Whether you’re preparing a technology PR strategy, a product launch, an investment announcement or a wider communications plan, every innovative business faces the same challenge: how do you convince customers, investors, journalists and partners that your innovation genuinely matters?

Every week, technology companies launch new products, announce partnerships, secure investment or unveil innovations they’ve spent years developing. Whether it’s a product launch, funding announcement or wider technology PR campaign, it’s natural to assume that if the technology is genuinely new or significantly better than what’s gone before, people will immediately recognise its value. In our experience, unless you answer one simple question, it rarely works like that:

Why should I care?

Customers ask it differently from investors. Journalists ask it differently from procurement teams. Partners, analysts and regulators all have their own perspective too. They’re looking at exactly the same technology, but each is trying to understand what it means for them and why it matters. If you don’t answer those questions, the story can easily fall flat. Coverage may still be achieved, but it often lacks the relevance and impact needed to spark meaningful conversations with prospective customers, investors or partners.

One of the things that often surprises new clients is how little we talk about PR strategy during our first meeting.

They’ve usually come prepared to explain what they want us to do. Instead, we ask them to spend most of the meeting telling us about their business. We want to understand how the company started, what problem it’s trying to solve, where it sits in the market, who its competitors are, who buys the solution and who influences that buying decision. We talk about where the business wants to be in the next twelve months, what’s standing in the way of getting there and what success would actually look like if everything went to plan.

Discovery Creates Better Communications

Many of the businesses we work with are developing genuinely new technologies, often long before they’re ready for widespread adoption. So, around this point in the conversation, it’s not unusual for an NDA to come up. Sometimes the client asks whether we’d be happy to sign one before they tell us anymore, and if they haven’t, we will proactively offer to do so – ensuring no barriers to what we can learn in these early, pivotal discovery meetings.

People occasionally ask why we’re interested in all of this when they’ve come to discuss PR. The answer is straightforward. Before we can explain to anyone else why they should care about a business or its technology, we first have to understand it ourselves. That’s why every successful communications strategy begins with understanding the business rather than simply developing messaging.

That understanding rarely comes from a briefing document. It comes from curiosity, and from taking the time to understand the business properly.

Technology Businesses Rarely Have Just One Audience

Over the years we’ve learned that successful technology communications rarely has just one audience to consider. They often have several, sometimes across completely different markets and countries, each looking at exactly the same innovation through different eyes. The engineer evaluating a product isn’t asking the same questions as the procurement director signing the purchase order. An investor is interested in something different again, while a journalist is trying to understand why their readers should care. Before we can think about communications, we need to understand who those audiences are, what matters to them and what questions they’re likely to ask.

I often joke with clients that I’m no engineer or scientist and that if I can understand their technology, anyone can. There’s a serious point behind the joke. Our role isn’t to become technical experts. It’s to understand an innovation well enough that we can sell its value accurately and at the right level for every audience we’re trying to influence, whether that’s prospective customers, investors, trade media or mainstream media – advancing the sales process long before a salesperson enters the conversation. If we can’t understand why someone should care about it, there’s a good chance other people won’t either.

As our understanding grows, something else begins to happen. Opportunities emerge.

Sometimes we identify a customer group the business hadn’t fully considered. Sometimes we discover that one application is commercially stronger than another, or that a particular market is likely to respond more positively than the one originally envisaged. Occasionally, we realise that the original PR strategy or announcement isn’t focused on the biggest opportunity. The real story lies in the wider problem being solved, the market that’s changing or the impact the innovation could have beyond the business itself. None of those things change the technology. They change the key messaging and how people understand its significance.

Just as importantly, that understanding helps us anticipate the questions we’re likely to face once communications begin. What will a prospective customer want to know before changing supplier? What evidence will an investor need? Which assumptions is a trade journalist likely to challenge? Do we have the evidence or third-party validation that a Reuters, Bloomberg or other mainstream journalist is likely to ask for? And more generally, are there gaps in the story that need strengthening before they become obstacles? We’d much rather answer those questions in a meeting room than during a media interview or a customer presentation.

Understanding Comes Before Communications

None of that comes from guessing. It comes from understanding the business properly.

Looking back over the last three decades, that’s probably the biggest lesson we’ve learned. Great technology doesn’t automatically become a great story simply because it’s new. It becomes one when people understand why it matters and why they should want to know more.

That’s why we’ve always believed the best communications strategies don’t start with a press release. They start by understanding the business well enough to answer one simple question:

Why should anyone care?

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FAQ

Why do technology PR campaigns underperform?

Technology PR campaigns often underperform because they focus on announcing what’s new rather than explaining why the innovation matters to customers, investors, journalists and other audiences.

Why is business discovery important before a PR campaign?

Discovery helps build a deeper understanding of the business, its markets, competitors, customers and commercial objectives, creating stronger messaging and more effective communications strategies.

What makes a technology story newsworthy?

Technology stories become more compelling when they clearly explain the significance of the innovation, the problem it solves and why it matters now.

How do you secure mainstream media coverage for a technology company?

Mainstream media generally requires broader relevance, credible evidence, independent validation and a story that resonates beyond the technology itself.

About the Author

Ben Dodson
Managing Director, Incus Media

Ben has spent more than 30 years helping innovative technology businesses communicate complex ideas to customers, investors and the media. He advises organisations across cleantech, renewable energy, AgTech, advanced manufacturing and industrial technology on strategic communications, thought leadership, SEO and GEO.