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Media Relations

Media relations is a core activity within any successful B2B PR strategy. Through cultivation of strong relationships with business, national and trade journalists, your stories and messaging are more likely to be trusted and covered when it matters most, helping bring positive attention to your news, announcements and thought leadership.

With more than three decades of experience and dozens of awards under our belts–including PRovoke EMEA Technology Consultancy of the Year 2023-2024–we help some of the world’s most ambitious B2B tech organisations improve their industry reputation, drive customer acquisition, and increase their market share through PR-led marketing across every channel. Media relations is a critical component of most of our programmes.

Media relations knowledge & expertise

Whether it’s a high-level strategic campaign, or you’re simply trying to increase your share of voice on the crowded industry airways, media relations is a crucial part of both PR and marketing. But you don’t need to take our word for that. We’ve done our research, and are consistently told by executives in all the sectors we operate in that media coverage is one of the most influential channels impacting B2B purchasing decisions.

Our PR-led marketing approach helps you stand out in ultra-competitive B2B technology marketplaces. Over the last 30+ years, we’ve worked hard to build trust among a network of some of the most influential sector journalists around the globe, to help get your stories and messaging in front of the audiences that matter to your business.

Our media relations approach

Most editors and reporters receive over 400 press releases and news announcements a day. In such a crowded marketplace, building solid relationships with members of the media is essential. Quite simply, if you’re not an industry ‘name’, those relationships are essential if you want journalists to pay attention to your brand. Our network of business, national and trade journalists has been carefully cultivated over decades, we’ve built relationships based on trust and understanding, to make sure our clients see maximum value from their investments in media relations and content production.

It’s not that we wield undue influence–you can’t ‘buy’ a journalist with a free lunch. After all, these are professionals doing a critical, respected and rigorously regulated job. But by building mutually-beneficial relationships, journalists are more likely to return our calls or respond to our emails, WhatsApp messages and DMs when it matters most. Ultimately we try to reach a point of trust: where they know that what we’re offering is of genuine value, not just inbox filler. Of course, this has to be true, so we’ll often ‘push back’ on clients that want to issue stories that don’t meet the needs of our friends in the media.

  • Our Media Relations services

    Our media relations services help you to raise awareness of your brand and products, build credibility within your industry through inspiring thought leadership and influence the narrative around news and announcements via placed bylines and secured press coverage. We want your spokespeople to be the ‘go-to’ for journalists looking for expert commentary. Our services include:

  • Building an overarching media relations strategy:

    Building a media relations strategy can make all the difference when it comes to trust among journalists. All of our colleagues have tight networks of trade and national media contacts that we can leverage when helping you build out an effective media relations strategy. In particular, our sector leads have an unrivalled web of crucial contacts in their specialist areas.

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  • Boosting credibility through thought leadership:

    Having a voice on key industry topics helps build the credibility of your experts and leaders. Our PR, AR and marketing services teams are supported by our in-house content specialists. They’re dedicated to helping your subject matter experts deliver inspiring thought leadership stances and articles that will empower them in your industry, boosting their–and your business’s–authority.

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  • Raising awareness through press coverage:

    Media coverage is one the most influential channels when boosting top of funnel awareness of companies and products. Our expertise in media relations grants us solid, trusted relationships that boost the open rate of media pitches and press releases, enabling you to better control the narrative around your announcements, and help people to get to know your business.

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  • Using storytelling to craft creative content

    Ultimately, all journalists are looking for is a good story. Drawing on our in-depth knowledge of the B2B tech space, our media relations and PR, marketing and content experts are able to work with you to craft the kinds of pitches, press releases and bylines that journalists want to read. And if a journalist wants to read it, you can be sure they’ll want their audience to as well.

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  • Consistent media coverage in trade and national press

    It’s exciting to see coverage of your company and announcements in the largest international publications like the Washington Post or the Financial Times. But trade press is an essential component too–its what influential members of your industry read, after all. A great media relations strategy takes both into account, adapting to the needs of the story.

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Why choose CCGroup?

Connect Communication & Growth

At CCGroup we’re all about Connection, Communication and Growth.

Through people-centric best-in-class PR-led marketing, we drive the future success of B2B technology brands. We have unparalleled industry expertise across mobile & telecoms, fintech, cybersecurity and enterprise technology. Our 30+ year PR heritage means we’ve been there for some of these sectors’ biggest developments, telling their stories as they’ve grown and evolved among the ever-changing business landscape.

Our journey so far has equipped us with the foresight to predict future technology trends, ready for whatever the fast-paced world of technology throws at us. And our integrated, channel-agnostic, audience-centric approach allows us to tailor our services to the needs of our clients, no matter their size or scale of their project. All of our ideas are creative, structured and effective, from traditional PR, to media relations, to content creation and marketing services.

