Public relations can achieve much more when it is defined as comprehensive communication with all people who come into contact with a company in one way or another – via the most diverse channels.

PR is categorised into three major sub-areas: Press work, online PR and events. Unlike classic advertising, PR is never promotional and is therefore especially valuable for image and reputation building. Especially when it comes to sustainability, good corporate citizenship or employer marketing.

It is important here to communicate credibly and authentically with broad target groups. With a persuasive strength that stems simply from the fact that the messages are transported via third parties, i.e. editorial offices and journalists. The challenge here is to get these editorial offices and journalists excited about the content.

This can only be done with stories and texts that meet the highest professional standards – from a B2B PR agency, with true specialists. In other words, professionals whose ambition is to understand their clients’ business at least as well as they do. A philosophy that we at the Ruess Group have lived by since day one.

The benefits of PR work:

• PR is more credible than classical advertising
• Sustained development of a positive reputation
• Building and optimising image and identity
• Maintaining contacts with partners, customers and multipliers
• Solutions to conflicts of interest and crises

Whereas the reach of classical print media is limited, the internet offers virtually unlimited possibilities. Especially because information can be disseminated in real time. Moreover, information published online is permanently available. In this respect, the internet is also the most important archive today.

The company website is usually the first port of call for anyone interested in a company and its offerings. As your PR agency for B2B, we always make sure that it acts like a shop window, inviting people to become curious and linger.

This is why it is so important that the website is appealing and user-friendly. The content presented should be up-to-date and tailored to the target group – encouraging prospective customers and information-hungry journalists to come back:

With press releases or digital press kits, studies and white papers, also for download, video clips on the company and its products, newsletters to subscribe to, blogs on current topics, expert interviews, management podcasts all the way through to company analyses on the future of the industry.

It is also a good idea to use press portals and news services to increase your reach. These are available in both free and paid versions. Furthermore, a successful presence in the various social media channels is an essential part of PR on the internet.

Whether relevant networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Xing and the like, or specialist forums and employer platforms. They all enable direct contact with the target groups. This offers opportunities to present the content and position of a company in a less formal environment – in a way that is exciting and flexible.

And by the way: It doesn’t always have to be a press release. Audio formats, for example, are a new trend in PR that can be used effectively in press relations. A radio report or a topic-relevant podcast is the perfect way to spread the intended message to relevant target groups.

Although the advantages of PR on the Internet are obvious, it isn’t enough to simply provide content. On the one hand, it needs to offer the target groups added value and on the other, it also has to be easily found. For this reason, it is important to optimise texts, images and videos for the search engines.

Identifying and using relevant keywords are only the first step. Good content is the second. But creating good content that is suitable for search engines isn’t an easy task. In addition to technical optimisation, content is the most important factor. Is it prepared in such a way that it appeals to the reader? Does it meet the interests of the target groups?

In order to communicate successfully, it is key to proceed in a way that is technically correct. Even if online PR is convincing because of its speed and reach, it is by no means a substitute for the classical instruments of public relations

Basically, the trade media editors, for whom a PR article or press release is intended, always want a reference to the application and therefore to the real use, also in the case of a trade report. What may be a given for a manufacturer and product developer is far from being so for the reader.

Readers need to be made aware of the advantages they stand to gain by using the new product/solution. Authors of PR texts often find it difficult, but this is precisely where the wheat is separated from the chaff. And that’s why, as a B2B PR agency, we don’t just employ copywriters, but specialists in the respective field.

Specialists who understand and deal with the problems of the specific market environment – and who incorporate the requirements of potential customers in the application. It is precisely this that is of greatest interest to the reader and, only secondarily, the technical features of a product.

Technical editors who write on an equal footing with the engineers, designers and developers on the client side. They write with a suitably technical depth and are very clear about who they are writing for. They also know which technical terms can be taken for granted in the industry and which need to be explained.

Experts for whom factual and vivid information are not mutually exclusive. They create images in the minds of their readers. Clearly conveying the problem the product or service solves, in the specific application and sector where it is relevant. And without advertising. Adulation doesn’t belong in technical articles. The rule here is: the more informative, the more credible the communication becomes.

PR editors who know that pictures and concise captions are not a necessary evil, but are often decisive to whether an article appears or not. Graphics and diagrams are also valuable because they deepen the text visually and in terms of content and have a factual-benefit-based effect.

Sustainability is the preeminent trend of the times. Companies are writing sustainability reports, establishing CSR departments and collaborating with NGOs. The customer focus has clearly shifted: They no longer only pay attention to a product’s price or performance, but also to its sustainable and fair production.

Today, making communication “green” is a big challenge for companies and their PR agencies. Sustainability can’t simply be “claimed”. On the contrary: once a company’s statement has proven to be false, it damages its credibility in the long run.

But those who are considered particularly credible in this area – because they don’t make empty promises – can greatly enhance a company’s reputation. Currently, sustainability is a USP that can secure very significant market advantages. In the long run, however, sustainability will become the standard. Because everyone will be doing it.

One thing is clear: “Doing good and talking about it” is no longer enough. To be credible, the values need to be genuinely “lived” in a company. This is a great challenge for the client and the PR agency providing the advice. It isn’t just a matter of writing nice press releases, but of pursuing a sophisticated strategy.

No matter how digital business has become, your PR agency for B2B communication should also be able to persuasively master classical media work with publishers and editors – with deep roots in the industry and great technical understanding.

Moreover, it also needs to always presents itself in the new digital world with the latest state-of-the-art options – in terms of website, blogs, social media posts, newsletters (which are enjoying ever-increasing numbers of hits), podcasts, YouTube films, specialist portals, influencers, etc.

In the analogue world, your ideal PR agency has known the editors for years and provides them with texts that are so good that some of them are adopted unchecked. It is also well acquainted with the advertising managers of the respective publishing houses and knows how to increase the reach of PR with additional measures such as advertisements or advertising packages.

As a matter of course, it combines analogue with digital approaches, and knows that although the circulation of trade magazines is decreasing, the reach of the trade portals associated with them is increasing. Even in the otherwise manageable B2B sector, trade portals with 10 million people are not uncommon today. And the number is growing.

For this, a good B2B PR agency not only offers product PR, but also corporate PR, corporate communications, internal PR, human relations, public affairs, government relations, lobbying, political PR, site PR, community relations, financial PR, investor relations, crisis and conflict PR, sponsorships and much more.

A good PR agency is also an event agency that is not only active at trade fairs, but also regularly organises talk rounds, exchange formats, conferences, bar camps or conventions. It also generates leads and important content in the context of these events, for example, for social media channels.

It needs to be positioned internationally, because especially in the B2B sector, the export share is high and communication is 90 per cent international. The right PR agency knows that the media are used differently abroad, that other tonalities and text formats are needed and that the media landscapes can be very different.

Last but not least, a good PR agency for B2B takes care of the entire customer journey, because it is not only a PR agency, but also an advertising agency, a digital agency, an event agency and so on. Committed to exploiting all potential synergies to get twice the reach out of one budget. We at the Ruess Group have been doing this for over 15 years.