Asking Your Tech PR Agency the Difficult Questions

"Some of the issues you are going to face are like with couples," she said matter-of-factly in a recent session. "You have to be honest, and you have to trust each other."

1. How do you measure the success of your PR program? You’re using analytics and data to measure your marketing efforts. Is your PR program? Your firm should use the latest measurement tools and analytics instead of relying on tropes like “ad equivalency” or worse, stating, “PR just can’t be measured.”
2. Is your PR program aligned to your company’s business goals? “Having more press releases than the competition” or “generating buzz” are not business goals. However, “getting more leads at the top of the funnel”, “generating local press coverage to drive employee recruitment” and “expanding our software partner program” are measurable business goals that PR can help you to reach. 
3. Are you still using press releases and product news to reach potential buyers? We’ve talked previously about the waning importance of the press release as a means of generating earned media content. Taking it a step further, can you trace any revenue, or even just quality website traffic, solely to a press release? Can your agency suggest content marketing plans, solutions-focused collateral, videos or other design elements? 
4. Has your agency equipped you with the ability to describe your company’s products and services to someone “outside the tech industry”? We’ve traced the evolution of B2B storytelling from speeds-and-feeds to features and benefits to emotional drivers. So picture yourself at that cocktail party: can you nail it in a few sentences, or do you inevitably get blank stares as they desperately look for someone to save them from the conversation?
5. Are you getting a series of excuses or “no responses” from your agency? We’ve talked about the challenges of breaking through cluttered newsfeeds in a changing media environment that cares little about product features. Your agency needs to use creative approaches to help get your company and customers noticed.
6. When great coverage does appear, what happens next? There’s no better feeling than when that long-awaited article finally hits. Make sure that your PR firm can extend the value of earned media coverage, instead of letting it disappear into the ether.

We’ll dive further into these six questions throughout the remainder of the series.