The Truth: How the 2022-2024 technology recession impacted the B2B tech PR market

For those of us who've worked in PR for looong time, there were 3 things you could rely on in public relations:

1. There would be someone at every measurement conference who couldn’t resist the mention of AVE to start a fight/push their personal brand. 
2. There would be an endless analysis of the pluses and minuses of PRs 2 UK trade bodies. This would take up an inordinate level of discussion amongst UK PR people.
3. And 3, the B2B tech PR sector would keep growing.

Then 2022 happened. And all of that changed. 

We’ll leave an analysis of PR’s trade bodies conversation and AVEs for another day but today on this show we are going to chat with Hoffman CC Group’s Dan Miles about a very interesting report he’s recently authored discussing the impact of the tech recession on B2B tech marketing.

B2B tech PR grew pretty consistently for about 20 years from 2000 to 2022. There were obviously a few downturns and bubbles bursting during that time but the PR B2B tech sector proved very resilient through all of that. Until 2022. 

I only know 3 B2B tech agency side PR guys, who when talking about 2022-24, don't lean back in their chair, take a sharp intake of breath and look to the ceiling!

It was a properly tough period. But do we really understand why? Downturns happen, they are part of professional life, but in B2B tech marketing this was a 2 year period like no other.

And as the B2B tech PR sector wasn't used to recessional downturns, it was especially hard. Perhaps B2B tech PR wasn't ready for the pain?

Today on the show Dan Miles is going to try to explain to what happened, why it happened and what comes next for the B2B tech PR market. 

Just to say, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA

4 mins Dan on why he decided to write this report? 

7 mins Dan talks us through the methodology for the report: 400 in-house folks surveyed across B2B tech marketing and PR.

8 mins Why was 2022 - 2024 a perfect storm for tech marketers? Do we know why that tech recession happened? 

“11,000 tech companies laid off 260,000 members of staff between 2022 and 2024.”

“Hiring freezes meant there was a sense of having to do more with less.”

11 mins How quickly did the tech PR market go from “Yep, we’re alright”, to: “We’ve got a problem.”

13 mins Why did the tech PR sector suffer so badly compared to other areas of public relations?

20 mins How bad was the B2B tech PR downturn?:

1. How many PR people got laid off?
2. By what percentage did budgets decrease?
3. Do we know how many tech PR firms went out of business?
4. How long did the hiring freezes last?
5. How long did the short term, “get sales in” activity last? What were these short term objectives/ tactics?

28 mins What was the B2B tech PR sector like to work in during that time?

“It got to the point in 2024 when you couldn’t rust the brief. Because you didn't know whether the brief would be completely changed part way through the process or if the person (giving the brief) might disappear entirely!"

32 mins In terms of the recovery, we’re a bit beyond the green shoots stage aren't we? When did the B2B tech PR market start to turn?

“It took until March this year (now) for us to be approaching bullish about growth.”

35 mins Has the B2B tech market come out as a different thing, doing different things?