Embarking on a trade PR campaign can be a big step for a new brand but one that has the potential to help it grow, reach a new customer base and even attract investors.
Trade PR can best be described as a way to communicate directly with your customer base, whether that’s an independent retailer buying your products, a landscaper purchasing your plants, a business paying for your professional services or a procurement team considering you for their next major project.
Reaching them is a skill and one that requires nurturing contacts, mindful pitching and having the nose for a good story. Every business has a story to tell and a good PR practitioner will be able to find it.
Trade PR can work as a stand alone for a business. For real impact include within an integrated marketing campaign. Your business will be creating multiple touch points for your customers - the more they see, hear and read about you, the more brand awareness and ultimately trust this builds.
So why should your business consider a trade PR campaign?
Reaching target customers
A solid trade PR campaign is a good way to reach your core customers and communicate in a way that appeals to them. You need to be clear on how you communicate to existing and potential customers and what you want to say. If your audience is a retailer who will stock and sell your products, do you want to educate them on new products or do you want them to help sell more? If you’re a professional service do you want to offer solid advice your clients need or do you want to showcase the work you’re doing?
Support customers on their journeys
Communicating directly with your customers and clients through an integrated campaign with PR as a core element means you can support them on the journey they’re on as a business. What can you do to help them grow and develop in their chosen market? If the businesses within your network grow with your help and support that’s a positive step and will ultimately support your growth as a business.
Keeping them informed on changes in your business
Changes happen in business all the time, whether that’s personnel changes, new investors or simply that you’re moving location or opening new branches. Communicating these to your trade customers is important. It shows that you value them and want them to be on this journey with you.
Being a thought leader in your sector
Being seen as a business to look up to, respect and trust is an important goal and one that PR can help you achieve. As a thought leader in your sector, you can offer advice, support and be transparent about issues that could impact the industry and improvements that will help it fly.
If you’ve made the decision to include a trade campaign within your PR and marketing activities, how will it work and what will it look like?
That will very much come down to what you want to spend, what your KPIs are and what you’re hoping to achieve from it.
To give you an idea, there are a number of elements a good agency will include in any strong PR campaign. The level at which you do them will depend on the investment.
Media relations
This is about creating stories which can be pitched to your target media. Pitching a trade campaign is very different to consumer-facing PR. Publications and contacts you’ll be regularly talking to will be much smaller in number. The plus side is this gives the opportunity to build lasting relationships with these publications. If they can rely on your brand to provide insightful and informative content then they will keep coming back to you. As a business you may want to talk about new product development, merchandising and new services. This would all fall under this element of the campaign.
Forward features
Many trade publications run features a brand can contribute to. This may focus around new product development, it can be advice led and offer insights into a sector. This is a brand's opportunity to position themselves as a thought leader and innovator, talking directly to the audiences who purchase their product.
One to one interviews
Getting a journalist to a site, trade show or on a video call for one to one interviews is a great way to promote the business and get key messages across. This doesn’t just happen - a brand needs to have a good, compelling story to offer to make it worth a publication’s time.
Thought leadership
Thought leadership pieces are a brand's chance to showcase their knowledge and expertise in a sector. These pieces can cover anything - it could be an issue impacting the business or its customers, it could be offering advice on a topic its customers need support in or it could be explaining why a core range of products will be the next big thing.
White Papers
A White Paper is a longer form tool to showcase your company’s knowledge and offer trustworthy information. This will help build credibility and trust with existing, potential and lapsed customers.
Reactive opportunities
A good PR campaign will always include a reactive element. This is about jumping onto a relevant news story, an issue making the news. If you are a thought leader in your field, then you will be able to offer valid insights.
If you’d like to find out more about a trade campaign and how it can help your business, please get in touch.
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