In 2018, we noticed a shift in the way technology companies are communicating within the industry, with many being open to connecting more, opening links to webinars and allowing external stakeholders to listen in. This has allowed us to give tech innovators a voice by better understanding the trends, successes and challenges of the industry.
With the year quickly coming to a close, we thought it would be interesting to look back at the PR and digital marketing tactics that helped propel our clients in the technology sector into the spotlight.
Executive profiling
Profiling allows for company executives to be positioned as experts within niche and targeted communities to enhance presence and visibility. On top of an increase to our client’s various assets, profiling amplifies corporate reputation, strengthens loyalty and builds credibility and trust.
An executive’s reputation is vital to the success of the business, and studies have shown that customers are more likely to invest in a business if their views align with that of the company's senior leadership .
Rapid response
By keeping our fingers on the pulse, we have uncovered various opportunities for our clients to be featured in some of South Africa’s biggest news publications. Creating a bank of pre-approved comments means clients can be assured share-of-voice when it comes to the biggest breaking news stories.
Effective rapid response involves quick commentary on specific topics, which helps build valuable relationships with the country’s key media and industry analysts.
Digital storytelling
Using integrated digital marketing campaigns to tell our clients´ stories has proved successful in positioning them as thought leaders in their respective industries and resulted in elevated brands. Social media is beneficial when it comes to digital campaigns as the audience becomes apart of the story through testimonials and customer success stories, which leads to an engaged and educated audience.
In addition, digital campaigns bring valuable traffic to the our clients´ websites, feed SEO and grow new business leads.
Google Advertising
Google Adwords and Remarketing has increasingly become a way for businesses to reach a broader audience who are specifically looking for the services the client offers. This is especially true when looking to target groups such as java developers looking for new jobs - recruitment companies can, in some cases, charge up to R100,000 for the placement of a developer, whereas Google Adwords can provide results at a fraction of the cost.
This medium has helped to further refine our client’s messaging through a deeper understanding of what its audience is searching for and improve searchability
Finding the local in the global
For larger corporations, finding angles that appeal to the local media landscape can sometimes prove tricky. Looking at the true benefits of their products and seeing what local challenges can be solved by our clients solution is a method we use to pique journalists interest and often lead to great media results.
This shows that this internationally developed technology is able to handle the unique challenges that are found on the African continent.
Looking forward to 2019
In 2019 we anticipate that the biggest impact will come from exploring and capitalising on non traditional ways of communicating and executing strategic communications.
There will be a rise in the amount of paid-for content as a result of the changing media landscape - where advertising revenues have declined and news organisations have had to find new ways of staying afloat. The change in algorithms on search engines will also see a decrease in organic reach, in favour for paid-for options.
The upcoming year promises to be one filled with change not only for the PR industry, but also the technology landscape in South Africa and across the continent which will require tactics and mindsets to be more flexible and results driven. We need to be able prove that we are moving the needle for our clients
Should you wish to meet with our team to discuss any of the points above, feel free to contact us now to help you begin planning your PR for 2019.
