For years the common perception has been that PR is fluff – a bunch of tactics by PR pros to support marketing campaigns and sales initiatives that may not carry a lot of weight. Working in this industry for over seven years, I can tell you there is more to it than that. Part of telling a client’s narrative is having real analytics and data behind it to build credibility. Today, data and PR are in lock step together; it’s difficult to have a strong PR program without data.

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What makes data so integral to PR today? It gives you something to say that isn’t overly promotional, helps subject matter experts within your organization speak to or illuminate trends, can be transformed into real assets that drive value, and can be used across multiple channels for maximum impact.

There are a few ways in which the data and analytics you have on hand can elevate your tech PR strategy from unknown to conversation starter.

Want more on integrated marketing for B2B tech brands? Read, ‘Defining Your B2B Tech Integrated Communications Strategy’.

Owning industry insights to fuel thought leadership conversations

Consumer and partner surveys can be a valuable asset to guide internal business decisions, external communications strategies, and serve as the foundation for entire marketing and PR campaigns. Survey insights provide the opportunity to serve up fast facts and data that doesn’t directly promote your brand but allows you to have a voice in relevant conversations. Uncovering trends through survey data can quickly position your subject matter experts and company as a thought leader to both the media and your competitive market set. To get the most out of the investment, look to leverage the data in other content beyond a press release such as blogs, bylines, podcasts, webinars, or conference speaker proposals.

Earning media attention with internal data on hand

What if you don’t have a full consumer or industry survey to package up and issue a press release or blog series? Even smaller bits of data from internal departments can drive intrigue with journalists by tying them into larger trends. Look for data that can connect the dots to industry hot topics like artificial intelligence, IoT, big data, security etc. How do your insights play into those larger stories? Are there predictions or additional industry perspectives on these topics you can speak to with your data? If the answer is yes to any of these, you have the ingredients needed for a strong proactive pitch.

Creating real assets from data and amplifying across channels

Do you find yourself gravitating toward social posts that contain images or some other form of visual? There’s a reason for that, visual content is more than 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content. What does that have to do with your data and analytics?

Creating a simple graphic based on your data and analytics can transform a boring social media post into an engaging touchpoint for your audience – further bolstering your expertise and brand perception. Transforming your data into social shareables and infographics adds value to your traditional and social PR strategies with rich content that can be used across multiple channels like website landing pages, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and more. If you don’t have a graphic designer on board to create elaborate infographics or gifs, there are free, user-friendly tools like Canva which you can create amazing graphics based on your data in minutes.

So, whether its surveys or internal business insights, data can be a valuable tool to strengthen your B2B tech PR strategy. Data and insights open the door for your company and executives to expand thought leadership by speaking on industry trends, and it can be transformed into engaging content to leverage across multiple channels.

What do you think? What ways have you used data to fuel your PR engine?