At such a period when competition to rank better is at its peak, great PR is one of the few tactics that can amass free traffic, branding, and links, and supercharge a startup to the first page of search engines.
Although it may not be ideal for every startup, PR is well worth giving a thought since it can build awareness and credibility, showcase your startup’s capabilities and receive free airtime. And so, every new business should leverage the power of PR and help your business grow, try out the following tips.
1. Fine-tune your Elevator Pitch
Right before you send out to journalists, polish how you express the ideals of your startup; focus on being clear and concise. Whoever you are targeting receives hundreds or thousands of emails every day and seldom go through ordinary, lackluster ones.
Press releases may be one of the few places where using jargon, superlatives and technical terms will be forgiven. But more than anything else, you must strive to be compelling, captivating, and worth looking at.
2. Have an Interesting Story
Inspirational and compelling stories, generally from your loyal customers, often serve as great PR. The juiciest stories always win the hearts of prospective funders and clients as they freely give the brand a human image. However, you shouldn’t stage-manage the tale because if it backfires (and it will undoubtedly do), the damage will be irreparable.
3. Come Up with a List of Prospective Journalists and Influencers
It is important to know who to target and the sites to pitch and submit your PR request. Your success in enhancing the image and reputation of your company starts with who you reach out to, why and the impact it will have on your startup. A simple way of creating a list of prospective journalists involves using Google to create a list of the articles, and the name or email address of the publisher. Tools like Buzzsumo also makes the whole task a lot easier.
4. Research Well and Remain Objective
After coming up with a list of who to contact, make sure you know a thing or two about them. Researching about them helps build a rapport and enhances familiarity. Researching their past articles is a great place to start. The best tools right now to achieve this are PressFriendly and JustReachOut.
5. Reach Out and Network with Top Influencers
If you’re always following and commenting on top influencers’ posts, you’re a lot closer and at a prime point of networking with them. It’s not too late to start doing this (if you haven’t already) either. While trying to capture their attention, be smart with your comments, decent, mature and knowledgeable. Sell yourself, but don’t be a bother or an idler liking and commenting on every post.
6. Be Innovative and Reverse-Pitch
Being unique, innovative and resourceful with your PR campaign ultimately makes you stand out from the rest of the pack. However, going above and beyond to utilize such sites as HelpAReporter and NewsBasis instantly boost your chances of enhancing the PR of your startup. Check them out!
Don’t flog a dead horse!
When all’s said and done, not all journalists contacted will respond. Many will use the “I’ll get back to you” phrase while some will blatantly ignore your request. If you’ve done your best, but luck seems to be evading you, stop everything and re-evaluate your strategies. Be honest, assess everything, re-strategize and move on!
About the Author
Rick is a Serial Entrepreneur, Writer and Head of Marketing at Passionate Marketers.
