Tech PR can be tough. If you don’t come from a background in tech, even the best PR pros can find it difficult to wrap their minds around some of the super-high-tech products our clients offer.

This is why I’m grateful Bospar gives its employees professional development stipends. As a recent graduate, I’ll be honest and say when I started working here I was a bit intimidated by the technology some of our clients offer. This is why I used my stipend to teach myself more about the services of my clients through online classes. I taught myself the ins and outs of a range of tech products, from SQL programming to cybersecurity, so I can be my best PR self. 

Here’s why understanding your clients’ offerings is crucial in tech PR:

Understanding the language

First and foremost, it’s important to understand the terminology, especially down to the nitty gritty, around your client’s products and services. SQL or NoSQL? Does your client’s AI use machine learning? On premise or cloud? Specifics matter a lot in tech PR, especially when it comes to measuring against and tracking for your client’s competitors, determining the accuracy of an article, and knowing where and who to pitch your client to. Which brings me to my next point…

Outlets and dream pubs

Once you have a handle on the jargon, the next step in knowing how to place your client is finding the right media outlets. If your client is an insurtech provider, an older, more traditional insurance outlet might not be a fit, but a publication like Digital Insurance might be the company’s dream outlet. (Side note: Bospar always asks our clients for their dream outlet placements when we start our work together.) 

The right reporters

After you’ve determined if an outlet is a right fit for your client, then comes narrowing down the reporters working at the publication. Do they cover business intelligence technology AND databases? From there, does that reporter write more often about databases or data lakes? Oftentimes, there’s a better fit than your first find. 

Timing is everything

Last but certainly not least – as all PR pitching should be timely, understanding the media trends in the space your client is in is essential. For example, ethics and automated cars are currently super hot topics in AI. If I know the discussion being had in the media, I can work backwards to determine how I can insert my client into the appropriate conversations. 

If I’ve learned anything in my time at Bospar, it’s that you don’t have to write code or have a degree in computer science to masterfully work your way around the tech media landscape. After months of experience and self-teaching about the tech products my clients provide, I feel confident calling myself a “tech PR pro.” More importantly, with a deep understanding of their offerings, I feel confident in my ability to effectively pitch my clients and to get them into exciting conversations.