Business-To-Business PR in Small-To-Medium Enterprises

Abstract

Despite business-to-business (B2B) marketing being used andresearched for many years, B2B Public Relations (PR) studies are rare.The opportunity for research is based on the need for PR andcommunications activity that support business goals. Therefore, thispaper aims to add to B2B PR studies by exploring how small-to-mediumenterprises (SMEs) in the creative industry can benefit from implementingPR activities. Benefits, in this case, are considered to be new businessleads, talent retention, and a good reputation. The PR services, asconceptualised in this study, include B2B media relations, thoughtleadership, and social media management. The paper takes an inductivephenomenological approach operationalised through qualitative researchmethods including open-ended semi-structured interviews. The 12participants are identified as information rich and are founders ormanaging directors of creative agencies in the UK. To gain comparativeinformation, half of them implement PR activities and the other half do not.The main findings indicate that social media, media relations and thoughtleadership practice add value to creative SMEs in regard to brandpositioning and awareness. In addition, this study reveals that allparticipants focus on establishing mutually-beneficial relationships withkey stakeholders. Finally, results show that SMEs in the creative sectorprefer to implement promotional activities and manage their reputationinternally.