A start-up guide to PR

As a start-up, one of the first steps to building your business is developing its reputation.  A well managed public relations campaign will engage the right people to get you noticed and build your brand.

Public relations works best when it’s targeted and is integrated into a company’s overall marketing plan.  Start-ups should focus on their key reputation goals and work back from there to make sure time and money are best spent.

Whether you’re working with an agency or doing DIY-PR, here are a few ground rules:

• Be interesting

There are literally thousands of start-ups, so why should a journalist be interested in yours?  New doesn’t necessarily mean newsworthy, so take the time to define your USPs, positioning and messaging.

• You are your brand

In order to get people to buy into your brand, they need to buy into you. Make sure you’re media trained, well briefed, well styled and embody the brand.

• Mingle

Networking – both real world and social – is integral to building your profile; just make sure you’re not always speaking to the same people.

• Identify your influencers

Your target audience will shift during the various stages of growth, so it’s important to keep an eye on which you need to be communicating with.  Define audiences and identify the key influencers (including journalists and bloggers) to contact.

• Tailored relationships

Take the time to get to know the key influencers, stressing why you’re relevant to them and their interests.  This develops relationships that will deliver more than just quick win PR hits.

• Talk in sound bites

Being able to communicate your brand in a quick and digestible way will make your networking efforts more successful.  Think short, sharp sentences, free of any jargon – and don’t be afraid to be controversial if needed.

• PR is not on tap

PR coverage can’t be switched on and off.  It takes a sustained effort that may not pay off for a few months after initiating a campaign.  The more effort you put into PR, the more you will get out of it.

• Effective measurement

Starting from zero gives you a great base to measure from.  Some of the payoffs from PR can be hard to measure or are costly – for example brand awareness and reputation strength – but there are many areas that can and should be measured.  Referrals and direct web traffic, coverage levels, social engagement and influence are useful to benchmark success and demonstrate to you or your investors where PR is feeding into the overall business plan.

If you’re interested in PR for start-ups you may like to receive information on Flagship’s new start-up club – The Communications Studio, which gives its members professional guidance on gaining exposure and building reputations.