Amplifying Your Startup: Five PR Strategies To Stand Out

Many startup founders mistakenly believe that public relations (PR) is only necessary once their business has achieved significant growth or during a crisis. In reality, PR is a critical component from the very beginning, intricately linked with your marketing efforts. The challenge for many startups is navigating PR effectively without a large budget.

Fortunately, social media has democratised the PR landscape, allowing even the smallest businesses to make a big impact. Without needing to invest heavily in major PR firms, you can harness the power of influential bloggers, YouTube personalities, podcasts, and online publications to build your brand.

However, effective PR requires a strategic approach.These are five actionable PR techniques to help your startup gain visibility and traction.

Tell Captivating Stories

Influencers and journalists are constantly seeking content that resonates with their audiences. They are unlikely to feature your startup just because it exists. To capture their interest, you need to provide stories that are unique and engaging.

Consider these angles for your stories; introducing a groundbreaking product, expanding to a new market, securing a significant investor partnership, hiring a high-profile executive, releasing compelling research or reports and highlighting your startup’s social impact

Wrapping your message in a story, you increase its memorability and appeal. Research by cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner indicates that stories make information 22 times more memorable.

Establish Yourself as an Expert

Positioning yourself as an industry expert helps build credibility for your startup. When you share valuable insights, people begin to see you as a thought leader, which can lead to earned media opportunities.

Start by creating high-quality content that addresses key topics in your field. For example, if you’re in fintech, you could write about strategies for building credit for startups. Share practical tips, tools, and insights, and distribute this content through relevant online platforms and influencers.

Additionally, consider guest blogging on prominent industry sites, and participate in podcasts and YouTube channels relevant to your niche. Focus on providing value rather than promoting your startup directly.

Utilise HARO for Media Exposure

If you don’t have an extensive network of journalists, platforms like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) can be invaluable. HARO connects journalists with sources in various industries.

By signing up as a source, you’ll receive requests from journalists looking for expert quotes and insights. Respond to relevant queries, and if a journalist uses your input, you’ll gain a citation and potentially a backlink to your website, enhancing your authority and visibility.

Engage in Community and Charitable Initiatives

Participating in community events and charitable activities is a powerful way to build your startup’s reputation. Sponsor local events, organise community service projects, or support local non-profits. These activities don’t need to be expensive; what’s important is the positive impact they have.

Examples include sponsoring a local sports tournament, providing free educational workshops or coding lessons for kids, supporting a local charity or non-profit organisation.

 Leverage Influencer Collaborations

Partnering with influencers can be a cost-effective way to enhance your PR efforts. Influencers with a dedicated following can help spread the word about your startup to a wider audience.

To make these partnerships effective; identify influencers whose audience aligns with your target market, offer those compelling stories and valuable content they can share and focus on building genuine relationships rather than purely transactional ones.

When you’re just starting, your PR efforts will rely largely on cold pitching—reaching out to journalists and online influencers who might not have heard of you. While this may work at first, if you want successful PR over the long term, you must start building relationships with bloggers, journalists, youtubers, podcasters, and other influencers in your niche before you ever need their help. This way, when you ask for their assistance in spreading the word about your startup, you won’t be another stranger trying to get their attention. You’ll be someone they have a rapport with, so they’ll be more likely to help.

A good way to build relationships with online influencers is to engage with their content. Comment on their blogs, respond to their tweets, and discuss ideas that show your expertise, share their content with your followers, and so on. Don’t just look at what they can do for you; you should also look for ways to provide value to them as you build the relationship.

Public relations is not just for large, established companies. Startups can also benefit immensely from strategic PR efforts.

Even when you don’t have a budget for sponsoring charitable events in your community, you can get involved in events organised by others. Such involvement can still spread the word about your business.

Besides creating awareness about your startup, sponsoring and getting involved in charitable events around the community helps establish a positive association with your brand. It is also great for networking and building relationships with people who could later become clients, partners, etc.

When running a startup, it’s very easy to focus on perfecting your product and growing your customer base, relegating other aspects like PR to the background. However, in today’s business environment, PR shouldn’t wait until you’re big enough. Having a PR strategy from the start helps maximise your startup’s exposure and complements your marketing efforts.