Zen Media: A B2B PR Agency
For most B2B PR agencies, the ultimate goal is to get brand coverage, whether that’s in the press, on social platforms, on a popular industry blog, or (hopefully!) a combination.
That’s an important goal and one that we at Zen Media share. We’re very proud of the coverage we’ve gotten our clients in outlets like Forbes, Fast Company, on cutting edge social platforms like Clubhouse, and other creative digital platforms.
But the thing that we’re most proud of? What happens after the press coverage rolls in. Where other PR agencies stop, that’s where we begin.
Zen got its start in PR using social media before businesses ever thought to take advantage of it. Our roots are in social amplification. We know how to take a piece of news, commentary, interview, or other coverage, and get as much mileage out of it as possible.
That’s our differentiator.
And here’s an idea of what that looks like.
OneDine: Building momentum for a B2B restaurant tech brand during a crisis with PR and amplification
When the pandemic struck in March 2020, OneDine, a restaurant tech solutions company, had to pivot quickly.
Restaurants were one of the hardest-hit industries, especially in the earliest days. To demonstrate OneDine’s solidarity with the industry its team served and loved, Zen Media led the brand in a pivot from sales to support, offering its contactless payment and ordering solutions for free to any restaurant that wanted it.
It was a huge, newsworthy move, especially for a startup, and we knew we had to get the word out—both to help boost OneDine’s status as a restaurant solutions provider, and to ensure that as many restaurants as possible were taking advantage of their game-changing software.
The way we did it was through a public relations blitz, including press releases, bylined articles, and social media posts, as well as pitches to members of the media and trade press.
Once coverage was secured, we went into amplification mode, using the press they’d already received to lead to further interviews and coverage, and sharing everything widely across their social profiles. Video was a key element, as was incorporating that coverage into OneDine’s owned media, mainly their blog posts and website.
Here’s a look at their full results:
- Exponentially enhanced brand awareness with an aggressive PR campaign, including 44 media placements garnering 196M in online readership, more than 321k video views, and almost 10k social shares—all in under 60 days.
- More than 1.3 million video views on social channels.
- Dramatically elevated lead generation with a remarkable boost in qualified prospects from 63 (pre-COVID-19) to 163 in less than seven weeks, representing an increase from 11k to 26k restaurant locations.
- An extraordinary spike in closed sales in this same period, with more than 50 accounts signed representing over 3,000 units when fully deployed.
Dippin’ Dots: Turning a potential crisis into a massive PR win
Dippin’ Dots, a Kentucky-based flash-frozen ice cream company, found itself in the spotlight rather unexpectedly.
In January 2017, the A.V. Club, a site run by The Onion, brought attention to several of then-White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s rant-tweets against the ice-cream company over the course of five years, and the story blazed through social media like a wildfire.
When the Dippin’ Dots team asked us for help in navigating the strange situation, we knew two things: we had to respond, and we had to respond in a way that embodied Dippin’ Dot’s brand values of fun and connection.
First, we carefully crafted an “Open Letter to Sean Spicer” that projected confidence and playfulness, while extending an irresistible olive branch. We then shared that letter across social media and waited to see what would happen.
The results were massive. Our simple, friendly open letter, combined with our social media follow-through, turned into a campaign that garnered:
- More than 10 million views
- A potential combined total reach of 1.4 billion
- Mentions in more than a dozen tier 1 media articles, as well as dozens more in smaller publications.
- 8,000% growth in Twitter mentions, which included 31.3k tweets featuring either @dippindots or “dippin dots.”
Without social amplification, there’s no chance Dippin’ Dots would have scored that kind of outsized, fast-paced growth.
And that’s why amplification matters: because it can positively skyrocket your PR campaign ROI.
Related Post: 10 Ways to Handle a PR Crisis
Why choose a Digital PR agency with roots in social media?
Having our roots in social media means we’ve got a superpower when it comes to digital PR.
We still execute social media marketing and digital marketing campaigns for clients, in addition to PR, so we’ve always got our finger on the pulse of the industry.
That means we’re in on all the most cutting-edge public relations opportunities, from Alexa briefings and LinkedIn influencer fireside chats to the right Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse rooms to reach their targeted audience.
An example? We recently developed a Product Hunt Launch campaign for a client that contributed to user growth of 70% within just 10 days. That same client also participated in a Clubhouse panel that included listeners from news outlets like Financial Times and Axios, instantly boosting the brand’s exposure.
These are the kinds of opportunities that a B2B tech PR agency that knows social backward and forward can secure for your brand. We not only get the ball rolling, we keep it rolling—that’s the momentum that social amplification can give you.
Ready to talk? Give us a shout!
