Therefore, there are many around them who are interested in helping these nascent businesses.
Businesses of this type require a differentiator compared to what exists in the market in order to obtain a competitive advantage. That innovation may be present in its products or in the business model associated with the company.
But having a good startup (product or service) does not guarantee success. There is a great challenge that carries a long and hard work of research, development and marketing. Those behind a startup are young visionaries, focused, who know their market and are persevering.
But they are also in a hurry, and sometimes that causes hasty decisions to be made, as is the case with communication. There are those who focus more on eliminating the competition, instead of solidifying theirs.
In terms of marketing and communication, it is vital to approach the specialists. If what you are looking for is greater visibility, before hiring a public relations agency (PR) it is important to have some considerations.
PR is an excellent vehicle to build momentum for a brand or business, getting your name out there, showing what you’re doing right, and building awareness of your offering. But they are not a substitute for having a great product, nor are they a guarantee of sales, followers, or funding. If someone promises you that, be careful!
What PR does do is that, when combined with a great product, it can dramatically expand your reach and help you gain traction faster, generate conversation about your offering, and differentiate you from your competition.
For this, it is very important to be clear about who my audience is, because this will define the narrative, as well as the ideal means to achieve the communication objectives. For example, if what you are looking for is new subscribers or interaction in your digital ecosystem, then the logical thing is to go to digital media.
Traditional media are very attractive, what brand does not like to appear on the page of a newspaper or a magazine, however, it is very rare that a reader of these media sees your message in a newspaper and stops to go to connect to your website. The convenient thing is that through a digital medium you have immediate access to your platforms.
Another issue to consider is to always be authentic and not pretend to be what you were not. Some startups strive to be “cool”, when the focus should be on trying to be successful and more importantly, not using PR to try to show a personality that your brand does not have. Let go of the “we are the next Facebook” angle and shift focus to getting the name in front of large corporate audiences.
Don’t get too attached to your own ideas of success, it’s all too easy to be tempted to try to be a social media sensation before using it as a useful corporate tool. We must allow the startup’s early successes to be a guide to finding its niche.
There are those who measure their success and their future based on the launch and you have to understand that this is not all. Worse yet, if it falls short of expectations, they fall into depression. Understand that launch day alone will not make or break your company. What really matters is how you create and maintain the value of the offer after launch.
PR for startups is a crucial area to invest in. As a startup, PR is invaluable for increasing brand awareness and positioning yourself within your industry. I laid out some of the unique advantages of a startup PR strategy and the process you can follow to get your brand mentioned in the media and influence yourself into a leading role. They are undoubtedly a valuable tool used professionally.