Human Resources Tech and Public Relations

As both human resources technology and departments, as well as public relations continue to evolve, more professionals in both industries have started realizing that there’s a big intersection between the two.

From the perspective of HR, public relations is mainly involved in the recruitment element of the responsibilities that HR professionals have, generally through sourcing and attracting talent.

Another intersection between the two industries is the internal business image that’s generally created by corporate communications and public relations professionals that also work with human resources.

All of those professionals are employed so they can provide educational resources both internally and externally for companies.

Now, with globalization helping the world start a new era, many are expecting that some of the older principles of public relations and human resources are going to become outdated, such as traditional techniques for presentation or having a strictly formal approach to various topics.

Companies that want to succeed in this new era have to evolve and adapt in accordance to those industry changes and overcome any obstacles they might come across on their way to success and growth.

Alignment

One of the first steps that HR companies will have to take to achieve more success with the evolution of the two industries is better alignment between HR and PR efforts so that they’ll be able to achieve more precise goals.

Most companies still tend to consider human resources as primarily internally focused, with the goal of handling various daily tasks regarding internal issues. In fact, many people perceive HR as a form of a parental figure that practically anyone can communicate with whenever they need help.

On the other hand, public relations is still being perceived as having an externally focused function, aimed at improving a company’s public image or handling media coverage and requests from journalists.

However, this type of very narrow classification and siloing between the two industries is what can negatively affect HR tech companies.

When both HR and PR are in alignment, companies can achieve better results, such as providing media training to their employees that can then better present their HR tech solutions to relevant outlets.

When aligned, HR tech companies are also going to get a better understanding of what they need to do to improve their external communications efforts and engage the target audience in more meaningful ways to build better relationships with consumers.

Openness

HR tech companies tend to work in a very limiting market where companies aren’t always very connected to their consumers, clients, or even potential employees.

However, by utilizing the right PR strategies, such as social media management or SEO efforts, even the smallest HR tech companies can generate more brand or product awareness, help solve more pain points for their customers, and at the end of the day, generate more sales and growth.

This is especially important in today’s changing market as more young generations of consumers are becoming part of the target audience of niche and specialty companies, which means those companies have to figure out better, more creative strategies to connect with those consumers.

PR Strategies for HR Tech Companies

Human resources have a very PR-focused role, even if many people don’t realize it.

In fact, most people tend to see public relations professionals as the people in charge of creating and sending out press releases and securing media coverage for companies that have new products or services they need to promote.

However, at the end of the day, public relations professionals are tasked to deal with other people, much in the way that human resources professionals have to do as well.

That’s because recruiters tend to work with people that are outside their companies every single day.

It’s not all about acquiring new employees, but human resources efforts are about choosing the people that will best represent a company as well. One of the biggest PR tools that HR tech companies have is their employees because they’re the most prominent ambassadors of every business.

Brand Ambassadors

Plenty of employees tend to talk about their jobs on social media platforms, and when anything negative happens in their daily workplace, it’s easy for that situation to become publicized. That’s not to say that everything that employees say online is true, but it’s important for companies to reflect on how employee statements online can reflect on a business. That means that by creating a positive work culture, HR tech companies can turn their employees into brand ambassadors.

Content Marketing

Turning data and insights, as well as brand messaging into an engaging story for the target audience, isn’t always easy for many businesses.

This is especially true for HR tech companies that have very niche markets and are looking to connect with their target audiences.

The best way to connect with them is through content marketing efforts that are going to resonate with the customers across a variety of communications channels.

Social Media

Engaging with a target audience on social media platforms can position HR tech companies at the forefront of various important conversations regarding HR technologies, tools, and workplace software.

Additionally, in some cases, creating and utilizing a proactive social media management strategy for HR tech companies can end up creating a community of engaged customers and industry stakeholders around a business.

To do that, companies need to create engaging content for their social media channels, frequently communicate with the target audience on those channels, answer questions that the potential customers might have about the solutions that the business provides, and improve customer service efforts via social media platforms.

Strategies for HR Tech Companies to Connect with Consumers

Some of the most effective lead generation and conversion strategies that HR tech companies can use are integrated marketing strategies.

In the HR tech industry, integrated marketing is all about combining innovative paid, earned, and owned media, with traditional PR and digital marketing efforts.

When companies adopt an integrated marketing approach, they can increase their engagement with the target audiences across a variety of outlets and channels.

For HR tech companies specifically, integrated marketing includes distributing personalized messages to various segments of the target audience.

Additionally, HR tech companies can also position themselves as industry experts through thought leadership efforts, as well as increase their leads and customers by connecting with the right people, at the right time of the buying journey, and by sending them the right messages.

By combining both digital marketing strategies and public relations, HR tech companies can utilize a number of different very effective tactics that are going to help businesses grow.

Messaging

The most successful integrated marketing and PR campaign has very clear and compelling messages for the target audience which is created by using a cohesive strategy that combines different earned, owned, and paid channels.

Without the right messaging and strategies in place, HR tech companies end up not taking advantage of the full potential of their promotional efforts.

SEO

Search engine optimization is essential for improving brand awareness for HR tech companies. Aside from SEO efforts, companies need to invest in paper click advertising to raise the visibility of their solutions.

These types of strategies are not just about improving the company’s website ranking on search engine results pages, but it’s also about improving brand ability on various communications channels where the consumers frequent.

Data

When it comes to HR tech companies, data tends to be the core element of any and every PR strategy that they use.

Strategies like creating SEO content for marketing purposes, creating interactive landing pages, and plenty of other integrated marketing and PR tactics can improve the visibility of proprietary data and insight with journalists, reporters, editors, as well as the target audience of a business.

Storytelling

All of the data that HR tech companies generate from their own tools, as well as market research and other efforts, can’t be disturbed easily into an engaging narrative for the target audience.

However, that’s where thought leadership becomes incredibly helpful because HR tech companies can position themselves as industry experts by supporting all of their statements with plenty of research, data, and insights.

This way, they can become a go-to source for both the customers, as well as journalists and outlets regarding their industries, which improves the company’s public image and reputation and develops a more trusting relationship with the customers.

Ronn Torossian is the Founder & Chairman of 5W Public Relations, one of the largest independently-owned PR firms in the United States.

With over 20 years of experience crafting and executing powerful narratives, Torossian is one of America’s most prolific and well-respected Public Relations professionals.