How trade PR can benefit brands

The PR industry in the UK is booming – IBISWorld predicts revenue will reach £4.7 billion this year. And as traditional media continues to shift towards digital platforms, brands now have more opportunities to connect directly with target audiences, making PR more important than ever.

While consumer facing PR is evolving rapidly, trade PR remains rooted in strong, traditional media relationships – though many of these publications now have digital formats. But what hasn’t changed is the focus on telling the story of a business and its products to the right industry audience.

Trade marketing is all about reaching the retailers, wholesalers, or distributors who stock and sell a product, and ultimately generating demand for it. Marketers use a wide range of tools to do this, from in-store and online promotions, trade shows, and point-of-sale materials to strategic partnerships and training. Trade PR is a key part of that mix. It focuses on reaching decision-makers and influencers within an industry, using targeted trade media to build awareness and credibility.

Done well, trade PR can boost visibility, position a brand as a leader in its field, and strengthen relationships with both existing and potential stakeholders.

Looking for tips on how to craft the perfect trade PR campaign? Read on - we’ve got you covered.

What’s in this article:

• Why should brands consider trade PR?
• Elements of trade PR
  
  • NPD 
  • Company news
  • Thought leadership
  • Forward features
  • Trade shows
  • Industry recognition and awards
  • Crisis support
• Measuring trade PR success
• How brands benefit from trade PR‍
• Key takeaways

Why should brands consider trade PR?

Trade PR should be an important element of any good integrated marketing strategy to communicate with B2B customers. Marketing efforts will be across multiple channels, including PR, social media, content, events and direct marketing efforts. The activities will work together to deliver a consistent and seamless message to businesses purchasing a service or products.

Decision making in the B2B sector is certainly more complex than B2C when a purchasing decision can be made on a whim. There will be many considerations including price, stakeholder engagement and the reputation of the brands involved. This is where an integrated marketing campaign comes into play. Multiple touch points for decision makers will help build both trust and credibility in a brand, increasing brand awareness, lead generation and improving customer relations.

A good trade PR campaign built into this will support and enhance the other activities, increasing touch points and most importantly, build brand awareness and trust.

Trade PR can work as a stand alone for a business. Integrated with other activities it will be much more powerful and help a business achieve their end goals faster.

Elements of trade PR

A trade PR campaign will tell the story of the business. It will highlight milestones, company highlights, new product development, partnerships with other brands and the innovation that happens behind the scenes.

Every business is different and the stories and news shared will be different from one business to the next but there will be stories to tell. Good PR practitioners will be able to identify those nuggets and turn them into positive content for a brand.

As well as sharing news, a trade PR campaign will include many other elements. Among them trade shows and exhibitions, thought leadership, feature submissions, awards and in some cases, crisis communications.

Here we look at each element and what it brings to an overall campaign.

New product development (NPD)

When a business develops a new product or improves an existing one, then it’s worth talking about and sharing with media publications and their readers. Sharing NPD will show that a company is innovative, always looking for new solutions to an issue or new products their customers will be keen to buy and make use of. It shows a company moving forward and progressing. These are all positive signals for customers and help build trust and credibility in a brand. We’ve shared exciting new product news for many clients with successful launches to the construction industry, food and drink sector, the pet industry and retail sector. We launched the world’s first remote controlled electromechanical load-management system for client Verton with coverage across their core UK press. You can read more about that campaign here.

Company news

Company news is about sharing the positive news from within a business. This could be a key senior appointment or a promotion within the business, or a company taking on a number of new employees to keep up with demand. It could be a business relocating its head office or opening a new depot or store. Good company news could also highlight professional standards a business and its employees have achieved, or it could be focussing on the company's green credentials. In 2022 our client Hancocks, the UKs leading confectionery wholesaler, celebrated its 60th anniversary. We ran a campaign across its core trade press and regional publications to support its 14 depots across the UK. The campaign won coverage across trade media as well as securing broadcast slots on local radio and television and extensive regional coverage. Details on that campaign can be found here.

