For tech startups, success is never guaranteed. With such a high failure rate, it’s crucial to pay attention to every detail from the start. One key element to consider is your public relations strategy. Effective PR can help you build an audience, attract investors, and increase your chances of success. To achieve these goals, consider these PR tips to help you spread the word about your startup and establish the reputation you want for your business.
1. Don’t try to get too much press attention too early
PR, like many other aspects of your business, is a journey. As a startup, you might think that any attention is good attention. Too much press attention straight out of the gate, however, actually isn’t a good thing. Remembering this is one of the best PR tips for startups. Instead, wait to start seeking press attention until you have a strategy, a plan, and a product that you’re ready to market to your target audience. Keep this in mind when planning your startup press release. This will help create a seamless public perception of your business focused on the attributes that will benefit your customers most, rather than a disjointed narrative as your startup moves from concept to reality.
Make sure that you’re ready for that media attention when it comes. This may mean:
- Owning your social channels and being prepared to launch content and interact with customers
- Having a fully-functioning website complete with all the information visitors need to make a decision about your business
- Having an established brand – that is, fully understanding who your business is and the voice you plan to portray within the industry
2. Focus on customers, not on investors
Yes, investors are important. Finding the right investors can be the difference between pushing your startup to success and discovering that you don’t have the funds you need to complete your goals. When it comes to your PR strategy, however, you need to focus on what your customers need from your business. Develop a solid idea of what product or service is most desirable to your customers, then use the right PR strategies to make sure that’s what you’re delivering.
3. Develop relationships
One of the most valuable PR tips is to develop relationships. For today’s businesses, relationships with customers have become a critical part of the equation. As you build your PR plan, those relationships are equally essential. You want to develop relationships with journalists you can trust to provide accurate coverage of your business and what you’re doing or what new products or services you have to offer.
4. Make sure you understand what’s newsworthy
Sure, journalists are always looking for new content–and there’s a lot of so-called human interest content out there that doesn’t really interest anyone. That doesn’t mean, however, that a journalist will take on just any story. They’re looking for something newsworthy: something that is interesting in some way to their publication and their audience. You want them to see you as something interesting, so take the time to get to know what your target audience would consider interesting or useful, then explore how your startup uniquely fills that role. Are you offering services unlike those offered by any other business? Have you developed a new or different technology that has the potential to significantly cut costs or revolutionize the industry? Those items are newsworthy–and worth approaching a journalist to handle.
5. Choose the right journalists
One of the most essential PR tips: choosing the right journalists. As you build relationships with journalists and media outlets, including influencers, you’ll get a better idea of what they have to offer within the industry: who they work with most often, their target audience, and what type of content interests them. Depending on the type of content you want to be shared about your business, you may adjust the journalists or publications you want to approach. Carefully choose the right ones for your tech startup. The right media outlets can get your business in front of the right investors and potential customers. Miss the mark, however, and you may find that you don’t drum up the interest you were hoping for–or that readers fail to take your business seriously.
6. Boil down the message you want to share
From your brand’s mission statement to information about the latest happenings at your business–new product plans and launches; new charitable contributions–make sure you boil down the message you want to share. Journalists don’t want to have to wade through stacks of information to get to the meat of the concept–and if they have to, their takeaway may not be precisely what you want to share. Instead, take the time to boil down your message. Keep it clear and concise. Consider issuing a specific quote or two that interested journalists can use for their content to help keep your message as clear as possible.
7. Customize your pitches
When you ask a journalist to share information about your brand, you don’t want to send the same general pitch to every journalist on your list, one after another. Instead, take the time to customize your pitch. Know what the journalist writes about and what the publication cares about. Consider how sharing this information fits within the journalist or publication’s target audience. The better you understand those elements, the better you can craft a pitch that works.
8. Keep your message consistent
Once you turn your pitch over to a journalist, you can’t always control what that individual will have to say about your business. You can, however, maintain control of the message and your narrative. As a startup, you’re starting fresh with your brand voice and your message in your startup press release. Keep them consistent regardless of what channel you’re using to share that information. Not only will this help control the opinion potential customers develop of your business, but it will also ensure that they have consistent interaction with you no matter how you connect.
PR is critical for your tech startup–but the timing and the approach you use can make a huge difference in its overall success. With these PR tips, you can more easily achieve public relations success and meet your goals. We also invite you to utilize Pressfarm’s services to boost your PR and reach journalists. With the right combination of strategies, you can drum up attention for your brand and reel customers in. What’s more, with a refined PR approach, you can make a name in the industry and create sustained sales.