PR for HR software companies - Why specialist PR helps HR software companies stand out in an increasingly competitive market
Photo by Emile Perron on Unsplash
From HR software and payroll platforms to recruitment tech, wellbeing software and workforce analytics, new providers are entering the market every year, all competing for the attention of HR teams.
In our experience, creating an innovative product is only part of the challenge. Generating brand awareness and product demand requires more than a well-optimised website and a press release. Differentiation, awareness and trust are essential in the noisy, competitive HR sector.
HR leaders make significant purchasing decisions that affect compliance, employee experience, productivity and business performance. Gaining attention is one thing, building trust is quite another.
For buyers to consider your brand as a credible supplier, it’s important to establish expertise, becoming recognised as quickly as possible. While marketing activity such as SEO, paid advertising and email campaigns are all important, independent media coverage and expert commentary help build credibility in ways that advertising alone cannot. Indeed with AI, it’s become increasingly essential.
Gaining coverage in respected HR publications demonstrates an organisation’s credibility, with thought leadership articles showcasing knowledge, expertise and ways the brand supports them.
The value of specialist HR PR
Generalist PR agencies understand communications, but a specialist agency understands the HR landscape where an organisation wants to thrive. Successful PR for HR software companies require an understanding of:
The HR technology market
Employment legislation and workplace trends
Editorial priorities of HR journalists
What HR buyers want to know before investing in technology
How to position and communicate technical products in a way that resonates with HR (and their related) decision-makers
By combining these insights with strong media relationships, software providers can earn meaningful coverage to support both brand awareness and lead generation.
Thought leadership builds trust - Journalists are far more interested in experts offering independent insights than any sales messaging. By becoming recognised experts offering informed opinions and original research, brands are considered trusted sources for journalists and industry publications to go to.
Original research – Investing in creating your own research can be one of the most effective strategies for an organisation. This could include surveys, workplace trends, workforce data or AI adoption studies – whichever route you go down, the research gives journalists something new to report on, and they’ll most likely want your expert’s opinion on the results. This can create valuable content for your organisation for months to come.
AI search visibility – The way HR buyers discover suppliers and solutions is changing, with AI tools frequently used in system searches. As highlighted in our HR Brand AI Search Visibility Playbook, AI systems are increasingly looking beyond owned content (such as paid marketing and website articles) and instead are drawing on trusted journalism, expert commentary, industry publications and authoritative third-party sources when deciding which organisations to reference.
If your brand isn’t being cited by credible external sources, it risks becoming less visible in AI-generated search results.
Why work with a specialist HR PR agency – By drawing on these different areas of expertise, a specialist agency that understands both PR and HR can make all the difference to a brand’s online presence.
At PR in HR, we have worked for over 30 years with brands supporting HR teams, organisations and employees. This means we have long-standing trusted relationships with journalists across the HR, Tech, B2B and national media – giving us full understanding of media needs.
We know that gaining valuable PR wins in the workplace media is vital, but it’s also complex.
Amplifying your messages with PR strengthens brand awareness and credibility to a much wider buying audience. It helps build trust. It helps grow your brand.
Problematically, there are hundreds of voices clamouring to be heard by national, HR and workplace B2B journalists and influencers, and only a relative few get into the media spotlight each day.
We help your brand to be one of them, repeatedly.
We use powerful PR so our clients - providers to the HR market - rise above the noise to gain exceptional brand recognition.