stand out from the competing crowd.

6. The Social Boom
 2013 is the time for all B2B businesses to wake up to the
power of social media
 It will become easier for companies to identify the cost
benefit of social media activities, and thus justify increased
expense in this area
 LinkedIn Marketing is fast becoming the must have social
tool for B2B companies, utilising the professional social
network for lead generation.

7. Importance of Protecting
Reputation
 As B2B companies become more open and interactive with
its audience, the importance of protecting the company
reputation will become more important than ever.
 All B2B PR communications must practice defensive PR to
avoid any reputation damaging crises in the future.

8. Offline PR
 Offline PR, particularly in the B2B field which targets over
35s, will continue to play a crucial role in brand development
 Offline content and events, complemented by a social media
strategy, can aid in developing brand engagement between
businesses

9. Email
 The long maligned email marketing tool will remain through
2013 and continue to play an important role in content
distribution.
 The emphasis for email campaigns in 2013 will be on
personalisation and exact targeting to boost the relevance
and therefore effectiveness of the message.

10. Mobile Marketing
 2013 will be the year where businesses fully take advantage
of the boom in mobile marketing
 The importance for B2B companies to be “mobile” particularly
when it comes to public relations, will reach critical heights
 The public demand for information to be available on all
devices at any time has pushed PR content in to being
developed and distributed accordingly

11. Real Time Marketing
 2013 will see the advent of real time marketing.
 With the prolificacy of digital media allowing both customers
and businesses to interact freely with each other, following
real time news, updates and opinions
 B2B professionals will be required to react to the dynamic
nature of the environment by initiating marketing campaigns
based upon real time events, responding directly to news and
opinion as and when they occur.