BLASTmedia doubles down on B2B tech public relations

Marketers have more choices than ever before with new strategies and disciplines competing for a share of the budget. Ask 10 CMO’s where that budget should be spent, and you are likely to get 10 different answers. No matter your budget, every marketing campaign begins in the brand awareness stage, and PR remains one of the most cost-efficient means of generating awareness and telling a brand story.

What’s the cost of NOT doing PR? That’s the question asked by BLASTmedia — a national B2B SaaS and tech public relations agency. When the time comes in the B2B sales cycle and your target customer is interested in what you have to offer, what is the cost of not making the initial shortlist?

“Conversations are happening in your industry, among influencers and between target customers, with or without your participation,” said Lindsey Groepper, president of BLASTmedia.

“We insert our clients into these conversations so that, when a prospect goes in search of B2B technology or SaaS solution, the organic search results are filled with third-party, credible stories about their brand; they see national news articles quoting the CEO or a contributed piece from the executive team providing industry perspective – positioning our clients as thought leaders.”

As a national public relations agency, BLASTmedia helps its B2B tech clients gain larger “share of voice” in the press, on social media, and in conversations happening among a populace that have shortening attention spans due to ever-increasing information inputs.

BLASTmedia’s clients span the country, with many concentrated in the San Francisco area, and more than ever, Indianapolis. As the tech sector in Indianapolis has matured and grown, Indianapolis-based tech companies have become a larger percentage of BLASTmedia’s business, including Appirio, SmartFile, Formstack, pi Lab, Bluelock and SteadyServ Technologies.

PR: More than press releases

The nuts and bolts of B2B technology PR aren’t all that different than mass media PR strategies, according to Mendy Werne, BLASTmedia’s chief operating officer. The main difference is B2B campaigns are much more content-driven compared to the product pitching that dominates consumer PR.

“Most B2B brands with internal marketing teams spend time and resources developing compelling content in the form of blog posts, eBooks, white papers, or customer data,” said Werne. “Unfortunately, most of this content remains hidden within the company’s four walls or sits buried on their website collecting virtual dust – they look to us to develop and execute an amplified content marketing campaign.”

Werne says, “Content marketing is not about you. Rather, it’s about what you can offer others. A well-written piece of content does not push your own agenda, but offers helpful insight or perspective from which others can learn.”

BLASTmedia examines all available content and begins re-purposing it into pitchable thought-leadership content for the national media to post. In an era where editorial/media staff is continually shrinking, national media outlets are taking more and more contributed content from outside sources. Combined with BLASTmedia’s daily reactive “news-jacking” and new content developed by the agency each month, the result is consistent media coverage.

Pressing the gas on the B2B SaaS brand

With 29 employees, BLASTmedia is a mid-size, national PR agency that sits within the top 100 agencies in the US (based on revenue). Heading into 2017, the agency is preparing for business growth with new B2B clients and from existing clients who continue to scale their campaigns.

The company unveiled a new logo and website today (August 5, 2016) and renovations will begin at its headquarters in the Forum Building in Fishers, Ind. in the next 90 days.

“There’s never been a better time to be a tech services company in Indianapolis,” said Kelly Hendricks, CEO of BLASTmedia. “We’re proud to tell our clients we are based in Indy and look forward to growing our team and client roster here.”