The original plan for this piece was to write about why PR is important for Tech Startups, but you can Google this yourself and come up with an abundance of reasons why PR does work.
Like the very best communicators, I’m not going to tell you why you need PR in your marketing mix, I’m going to try and help you come to that realisation yourself…
What I would like to do is spend the next 300 words busting a few myths about PR and tech startups. If one or all of these resonate with you, you are not alone; after speaking with over 50 founders, these stories, excuses, myths (call them what you will) keep emerging and it sucks! I’m here to show you that this is not reality…
#Myth 1 – Telling yourself that PR is a luxury that you can’t invest in because you don’t have the bandwidth, budget or belief
#Truth 1 – You don’t need a big budget to start getting your story out there. You just need to know a few fundamentals; like where your audience hang out, how to pitch properly and how to use Twitter to your advantage. 20 minutes a day checking #journorequests on Twitter would help you get your PR machine in motion and engage journalists most likely to write about you
#Myth 2 – Excusing the lack of PR in your business because you think that the type of PR you want and need is only available to tech unicorns or those who can pay for the privilege
#Truth 2 – It is true that most tech unicorns will have a bigger advertising budget than you, but we’re not talking advertising, we’re talking PR. In a lot of cases, you can get really great PR without breaking the bank. If you are not sure of the difference between paid, owned and earned advertising, it’s worth researching
#Myth 3 – I will do PR when I receive my first seed of VE funding to announce the partnership. AKA, when somebody else shows they believe in me, I’ll contact media with my story
#Truth 3 – By putting PR off until you find investment, you are narrowing your reach and the opportunity to build media connections with a wider audience who could support you and your mission, way before you pick up a funding application form. Building PR into your plan earlier can help you raise your profile with businesses, customers and investors alike – which can be a great advantage when pitching for funding
Written by Sarah Handley, a PR professional who connects amazing visionaries with aligned PR opportunities, so that they are able to leverage exposure to grow their businesses.
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