101 Guide to get started with public relations for your startup in 2021

Why your startup needs a public relations strategy:

I believe that having a PR strategy in place, in addition to acquiring funding, is equally important for start-ups. Good public relations can help investors, boost your backlink game, build brand awareness, and help you reach to the top of your game.

PR may assist the startup's target audience in projecting a positive image. The image is everything: a firm may be built or destroyed, and effective public relations can even influence sales. In a nutshell, public relations cannot accomplish the job alone, but it may help your firm significantly.

Public relations techniques usually includes but is not limited to following practices:

• Publishing press releases and blogs 
• Pitching positive news to journalists
• Coordinating with corporate executives for interviews and public appearances
• Getting media attention via television programs, news, etc.
• Organizing and carrying out media and general public outreach activities
• Making use of social media to advertise your startup and product 
• Handling any negative online responses‍

To get started with public relations for your startup, use this easy procedure:

• Make a list of the contact information for relevant journalists
• Scrap email of journalists using tools like Apollo.io, Hunter.io, etc.
• Connect and network with Journalists
• Write catchy email pitches
• Maintain a record of your email pitches
• Improve and iterate your pitches based on open and response rates
• Establish relationship with the journalists
• Give your website an overhaul to ace the game further
• Your landing page should be flawless
  

Most businesses eventually realize that handling their own public relations saves them a lot of money, time, and worry, as well as getting better articles written about them. In reality, corporate public relations is similar to creating consumer connections; it is critical work that needs time and effort but has a high return on investment.

You can also use online tools if you have a huge PR budget. Find more about Top PR Tools To Boost Your Startup In 2021   

Ways to handle public relations for your startup:

Great websites win everything:

House cleaning should always be the initial part of any effective campaign. Before attempting to put yourself out there, ensure that you are prepared to present the finest version of yourself.

The design and messaging of your own website and social media channels must be spot on. There will be no sloppy-looking websites or blogs that appear like they were thrown together in a high school computing class.

Content marketing reigns supreme:

In general, companies should prioritize getting a consistent flow of material out on their "owned" channels before focusing on external media. A company's owned channels include its website, blog, social media channels, and any secondary content channels such as Medium, LinkedIn, and so on.

It is critical to go beyond merely producing stories about your startup’s goods. Instead, consider other aspects of its path. This might be more intriguing, such as their staff, founder story, large goal or ideals, or business culture.

Create SEO-friendly content.

If your startup wants to optimize the efficacy of your content strategy, it is also a good idea to do an SEO audit early on in the process. They may also assess the strength of your SEO rankings in comparison to those of your competitors. This will enable you to create a good SEO strategy from the outset. They can profit afterwards by obtaining high-quality backlinks from external "earned" media results.

Startups like yours will be able to produce SEO-focused content by analyzing the keywords, amount of backlinks, and referring domains of their five biggest rivals. This will improve your search engine ranking over time.

Spread a word about yourself 

Showcasing your product on discovery platforms like ProductHunt, Gartner or StartupRanking.com is an excellent method to expose yourself to the IT world. If entrepreneurs have a fantastic product, make comments and connect with people on the site by answering questions, and get your communities on board to maximize upvotes, you will have a good chance of being the site's #1 that day.

Choose your media outlets based on your target audience.

Rather than focusing on the greatest names, consider which channels would best help you reach your target consumers. Start pitching to industry-specific magazines as one possibility.

Another approach is to begin connecting with fresh, medium-sized regional blogs and news sites. These magazines may not have the same worldwide reach as major names such as TechCrunch. However, they frequently have readerships in the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, every month.

Make editors your best friends.

It is critical to cultivate positive connections with editors at these magazines. These journalists are expected to grow in the future. If your firm does not have any especially eye-catching announcements about major events such as product launches, collaborations, or financing rounds to publish, they may want to try contributing thought leadership content.

These non-promotional articles tend to focus on providing the reader with takeaways in the form of insights. Rather than being overly promotional, being non-commercial is an excellent strategy to boost exposure and SEO results.

Received media attention

Putting this information in front of visitors is an excellent approach to boost your brand’s  trust and reputation. It also increases the likelihood of organic coverage. The first result generates natural media publicity. The more your firm's digital presence grows over time, particularly through organic external "earned" publicity, the more likely it is that other journalists' interests will be piqued when they come across your business online.

Demonstrate that you are industry specialists

Begin conversations with high-profile publications. Attending industry events is one of the greatest methods to meet writers from prominent magazines. You won't have to compete with thousands of other pitches in their email inbox this way.

These events bring together all of the important actors in the startup ecosystem, from media to startup groups to possible startup partners to VCs and angel investors, and can be a goldmine of contacts.

Create your own events

Workshops, round-table talks with other industry leaders, hackathons, and customer appreciation events can all be hosted by startups. These are excellent opportunities not just to connect with an existing community, but also to meet prospective new consumers and workers. Startups should make sure to invite journalists from both local and international newspapers to the event. They should guarantee one-on-one interviews with important guests.

It is also time for startups to begin actively engaging with top-tier media outlets. This includes not just issuing press releases on important corporate achievements and announcements, but also providing thought leadership pieces and commentary on industry and news events.

Provide excellent material rather than just flashy headlines.

It is always preferable to ‘give more than you take' while attempting to attract the attention of the world's major media. This includes providing media with data, white papers, interviews, and insights. Rather than delivering a proposal and expecting them to cover your most recent product launch, this can assist public relations specialists in developing an intriguing narrative.

Contact particular journalists with experience in your industry

Don't use the "spray and pray" approach of contacting all of the important journalists from target publications. Rather, it is critical that you take the time to identify journalists who have previously covered your industry. But keep in mind that while dealing with the media, customization is essential. Demonstrate to journalists that they were picked for a certain theme or article based on their past work.

To wrap it up,

If your startup has a really outstanding piece of technology or a compelling corporate background, it is not impossible for you to hit the home run sooner. However, it is critical to control expectations and plan for the future wisely. As a result, you will be able to expand your digital presence and reputation over time. 

Startups can then use public relations techniques to continually fulfil corporate objectives. The goal is to engage as many diverse audiences as possible in a consistent discourse. By keeping their community and major media players informed about the growth of a company and its implications on the larger industry as a whole, the odds of acing the game rise tremendously.