So, you’re ready to officially launch your startup. After years of sleepless, work-filled nights, high-pressure investor meetings and product development roadblocks, its finally time to show the world the most exciting company they’ve seen yet – and it’s yours.
Now you may be wondering how to get media to pay attention to the great work you’re doing. Advertising and digital marketing might get you customers, but an effective PR strategy is key to gaining the industry recognition and credibility that only compelling press coverage can provide.
If you want to get coverage in the most esteemed technology-focused publications for your startup like TechCrunch, Mashable and Inc., here are a few tried and true methods that will amplify your startup to reach millions of potential customers, investors, and partners:
Make Your Messaging Media Friendly
While your pitch decks for investors may have landed you millions in funding, you’ll need to edit the language to make it easily digestible for media and their audiences. (Yes, there are words and phrases that are too complicated even for TechCrunch.) Do some heavy research into the articles of your favorite tech journalists, and take stock of the language they use to talk about companies like yours, and industry trends and keywords that are frequently associated with them. Armed with this research, take a look at your own messaging and find ways to both tie it to industry trends, and simplify it in a way that’s impactful and easy to understand. Finally, package this into a messaging document that you and your colleagues can reference when contacting journalists about your company.
Perfect the Pitch
The media landscape is extremely competitive, and the industry is seeing downsizing in editorial staff across the board. This means that for every 10 companies launching, there’s probably only 1 writer tasked with covering only the most interesting of them. To break through the clutter, you’ll need to craft a pitch email that hooks them and gets them to reply with “Tell me more!” Start with an eye-catching subject line that will encourage them to smash that “Open” button. Many journalists, if not most, open their email on their phones, so make sure you keep that type of digital real estate in mind when putting the subject line together. Make sure to introduce your startup in a concise yet impactful fashion in the body of the email. Note: If you lose them after the first sentence, they probably won’t read any further.
Nail Your Interviews
More likely than not, media will want to get an interview with you to learn more about your startup and add that human element to their stories. They’ll want to put a face to the company and get your personal reasons for founding it. Yes, these interviews can be intimidating, but as with most things in life, practice makes perfect. Try to get interview questions in advance from the journalist interviewing you (NOTE: They won’t always give them) or come up with your own that cover all the basics. The 5 Ws are a good place to start: Who, What, When, Where and Why. Have one of your team members role play as an interviewer and get as many practice rounds in as possible before hopping on the call with the journalist. If you’re going on-air, record yourself with your smartphone and have your team member critique your posture and speaking skills to make sure you’re camera ready. Keep your responses straight-to-the-point and make sure to convey your enthusiasm with your voice and body language. If you sound and look excited about your company, the media will too.
Go Beyond the Launch
Think about upcoming company initiatives in the pipeline beyond your startup’s launch. Do you have a major brand partnership in the works? Are you hiring talent from a major company? Are you launching in a new market? The answers to these questions could serve as media-facing announcements which can keep your startup in the press and get more eyeballs on your company from potential customers, brand partners and investors. Media are always hungry for news so the more angles you can give them, the more likely you are to get covered. When planning for these announcements, make sure to do due diligence and identify the right media targets – the contacts may be different from those from your initial launch depending on the story you’re trying to tell.
Getting media coverage may seem like a daunting task, but keeping these tips in mind when doing your outreach will make sure that you secure the high-quality press coverage your startup deserves. Need a hand? Our team of PR pros has launched hundreds of new products & services. Feel free to reach out to bizdev@maxborgesagency.com for more details.