Thought leadership

Thought leadership is where key personnel within the company establish themselves as experts in the industry. This can be through sharing valuable insights and trends, innovative ideas and identifying and discussing issues impacting the sector. It focuses on educating and informing the target audience providing them with relevant and useful information. Good thought leadership can be utilised across a business, for PR purposes, as a featured blog, as the basis for speaking opportunities, for a podcast and shared on social media sites including LinkedIn and X.

Forward features

Many trade publications run features a brand can contribute to. These may focus around new product development, they 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. It’s another opportunity to build trust and credibility in a brand and be seen in the publications existing and potential customers will be reading.

Trade shows

Trade shows and exhibitions provide an opportunity to meet and build relationships with lapsed, existing and potential customers. They can also give the brand a chance to meet with key journalists in the sector. Many trade publications will visit trade shows - it’s an opportunity to find out about new and emerging trends, product launches and issues facing a sector. Arranging a face to face stand show round with the key journalists will allow a brand to build relationships and provide the journalist with a good story. It’s also an opportunity to brief them on up and coming launches and innovations within the business and industry as a whole.

Industry recognition & awards

Entering and being shortlisted for or even winning awards adds trust and credibility to a brand. There are many awards a business can enter, the hardest part is identifying the one that will have the most impact, are on message for the brand and will help achieve its end goal. We worked with our client Musclefood.com to help them secure a coveted Grocer Gold Award and Kybotech to secure entrepreneurial and business awards for their founder Charles Walton. 

Crisis support

Crisis support is when an agency steps in to protect a company’s reputation, manage communications and navigate public perception during a crisis. A crisis can be anything from a product failure and recall to a cybersecurity breach, regulatory issue or internal conflicts which could damage a company’s credibility and trust. There are key elements to be implemented and followed during a crisis, with the goal of the company controlling the narrative and ultimately rebuilding long-term trust in the brand.

Measuring trade PR success

What success looks like depends on a brand and their end goal but having quantitative and qualitative factors in place ensures the PR and the wider marketing campaign achieves maximum impact and reaches the goals.

A company could look at measuring success based on the number of items of media coverage achieved or tiering media coverage based on mentions in high authority publications or niche industry titles.

Measurement could include website traffic and SEO impact. How much traffic has come from PR coverage for example. Volume of high quality backlinks can be easily measured, alongside key word rankings. 

Other metrics could include the domain authority of your website, social media followers and engagement and increased sales numbers.

How brands benefit from trade PR

A trade PR campaign can benefit a brand in gaining recognition, increased brand awareness and credibility and to support business growth.

A well planned trade PR campaign will position a brand as a leader in its industry through coverage in highly regarded industry publications, inclusion in forward features and forward thinking thought leadership. Featuring expert insights, case studies, and industry trends establishes a brand’s key players as go-to experts in their field, building trust and credibility.

It will  reach key decision-makers, partners, and stakeholders within the sector a brand operates in, leading to potential business opportunities. Positive media exposure will also strengthen relationships with distributors, resellers, and retail partners, making them more likely to stock and promote a brand’s products.

Reaching a highly targeted audience within the industry may directly lead to increased enquiries, partnerships, and sales opportunities.

Key takeaways

1. A trade campaign helps build trust and credibility in a brand, product and service and in an essential element of a comprehensive marketing campaign.
2. Identify the stories and good news. Every brand has a story to tell and with trade PR that can encompass new product development, thought leadership and features. A good PR practitioner will be able to identify those stories to tell to new, existing and lapsed customers, key stakeholders and industry peers.
3. Industry recognition. Including entering awards and exhibiting at and attending key trade show events will elevate a brand within its sector and reinforce credibility within its customer base.
4. Benefitting a brand. The benefits of a trade PR campaign can all support a brand in gaining recognition, increasing credibility and supporting business growth.

Want proof that trade PR delivers? Take a look at our case studies.

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