Communications & New Media Nov 2015 Vol 29 No 11

is perhaps the best route to take for messaging.
Sales personnel are on the front
line with customers and have first hand
knowledge of their challenges, issues, and
problems, today and in the future; sales
personnel provide fertile ground to begin
an audit leading to well-developed messaging.
It’s also an excellent way to simultaneously
gather critical data for messaging
and a contributed article program. That
data can be curated into a content database
and parlayed into an on-going contributed
article program to build awareness, visibility,
product preference, business value, and
pave the way toward a more favorable sales
environment.
It’s worth noting messaging and contributed
article content is very similar. Messaging
deals with customer issues and
solutions. Likewise, the types of contributed
articles trade press editors seek are
problem/solution or tutorial. What could
be better?
Embed messages in PR tools
Once an acceptable set of messages is formulated,
it’s time to structure a PR communications
program with those messages
embedded in some form in all communications
tools — press releases, customer case
studies, white papers, contributed articles,
web content, technical conference papers,
you name it, those messages must be there.
In most instances — with contributed
articles, white papers, or other customer-centric
PR tools — messaging needs to
be obliquely phrased or worded so that it
is editorially acceptable. Embedding company
messaging as originally worded and
head-on is not suggested in cases like this.
However, message wording can be more
forgiving, more promotional in company-centric
communications, such as online
or print advertising and web product or
service-related content.
In the last year or so, research studies
show that such PR tools as contributed
articles, e-newsletters, case studies, visual
aids or information graphics are the socalled
“goldilocks” of content marketing,
according to Ascend2’s April “Content
Marketing Trends Survey.”
Kevin Bailey’s article in the April 2014
edition of O’Dwyer’s, “Why PR Is Now
SEO’s Best Friend,” best explains the why
and how industry media links provide
“strong calls to action.” Bailey contends
those links drive an audience from a media
outlet to relevant content assets on a
client’s site. Trade publications usually include
the company’s website with the bio of
a contributed article author.
This and other research and editorial reports
put teeth in the belief there’s considerable
value associated with a strategically
structured contributed articles program, as
the focal point of a strong PR and content
marketing program. Contributed articles
become the key communications driver
to help usher in high-value sales leads and
move prospects up the sales cycle. They
create and foster credibility, reputation,
customer trust, and business value as the
key sales incentives in dealing with those
B2B high-tech companies.
Once articles are published, they can be
posted on your company’s website. Plus,
thanks to search engines like Google, Bing,
and others, your contributed pieces go viral
and are easily located when prospects
or existing customers do an online search
to find ways of resolving their current challenges.
Further, the content drawn from Subject
Matter Expert sourcing sessions can
be re-purposed into a variety of other PR
tools to include web content, white papers,
and other marketing collateral.
Along this line, another research report,
KoMarketing’s “2015 B2B Usability Report,”
says that traditional marketing collateral
like research reports, case studies,
and white papers are “must haves” for website
posting. It asserts that website content
like this helps to establish customer credibility
and trust and encourages prospects
into a buying frame of mind.
Dan Garza is a marketing PR professional
and veteran observer of Silicon Valley PR.
www.ODwyERPR.COM | NOVEMBER 2015 41