In June, Alloy traveled to DC for Fusion Conference where the world’s leading venture funds, digital strategists, and entrepreneurs came together to connect, share ideas and forge relationships. We were stoked to be a leading sponsor at the 2-day event where Uncommon Crew members were able to spread the word about the future of PR – and why it’s good news for investors and startups. For those who weren’t able to make it, here’s a breakdown of the biggest marketing and digital strategy trends we spotted:
The Future of PR Is Trackable
Thom Gruhler, former Microsoft exec and now founder & CEO of Fjuri, gave the opening keynote on how today’s brands can differentiate themselves using marketing technology. In his words, "today customer experience is the new brand and winning requires data."
Marketers must be frictionless and contextual. @thomgruhler #fusionconf pic.twitter.com/78Aoch0VBl
— Teresa (@TeresaCaro) June 7, 2017
Key takeaway from the panel?
Today’s consumers, whether they are prospects or existing customers, want brands to meet them where they are – the right channels at the right time. How can brands and their PR practitioners accomplish this? Using data and marketing technology. Unfortunately, the PR industry has been slow to embrace these practices, but we’ll save that discussion for another day. Thom Gruhler wasn’t the only presenter to talk about many of the tools and techniques Alloy is encouraging our industry to embrace, proving we’re not crazy – the future of PR is HERE.
The Future of PR Embraces Technology
Inbound Marketing has been around since 2006 and with the rise of new technology, has become one of the most effective ways to attract new customers. The approach is focused on drawing in customers through content and interactions (think: content marketing, social media marketing, and SEO) that are relevant and helpful — not interruptive.
During Fusion, Jenn Spencer from AllBound shared how even start-ups with limited resources can utilize inbound marketing to effectively scale their business.
To scale your #startup with inbound marketing ($0 budget), use buyer's persona to keep your effort focused via @jenspencer at #fusion17
— Danny Setiawan (@dsetia_1) June 8, 2017
Key takeaway from the panel?
The tools and technology available today give brands and their PR teams the efficiency and precision needed to track consumers from their first visit on a client’s website/interaction. Visibility into these first touch points allows practitioners to better understand the buyer and create the right content to help nurture and build the relationship.
The Future of PR is Integrated
Before the conference began, Blake Pappas from Vertical Measures hosted a workshop on successful content marketing. A lot of what he said echo the best practices Jenn Spencer shared and what we preach here at Alloy with our Panoramic Approach.
Key takeaway from the panel?
Content marketing is a continuous process. Essentially, it’s not only about the relevant, useful content you create, but what you do with it. You cannot be successful with any one area of marketing or public relations – it takes a combination of each bucket to ultimately drive leads, increase valuations, lure talent and other measurable ROI.
The Future of PR is HERE – And it’s Good News for Startups
Our founder and CEO, Anna Ruth Williams also had the opportunity to share our take on digital strategies for high growth tech companies and startups. In short, Anna Ruth explains what the future of PR looks like: a holistic relationship between headlines and lead generation, content marketing, and relationship building - all working together to create a lucrative partnership for both clients and agencies.
The good news?
PR can be incredibly valuable to growth-stage brands in the face of a Big Data and metrics-driven world. The Future of PR we’re preaching (and practicing) is perfectly suited for start-ups and growth stage enterprises. Their needs are nimbler, they’re more willing to test new strategies, they need integrated campaigns to reach digital-first buyers and more.
Want to know more about how the strategies and tactics mentioned above can help your growing tech company #MakeNews and #DriveLeads? Check out these examples of how we’ve helped our clients do just that using our dynamic Panoramic Approach.