Why likeability matters in PR and marcomms

Why is likeability so important in tech PR & Marcomms?

Why isn’t a sublime product enough to get you past the winning post?

Put simply, likeability is about safety and familiarity.

No one is inclined to make a potentially career-ending decision to spend a truckload of cash on a fabulous but completely unknown entity.

People want to make informed decisions. They want access to the best-unbiased advice available. But they don’t want to speak to salespeople.

According to Gartner, buyers of complex solutions only spent 17% of their time speaking directly to sales teams—and that was pre-pandemic, when we were social creatures. ¹

However, buyers are still getting the information they think they need to make their investment decisions.

So how do you get your brand in front of them and get considered as a realistic option, bearing in mind they do not want to be sold to?

Having interesting, actionable, and engaging content that answers their questions and fills their knowledge gap IS the way to go.

Because this positions you as a valuable, accessible authority.

Tie that to visible, articulate leaders, or subject matter experts, and you have a winning formula.

The more they rely on you for insight and expertise, building familiarity with each touch point, the more they like you and the safer they feel with you.

As a result, you rise higher up the ‘trusted other’ list and are more likely to appear on the RFP.

All because you recognised that likeability is important.

Footnotes

¹ Gartner, Inc., 5 Ways the Shift in B2B Buying Will Reconfigure B2B Selling, Brett Adamson & Nick Toman, Refreshed 24 March 2022,