How to strategize and plan a result-oriented PR Strategy?
PR can be a powerful tool for startups to gain visibility, build trust, and ultimately drive growth. It can help to create a positive public image and open up opportunities for further growth.
PR can be a great way to get the word out about your startup and create a positive impression. It can also help you to reach new audiences and build relationships with potential customers, partners, and investors.
PR is important for startups because it helps to create brand awareness, build relationships with potential customers and partners, and establish credibility in the marketplace. It can also help to increase visibility, drive traffic to the website, and generate leads.
The main channels of PR include public relations campaigns, media relations, influencer marketing, content marketing, webinars, email campaigns, social media engagement and more.
What should a founder do?
A founder should focus on building relationships with journalists, bloggers, and influencers in their industry. They should also create a press and blog page on their website and regularly update it with newsworthy content. Additionally, they should leverage social media to reach out to potential customers and share their story. Finally, they should participate in online forums, events and conduct events to increase their visibility.
Examples of successful PR campaign
One example of a successful PR strategy in India was when the Tata Group launched its 'More Than Cars' campaign. This campaign focused on highlighting the company's commitment to social responsibility and sustainability initiatives, which helped to improve their brand image and reputation.
Another example is the PR strategy used by Paytm. They used a combination of traditional and digital media to reach their target audience. They started by using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to create awareness about their product and services. They also partnered with local influencers and bloggers to spread the word about their product. Additionally, they held offline events in various cities across India to engage with their customers directly. This combination of traditional and digital methods helped them generate a lot of buzz around their brand and ultimately resulted in increased sales and wider customer reach.
PR strategy for Early stage and Growth Stage startups?
An example of a successful PR strategy for an early stage startup in India would be to focus on building relationships with local media outlets or industry-specific media outlets, influencers, and bloggers. This can help create awareness of the company and its products or services. As the startup grows and matures, it can then focus on larger media outlets and influencers to reach a wider audience. Additionally, they may also want to consider creating content that is shareable across social media platforms or digital channels to further increase awareness.
Measuring ROI or Impact of PR
Measuring the return on investment (ROI) of public relations (PR) initiatives can be difficult, as it can be hard to quantify the impact of a PR campaign. Generally, the best way to measure ROI is to track the number of leads generated, sales conversions, and brand awareness that can be attributed to the PR campaign. Additionally, surveys and customer feedback can also be used to measure the success of a PR initiative.
One is to track the number of media mentions, website visits, and social media interactions that have resulted from the PR efforts. Another way is to measure the number of leads or sales generated from the PR campaign. Finally, surveys and focus groups can be used to measure customer sentiment before and after a PR campaign to gauge its effectiveness.
Typical Investments on PR
This depends on the type of PR initiatives being done and the size of the startup. Generally, for early stage startups, a low cost PR initiative would cost between $500-$2,000, while for growth stage startups it could range from $2,000-$10,000.
Stage for effective PR strategy
It depends on the goals of the company, but typically, it’s best to start PR initiatives when a company has some traction and is looking to expand its reach. If a company is launching a new product or service, that’s also a great time to start thinking about PR.
Consider these three things for a moment:
Do you want to make your sales process easier?
Do you want to ‘stick it’ to some of your competitors because you know that your product or service is better than what is currently on offer?
Do you want to improve your marketing content, your website lead generation and your SEO performance?
If the answer is ‘Yes’ to all of the above, then it’s time to consider engaging in PR.
Industries and Sectors - Where PR works and where doesn’t
PR initiatives typically don't work for industries that are highly regulated, such as banking and finance. Additionally, industries with a negative public image, such as oil and gas, may not benefit from PR initiatives.
Public relations initiatives can be effective in any industry. However, some of the most successful PR initiatives are seen in the entertainment, technology, fashion, and hospitality industries.
Decision Framework to choose relevant PR Partner
When you’re searching and deciding upon a PR partner, consider these questions as part of your decision making process….
How are you going to measure the success/ impact of your campaign and over what time frame?
What analytics tools are you using to track outcomes? (Tip - if a potential PR partner answers “None”, then this is a red flag)
Can the PR partner provide examples of their previous work relevant to your business or industry? (Ideally within the last 12 months.)
Founder’s Opinion on effective PR Strategy
“ I followed this strategy and got inbound request from couple of influencers -
Build a great narrative
pen down a blog (yourself, make sure you add numbers to it)
Imagine you're a Journalist - what's so interesting in this story? (Again make some iterations)
Now shoot it out to (no more than 4 good journalists) - if one of them picks it, you won
if none picks it -> Tweet a long thread -> with a link to the blog (if it's interesting, some journo will reach out to you)” -- 2x Founder, 1000 Founders Community
“I got my startup published into 30 different publications at zero cost (when it was a coliving operator, now it is a car parking marketplace).
made a list of journalists who were writing sector specific content.
added links to their socials and emails gathered from all kinds of sources.
wrote a different story angle. Industry update, founder stories, industry commentary on happening, etc.
started sending them out on all channels to journalists. Every day I would wake up and would send it to 2 journalists across all channels.
kept sharing updates with them as we grew.
kept the socials of the company and founders up to days in case they do their research.
kept the user testimonials in video format on socials platforms and then shared them with journalists .
It took 3 months of effort to get first publication but after that it got easier and easier.
We started getting inbound calls for giving comments when there was something happening in the industry.
Even CNBC covered us in the young turks segment in 2018-19.
In the end, it's all about consistency and focus.” -- Pro Founder, 1000 Founders Community
In summary, Here is a list of startup challenges that effective PR strategy can provide a solution to :
Securing funding or investment
Attracting the best talent
Growing a user or customer base
Scaling the business across borders and reaching new target audiences
Generating trials of its products or services
Educating the public about a new product, service or idea
Staking out its place amongst the competition
Becoming a thought leader and sticking out from your competition
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