By Chris Norton, founder of Prohibition PR, last updated 18 October 2026.
B2B PR is public relations for companies that sell to other businesses. It builds your reputation with the small group of people who sign off a purchase, and with the trade journalists and advisers they trust.
Prohibition PR is a B2B PR agency in Leeds working with clients across the UK, and through the Worldcom Public Relations Group we can call on 110 partner offices in 45 countries. We plan campaigns around your sales cycle and report on enquiries and pipeline as well as coverage.
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What B2B PR isWhat good looks likeOur resultsStrategyMeasurementServicesSectorsChoosing an agencyFAQs
What is B2B PR, and who is it for?
Business to business public relations (B2B PR) is a PR specialism that helps organisations sell their products and services to other companies. The audience is small and specific. It might be a finance director or an engineer writing a specification, along with the trade journalists those people read.
Buyers often draw up a shortlist before they speak to any supplier, and B2B PR is how you get on it. That means coverage in the titles your buyers trust and comment from your senior people that journalists want to quote. Original research often gives journalists a reason to call. It also means a regular LinkedIn presence from the people a buyer will actually meet, and, increasingly, being named when a buyer asks ChatGPT or Google’s AI Mode who to consider.
What does a B2B PR agency do day to day?
A B2B PR agency finds the stories inside your business that buyers, and the journalists who write for them, will care about. Then it gets those stories published and seen. The core work is media relations with trade and national press, plus thought leadership for your senior people. Depending on the brief, it can also include original research, LinkedIn content and live events, media training for spokespeople and crisis support.
At Prohibition we also check that coverage earns the links and brand mentions that help you appear in Google and in AI search tools. We plan back from your sales cycle, so before we pitch a single story we know which sectors and job titles it has to reach.
B2B PR versus B2C PR
B2C PR usually tries to reach a lot of people quickly. B2B PR reaches far fewer people over a longer period, and each decision carries more weight. A consumer might buy a drink after seeing one post. A business choosing a supplier often involves several people and can take months, and the finance team or procurement can each say no.
So B2B PR leans on credibility. Expert comment, trade press coverage, case studies and named results do most of the work. LinkedIn, trade titles, podcasts, events and industry analysts matter more than lifestyle press. Measurement changes too: we look at whether the right companies saw the coverage and then got in touch.
What does good B2B PR look like?
What works
Start with a list of the companies you want to win and the job titles inside them, and judge every story against that list. Quote the people a buyer will deal with, such as your engineers or sales leads, and media train them first. Give each journalist something they cannot get elsewhere, usually your own data or a clear view on a story already running. Keep going month after month, because buyers who are not ready today will be in a year.
What we see go wrong
Press releases about internal news no buyer cares about. Chasing national coverage when the buyers read one trade title. Reports built on reach figures that a board will ignore. Spokespeople who go quiet for a whole quarter.
B2B PR examples from our own work
Each of these four campaigns reached business buyers by a different route. The figures come from our published case studies, and where a client keeps its results private, we say so.
Freeths: a LinkedIn Live on the Post Office case
Freeths lawyer James Hartley led the subpostmasters’ case against the Post Office. When ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office put the case back in the news in January 2024, we planned and produced a LinkedIn Live with James for in-house and general counsel, from the script and teaser animation to real-time monitoring. The audience put nearly 70 questions to him. The firm was already part of a story people wanted to follow, and the live format let them question the lawyer at its centre.
Birchwood Park: an always-on press office
Birchwood Park, between Manchester and Liverpool, is home to 165 companies and more than 6,000 people. Its buyer is a business deciding where to base its people, so our stories were about the park and the companies on it. A continuous press office, an “Office of the Future” campaign on the future of work and targeted digital activity earned 30 links to the park’s website. Birchwood Park reports that 20% of new occupier referrals came from the work.
Huthwaite International: research for medical device sales leaders
Huthwaite, the company behind SPIN® Selling, wanted to reach senior sales leaders in medical devices, a small group that is hard to get in front of. We commissioned research in the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Germany and the Netherlands and turned it into a white paper. Digital PR and LinkedIn ads drove people to a download page, and CEO Tony Hughes launched it with a keynote at Med Device Europe. It brought in a significant number of direct leads; Huthwaite keeps the exact figure confidential.
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
We set the creative direction for “Business: the next 25 years” and our in-house team made social animations, graphics and audio clips that pointed people to the articles and showed the range of the school’s academics. The school shared the content on its own channels, so we have no figures to publish, but the work led to ongoing projects promoting its facilities and courses.
Watch: how the Freeths LinkedIn Live came together
What goes into a B2B PR strategy?
Every B2B PR strategy we write starts with the buyer: who signs off the purchase, what they read and listen to, and what would put them off switching supplier. That research shapes everything after it, from the key messages to the first press release.
We review the plan every quarter and change it when the market shifts.
How do you measure B2B PR?