  • I consider the team an extension of our internal marketing team. They are always on hand, proactive and knowledgeable. Whether it’s senior counsel, media relations, internal communications or campaign strategy – I can always rely on CCGroup to deliver for our brand.

    Netacea, -

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  • “We’ve spent years building relationships with the biggest names in the B2B tech press, to help you define and refine your media relations strategy.”

    Richard Fogg, CEO - CCGroup

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  • CCGroup has a knack for bringing interesting stories to journalists, and importantly, understands what we want from a story–deep and quality data, thoughtful commentary, and of course access to senior executives from top businesses. – The breadth and depth of experts they’ve been able to connect me with has been nothing shy of incredible.

    Ryan Browne, Tech Correspondent - CNBC

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  • This was a significant and important announcement that took months of hard work to put together, but it delivered almost more than we could have hoped in terms of engagement and coverage, it’s the first major milestone in a programme of activity that we’ve planned with CCGroup that will demonstrate to our industry and customers the leadership position BT has in UK telecoms.

    Alex Jackman, Network Communications - BT Consumer

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  • I have worked with many PR agencies since becoming a telecoms journalist but none have made such an effort to get to know me as an individual as CCGroup. We work, socialise, and laugh together and it’s a relationship I have come to value a great deal. I also deeply respect their professional competence and expertise and would have no hesitation in recommending them to any telecoms company looking to enhance their industry standing.

    Scott Bicheno, Editorial Director - Telecoms.com

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  • In my 18 years of writing about the telecom sector as a journalist, CCGroup has stood out as one of the best public-relations agencies in the business. Staff have a clear understanding of the technologies and trends shaping the market and actively engage with reporters on a regular basis. Unlike some others, CCGroup makes the effort to brief journalists properly on the companies it represents and show why they matter.

    Iain Morris​, International Editor​ - Light Reading​

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Awards

2023-24

PRovoke Media - EMEA Technology Consultancy of the Year

2023, 2022, 2021 & 2020

PRmoment - Technology Agency of the Year

2023, 2022 & 2020

PRmoment - B2B Agency of the Year

Media Relations explained

What is media relations?

At its most basic, media relations is all about building links and relationships with relevant industry and national press in the hopes of getting stories about your company placed among their content. While the media landscape is ever-evolving and has been subject to some pretty major disruption in recent years, at the end of the day journalists are still looking for the same thing they always have: a great story. By building relationships with journalists and editors, they’re more likely to look to your experts for comment, and will be more willing to open (and cover) your news stories among the hundreds flooding their inboxes. By building the right kind of stories…

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What role does media relations play in the future of PR and marketing?

Like all aspects of PR and marketing, how media relations is carried out today has undergone some serious changes compared to the even recent past, and is sure to continue to develop in the future. While journalists are increasingly working remotely, no longer bound to the confines of an office, the most powerful relationships will always be those forged in person–whether that’s at an event, over a one-to-one lunch, or as part of an industry mixer. As B2B tech PR evolves, we mustn’t forget the power of taking a people-first stance to media relations. One day, a PR AI might well just talk to a journalist AI, but for the majority of influential publications, that day is a long way off.

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How important is media relations to a successful campaign?

According to our Catalyst research into the influences behind B2B purchasing decisions, trade, national and business technology media are consistently pointed to, across all tech sectors, as one of the most influential channels impacting awareness and understanding of a supplier. Put simply, if you’re trying to get on a buyer’s radar, coverage in a relevant publication can be the difference between them getting in touch, and them even knowing you exist. So while that catch-up phone call or a quick drink with a journalist might not seem immediately useful, a strong media relations strategy may in fact be the deciding factor in the success of your marketing programme.

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Challenges & opportunities

In today’s competitive B2B tech landscape, we know there’s immense pressure on both internal PR and marketing teams, and businesses as a whole, to deliver growth and tangible results. Growing awareness of your products and brand is a crucial part of this process, especially in a marketplace where buyers continue to be heavily influenced by media coverage.

We understand that it might seem like a huge hurdle to maintain media relationships when you’re already struggling with limited resources. That’s why we leverage our large team of channel specialists, each with a wide range of contacts, who are ready to aid you in not just forming these crucial relationships, but also helping you craft meaningful stories and thought leadership. Your experts’ voices will stand apart in a crowded market, without them having to worry about the strain this might place on their workload.

Contact us

To find out more about the media relations agency services we can provide, or if you’re looking for a B2B tech specialist marketing agency to work with you or for you, we’d love to hear from you.