Creativity and tech PR aren’t unlikely bedfellows – tech PR just needs better PR!

Lauren By Lauren

When I found out Spark was rated number one for quality of stories pitched in PR Week’s ‘most rated’ survey, it got me thinking about creativity and tech PR.

When I saw my first job advertised in The Guardian, ‘an account executive at a b2b tech PR agency’, I applied because it was PR and I needed experience – but I was expecting it to be a stepping stone to a more exciting and ‘creative’ PR sector.  In the mid 90s only Tim Berners Lee could envision how ‘www.’ would change the world and if you mentioned Apple people assumed you were talking about fruit.

The thought of pitching chips (not the deep fried kind) and semiconductors wasn’t appealing but I quickly discovered that the job was completely different to what I was expecting.  In order to get press coverage I was expected to think creatively from day one, unlike during my consumer PR agency work placement (the highlight of which was sending out custard gift baskets to competition winners).  Navigating the techno speak, three letter acronyms and a slightly dull product names that usually included the phrase ‘version 2.1’ to create a story that stand out among the hundreds of others that journalists see in their inboxes every day (or in the early days their post or fax pile) makes for a great work day.

So instead of leaving tech PR for the dazzle of celebrity parties at The Ivy (meeting Piers Morgan was more than enough to put me off that idea!) I became a tech PR evangelist, eventually going so far as  to start an agency dealing predominantly with tech clients.

I don’t think I’ve ever hired someone with a tech background to work at Spark but we are all technophiles (although not always immediate converts!) and know what makes a good story.  Whether its creating a drama such as ‘IT directors risk going to jail by using live customer data to test IT systems’ or a cheesy pun, journalists know they can rely on Spark to come up with something worth at least a second glance (seeDom's media handling tips for PR Week).  Knowing ‘what works’ ensures we can be confident enough to offer a coverage guarantee and have often been known to triple the volume of coverage for clients.

So here are our top 3 tips on creating PR content:

  • Plan based on the strength of the idea, not the tactics – I am sure you have seen journalists complaining on Twitter about research that is so obvious it was pointless doing e.g. revealing people are using smartphones for business!  Research is an extremely useful PR tactic but only to support an issue that people do or should care about

  • Give a story legs – It’s definitely worth spending time on storyboarding so a campaign can be tweaked for use by the marketing team, in different regions and multiple times.  Make it meaty enough to share.  In today’s social media driven workplace every story idea and every piece of coverage can work harder. However, that’s not so say you should underestimate the value of a quick win in a niche publication that is perfect for your target market

  • Inspiration not perspiration – play close attention to what industry experts such as pioneering end-users, journalists and analysts are talking about.  This should be the starting point for creative thinking, not the features and benefits of a particular product or service.   If you can add value to the debate already happening in the market you gain the credibility you need to start shaping it.  Pushing your agenda before you listen is extremely difficult and probably won’t work!