Counting press cuttings is where B2B PR measurement starts, and most boards will want more. We use our proINSIGHTS measurement framework to link PR to business outcomes. We check whether coverage landed in the titles your buyers read and whether visits from target sectors rose. We track share of voice against named competitors, along with the enquiries and leads that followed. We now also test whether ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode mention you when someone asks for a recommendation in your category.
How long does B2B PR take to work?
Longer than most boards would like. B2B buying cycles often run for months, so give a programme two or three quarters before you judge it on leads. Early signs come much sooner: coverage in your target titles, and more people searching for your company by name. The Freeths LinkedIn Live is the exception that proves the rule, because it rode a story that was already in the national news. Be wary of any agency that promises pipeline in the first month. We report against the targets agreed at the start and flag early when something is not landing, which leaves time to change course before the budget is spent.
Our B2B PR services
Most of our B2B clients use PR alongside at least one of these.
B2B PR and press office
Media relations, launches, thought leadership, crisis planning, panels and conferences.
Digital PR and AI search
Coverage and links that support your rankings and your chances of being cited in AI answers.
LinkedIn and social
Organic plans for your company page and named experts across a long sales cycle.
Paid social
LinkedIn campaigns by job title and company size. It is how Huthwaite’s white paper reached sales leaders across Europe.
B2B influencer marketing
Analysts, trade journalists, consultants and practitioners with a loyal LinkedIn following.
Content and video
In-house designers and a video team making animations, interviews and audio clips.
Spokesperson training
Media, social media, communications and crisis training for the people who front your PR.
Reputation tracking
A research method based on the AMEC framework, so your board sees reputation over time.
B2B sectors we work in
⚖️ Professional services
Law firms and consultancies sell expertise, so their people are the product. We get partners quoted in the titles their clients read and run LinkedIn Lives for in-house counsel and finance teams.
💻 Technology and start-ups
Launches, trade shows, profile raising and investor news, plus help for technical founders to explain what they do in plain English.
⚙️ Engineering and manufacturing
Trade media relations and thought leadership in automation, robotics, electrical engineering and energy. We have run thought leadership campaigns for Equans.
🏢 Property and construction
Commercial property is sold to businesses, and new developments need local support. We ran Birchwood Park’s press office and help developers explain schemes to local people and planners.
🎓 Universities and business schools
Thought leadership and social media, including Saïd Business School. For Northumbria University we analysed more than 200 social channels and wrote a university-wide strategy.
🩺 Healthcare and public sector
Media briefings, round tables and parliamentary receptions for healthcare suppliers, and open, well-explained communication for public bodies under scrutiny.
How to choose a B2B PR agency
Most agency credentials decks look the same, so ask questions that make the differences show. These are the five I would ask if I were hiring us.
When we are not the right fit
If you need leads within a month, paid search will serve you better than PR. If you cannot give us access to your senior people or your data, we will struggle to find stories a trade journalist wants. And if the budget only stretches to a few press releases a year, a freelancer is usually better value.
Why choose Prohibition PR for B2B?
Prohibition PR is a PR agency in Leeds, founded by Chris Norton. We have run B2B campaigns for more than a decade, for law firms, business schools, commercial property, sales training and engineering clients.
In August 2025 we became a partner in the Worldcom Public Relations Group, which has 110 offices in 45 countries. As Chris wrote at the time, our B2B and corporate clients are the ones most likely to be expanding across EMEA, and the network lets us take one story into several countries at once.
About the author. Chris Norton has more than 25 years’ experience in PR, was a lecturer at Leeds Beckett University and co-hosts the Embracing Marketing Mistakes podcast. Read Chris’s full profile.
B2B PR FAQs
What is the difference between B2B PR and B2B marketing?
B2B marketing covers everything a company does to win business customers, including ads, email and sales material. B2B PR is the part that earns attention you do not pay for directly: trade press coverage, expert comment, research journalists report on, and mentions in AI answers. The best programmes run the two together.
Does B2B PR generate leads?
It can, directly and indirectly. Our LinkedIn Live for Freeths produced around 950 leads, and Huthwaite’s research campaign brought in direct leads from prospective clients. More often, PR gets you onto shortlists, and the enquiry arrives months later through your website or sales team.
Should a B2B company target national press or trade press?
Usually trade press first, because that is where your buyers read about suppliers. National coverage helps when you have a story with wider reach, such as Freeths and the Post Office case, but a board-level buyer is more likely to act on a piece in their own trade title.
How does B2B PR help with AI search?
AI tools such as ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode lean on trusted third-party sources when they recommend suppliers. Coverage, expert comment and research mentioned on authoritative sites give those tools something to cite. We test whether AI tools name you as part of our reporting.
Do you work with B2B companies outside Leeds?
Yes. We work with clients across the UK, and through the Worldcom Public Relations Group we can run campaigns in 45 countries.
Tell us who you sell to
We will show you how we would reach them, and which titles, podcasts and people would make the difference.
Tell us who you sell to, and we will show you how we would reach them. Call 0113 430 4160 or book a call with the team.
B2B Services
