Your B2B Checklist for Q3 and Q4

Scaling tech companies are arguably more accustomed to change than any other businesses. But even for perpetual disruptors, the upheaval wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic is a different beast. As companies think through creative ways to hit their Q3 and Q4 goals in a mostly virtual world, thought leadership has become an even more essential tool for building awareness and credibility. With 83% of people still trusting recommendations more than any other messages they receive, becoming and staying top of mind is necessary to hit business goals in the months ahead.

What’s different now than before?

Redefine your goals, and the metrics you’ll use to measure them.

As you look to the months and quarters ahead, now is the time to be precise on exactly what your business goals are, and how PR can help.  Are you building brand awareness? Trying to get on the radar of your next investors? Converting partners or building buzz around end-users. Each of these will require a targeted message and strategy.

The best way to measure if your PR is working is not just how many clicks or visitors your website is getting (thought both are nice) but rather whether your activities can be tracked back to your specific goals.

Get to know your audience (again).

Whether you’re planning to accelerate, pivot, or restart, it’s critical to rethink who the most relevant audiences are for you right now—not five months ago. Are you raising funding in the next few months and want visibility with investors? Do you have a new product launch you’re piloting that you want to introduce to a new segment of the market? Or, has your industry shifted so much that you’re finding it challenging to remain relevant?

Even if you are targeting the same audiences as you were in March, your customers are not the same as they were. Their needs have changed, too.  Whether they’re evaluating new sales strategies or navigating a virtual-first marketing landscape, while you’re evaluating your market, don’t forget that your customers are doing the same.

The first step in building your reputation is to identify who you are trying to reach, for what purpose, and what their goals are these days.

Harness and share insightful data.

“What is the media interested in right now?” is the most common question we are hearing at RAISE. No matter the industry, our answer is always the same: data. Especially in today’s market of sudden pivots and drastic retooling, the media understands that their audiences want more than commentary. They want facts—the data they can trust and use to make their own business decisions.

We encourage all of our clients to dig into the data within their platform to offer unique insight on how various industries or market segments compare to one another according to interesting metrics. Think about how your data could identify wider trends and lead with the numbers.

Be ready to flex and pivot.

While we’re not suggesting that you constantly change your point of view every few weeks, we are saying that the constant across all companies right now is change. It’s important to share how you’re adapting to an ever-changing market—whether you’re a company that is thriving because of the new normal or will continue to survive despite it, adding in the Why Now is mission critical as you look ahead.

Plan for the end of the year, today. 

Consumer companies have a steady eye on their year-end strategy, as they anticipate their holiday campaigns driving seasonal demand. Now B2B companies are borrowing a page from consumer companies’ playbooks, but for a different reason. None of us can be certain what the markets will look like four months from now, but we’re seeing more and more B2B companies start now to plan for the months ahead. If you want to be in those wrap-up stories, now is the time to do it.