Remembering the Human Element

Gerard LaFond

The world of B2B tech public relations mirrors that of the tech industry itself: ever-changing, forward-thinking and obsessed with innovation.

What often gets lost in this industry, however, is something our agency takes very seriously: The human element. Regardless of company, industry or corner of the globe, humans are the ones doing the work that keeps the world spinning.

But from where we sit, we seem caught in a cycle: A new piece of technology is released. The hype cycle whirs up. Pros and cons are discussed. The product does—or more often doesn’t!—change the world in some way. We move on. Rinse and repeat.

But what about the people who tirelessly worked to make that product? The people who put in overtime research to get the technology made? The people who worked weekends to get it sold once it was created? On and on, there are humans at every critical step in the creation of technology and business processes.

At Hoffman, we take pride in storytelling; we’re a communications agency, after all. And nearly every story has one singular element in common: The human experience. Without that, who’s going to read and relate to your story? More importantly, when we shift focus away from humans, we lose our humanity. If I want to earnestly tell my 18-year-old daughter that yes, technology can improve the world, humans need to be front and center for that to be true. We’re seeing this with the AI explosion and related concerns: Are we moving toward a future where we entrust non-humans to be in the driver’s seat? And what does this huge shift in our society mean for the future?

In the quest for technological innovation, we need to remember humans are behind it all and their compelling stories should be told.

This article is featured in O'Dwyer's May '24 PR Firm Rankings Magazine (view PDF version)

Human-centric PR in cybersecurity

In our work in tech public relations, we run up against this dynamic often: The client has a cool piece of technology or a new product and wants the media to talk about it. Great! We’d love to help. But the tech media landscape is crowded with “check out this latest product” stories. Unless you’re Google/Apple/Meta/Amazon, you’re going to be fighting against a sea of similar companies, selling similar-sounding stories to the media.

We’ve worked hard to elevate the human element when it comes to storytelling. The people at the company making the product are what’s unique, more so than the product itself. And we’ve found these “human stories” are what media want and create better outcomes for clients.

An example of this can be found with a client of ours, Trellix, a cybersecurity company resulting from the merger of FireEye and McAfee. Trellix has a large customer base, legacy name recognition, and many other benefits when mapping out a communications strategy. But there were challenges, as there always are, and Trellix was looking for a way to stand out from the competition.

One of the biggest issues facing the security industry is the talent gap. According to industry nonprofit ISC2, there are more than three million unfilled jobs in the industry in the U.S., a problem that has persisted for years. Most security companies want to talk about this problem but don’t know how to (or what they are saying is not interesting, unique, or a score of other “well, but” caveats).

Working alongside Trellix, we executed a campaign called “Soulful Work” to gather several ideas on addressing the industry talent gap. This effort encompassed diversity, hiring and talent initiatives, internal training and many other initiatives, both internal- and external-facing. Instead of simply saying “We want to talk about the talent gap,” Trellix decided to do something about it. By highlighting its employees internally and driving discussions around the talent gap externally, Trellix created a mini-movement. It’s this type of thinking that drives continued results and elevates our clients from chasing the “news of the day” or touting the latest product to saying something meaningful.

We were particularly proud of the splash we made outside of traditional media coverage. We collected more than 200 stories centered on “soulful work” at a Trellix event in Las Vegas, our social team leveraged those stories—alongside custom video and other assets—as part of a resource-packed webpage to amplify the mission, all of which led to multiple placements on industry award lists at the end of 2023. Today, the work of PR goes beyond chasing media placements. We can make a dent in the conversation when we focus on the message and the people, using a blend of traditional PR tactics, as well as social media and other new forms of communication. The reason social media works in today’s world is it thrives on humans interacting with one another. It’s called “social” media for a reason.

By focusing on the people, Trellix was able to see results. About 100 interns and more than 1,000 new employees from diverse backgrounds joined the company in 2022 and roughly 265 instances of media coverage—and about 120 social media posts—were placed under the Soulful Work umbrella.

Stories tie us together

The above example is just one of many that tell the story of how we try to put people first, regardless of client or technology or the specific goals of a project. We try to look at the entire business ecosystem: from CEOs and founders to engineers, developers, end users and everyone in between. These are people with lived experiences and reaching them—reaching anyone—is about relating to each other and finding that shared humanity.

That’s storytelling. Everything else is just noise.

As we face an uncertain future—one where the ramifications of the technology we’re creating are unclear and constantly changing—we can lean on one of the oldest forms of human communication: storytelling. And every story—from fables and myths to sci-fi epics and stand-up comedy bits—is a human one, a way to connect with one another and say “Hey, you’re not alone.” I don’t see AI replacing that anytime soon.

The next time you find yourself struggling with a spokesperson or an interpersonal problem or maybe even just trying to get to know someone, try asking, “So what’s your story?” How someone interprets and answers will tell you more than any other bit of small talk. Humans are natural storytellers and when we embrace that, wonderful things happen.

***

Gerard LaFond is Managing Director, North America, at The Hoffman Agency.