Regardless of the amount of trade press coverage you generate on behalf of your clients, every CEO and VP of Marketing wants business press to validate their strategy and reach the highest level of decision makers. However, it's not as easy as they think it is. In fact, most tech companies are never able to get above the market clutter and reach the business press. Why? This presentation, originally delivered as a webcast by Gutenberg Communications, will highlight the common pitfalls tech company PR and marketing departments make when trying to reach the business press, as well as best practices for making sure your message doesn't fall on deaf ears. Who Should Check This Presentation Out? - VP's, Directors of Marketing - Communications specialists - Tech Company CEO's looking to elevate their message For more information on how Gutenberg can help you reach the business press, please contact us at info@gutenbergpr.com

1. Today’s Webcast
Why So Many Tech
Companies Fail at
Reaching the Business Press,
and How You Can Avoid Being
One of Them

2. Hugh Burnham
• CEO, Gutenberg
Communications
• Over 20 years
experience with
tech, financial and
health sciences
communications
• Frequent industry
speaker on public
relations trends
2
Today’s Speakers
Liana Hawes
• Vice President,
Media Strategy,
Gutenberg
Communications
• Has publicized for
brands including
MasterCard,
Logitech, AT&T Labs
& Archives; PopCap
Games

3. • Tech’s Historical Approach to PR
• Windows of Opportunity
• The Who is as Important as The What
and The When
• Great, You Got Coverage. Now What?
• 5 Things to Remember
3
Today’sAgenda

4. All too often, technology companies fail
to elevate (some would say ‘translate’)
their message to the business press and
are relegated to fighting it out within the
trade press.
4
The Challenge

5. 5
Why is this True?
Limited targets
Incredibly Competitive
Often Lacks
Context
© Jessica Hagy

6. Tech co’s often founded by engineers
– Speeds, feeds, technical features dominate the conversation
Communication was centered on product itself
Great for self-referencing markets, not so great
when attempting to elevate the message to a
business context
6
Tech’s HistoricalApproach

7. All initial marketing efforts are poured into selling
the product
• 99% of materials (datasheets, copy, web, pitches) oriented
toward the tactical end user
• It’s what’s needed at the time, but too many companies stop
there
Product-centric communications do not always
translate into thought leadership
7
First Product, Then Sales
Product
• Technical features
Sales/Marketing
• Features
• End User Benefits
• Differentiators
Thought Leadership
• Market Trends
• Business acceleration

8. 8
The Window of Opportunity
Online
Trade Press
Biz Media
• Nano-second news
cycles
• Breaking news
• Lots of space to fill
• 24/7

9. 9
The Window of Opportunity
Online
Trade Press
Biz Media
• Very talented writers,
reporters, producers
• Incredibly competitive
for placements; even
more so to become a
resource
• Trend-oriented
• Varying deadlines
across print, online
and broadcast

10. 10
ATimely Example

11. Where can you add value on a topic being
covered?
• IT security & compliance, for example:
What trends are your customers exhibiting
that might be precursor to a larger industry
shift?
• Are they securing assets differently than
they were 2-3 years ago? What is helping
shape that decision?
• It’s just as important to discuss what
they’ve stopped doing, as what new tactics
they’re employing.
How are you are helping your customers
advance in the market, and why is that
newsworthy at this time?
11
Laying Out The Story
Business Press Checklist
Expert Spokesperson
Unique, timely story angle
Unique data or research
Supporting resources:
• Research
• Customers
Timely availability

12. • Your contributor needs
to have perspective
• Can provide a view on
your subject that no one
else have provided
• Must help the reporter
and readers bridge the
chasm: “What you do
(product, service)” and
“Why it’s important to
this story”
12
The Who*is as important as
the what and the when

13. Has experience
in the target
audience’s role
– context
13
Client Example
Can be relied upon for
accurate, relevant
contributions.
Is comfortable
fronting a
diverging angle
on a popular
subject.
13
Has first hand
industry experience.
Can offer context
and meaning from
having been there,
done that.

14. 14
Becoming a Resource
“…our product would have
stopped Snowden from walking
with all of those documents”
“…our CEO can speak about
how this is great for the
compliance market”
“..we’ve never been accused of
employee issues like these, we
can speak to how important
contractor oversight is”
Not
Helpful

15. 15
Becoming a Resource
Adds value, new information, insights
“we recently conducted a survey on
insider threat, we’d be happy to
share our findings with analysis”
“many of our customers have faced
this challenge with access to
sensitive data and we can arrange
for you to speak with them about
how they did it”
“the technology exists to stop this
kind of breach. It’s often the lack of
context that stops organizations
from noticing issues. We can
discuss that”

16. Client
• BeyondTrust
Market
• Security software
The Who
• Marc Maiffret, CTO
Coverage Secured
• Opening of European
markets on CNBC,
ahead of InfoSec EMEA
Conference
16
Client Example

17. Client
• ResearchGate
Market
• Social Media networks for
scientists. Seismic shift in
industry /academia to ‘open
science’
The Who
• Dr. Ijad Madisch, CEO
Coverage Secured
• New York Times feature profile
“Cracking Open the Scientific
Process”
• Forbes “Research Gate Wants to
Be Facebook for Scientists”
17
Client Example

18. How do you capitalize on this big win?
• Your new #1 content marketing asset
Merchandising and ‘Weaponizing’
• Merchandising doesn’t stop with the story creation; how do
you package this coverage for your sales channels?
• Where does this new sales tool fit in your sales funnel?
• What stage of the sales cycle is it most useful for?
• Credibility setting early; thought leadership differentiation
later; value-adding at renewal time
What other groups can benefit?
• CFO, valuation, funding
• HR, recruitment
18
YouGotCoverage!NowWhat?

19. Was the exercise worthwhile?
• No doubt multiple stakeholders involved in getting the
coverage
• How do you demonstrate the effort was worth the outcome?
Manage expectations through measurement
• Inbound traffic from source (fight for the inbound links where
possible!)
• Search/Traffic spikes related to broadcast airings
• Cross linking to original media source
• Going outbound with targeted mailings to base, pipeline or
retired leads, measuring engagement
19
YouGotCoverage!NowWhat?

20. Your pitches for the trade press will not be successful with the
business press.
Be a resource. You’re not selling a story, you’re helping your
target buy a concept.
Invest in your spokesperson/subject matter expert.
Merchandising is key.
If you’re not going to measure the impact of you’re the
coverage, don’t even bother undertaking the exercise to begin
with.
20
5 Things to Remember
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2
3
4
5

21. Questions?
If you’d like to continue the
conversation, please reach out to
us at info@gutenbergpr.com
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