Every startup that wants to grow will think for a moment to launch a press relations campaign. And these campaigns can carry the business in key moments. For example, we recommend running campaigns before raising funds to improve media coverage, or before looking for customers to reassure those targets.

Here are some tips for organizing your press relations strategy serenely:

Target the message and goals of your press campaign: what do you mean

A council initially a bit theoretical but useful because it is the foundation of the identity of the startup. Each startupper must quickly question himself about the ultimate goal of his project. It is important to differentiate quickly enough to be able to exist. Once you have established the key values ​​ of what you propose, write it as short as possible, in a few words. This concision makes it possible to focus on what is really important, really differentiating at home.

Then, this general message will be reworked, argued and diluted according to the target audience. A fashion startup will not communicate in the same way if it talks to a user, a private equity investor or a potential B-to-B partner. Indeed, the angle of the message . To find the angle, just ask yourself what is the purpose of the press campaign that is being put in place, otherwise the message will be vague and ineffective. Here are some goals:

  • Increase the number of qualified visitors to the site
  • Attract new customers
  • Strengthen brand awareness
  • Become the top of mind of future customers

Once you have set the goals, the message can be built. What is the aspect we want people to remember? Why should every prospect be interested in your product? What are the main selling points?

Work on your story telling: what’s your story?

Story telling is crucial! You have to work it, you have to pamper it, you have to optimize it! How to tell a story counts as much as the story itself. And the ST has the power to connect you emotionally with the journalist, who will transcribe this emotion to his readers. So you can use the story telling and emotional connection created with the reporter to influence your final targets.

Do not hesitate to wait for the right moment to communicate. Good news for the company such as a fundraiser, the hiring of a new CTO, a milestone passed, a goal achieved will be very good times to approach the journalists with a little interesting story.

In any case, always send personalized content to journalists. If two journalists decide to publish the story you sent them, it will be a copy of Google. The journalists will be very upset and you will blacklist.

Think like a journalist: adapt to your interlocutor

The expectation that you have of your press relations campaign is very different from that of the journalist. But they come together on one point: the goal is that the content please the reader and that it is shared to the maximum. You want your brand to be known, so make the content of the article interesting: the journalist will publish your press release and readers will love to read it!
Some journalists receive up to 100 pitches a day. To interest the journalist and his audience, you must create content that is attractive to reading, something new.

  • First, incorporate the type of journalist’s favorite article: Does he tend to interview startuppers, or magazines of technological products etc …
  • Then, give your article an air of novelty, news: everyone wants “never seen before”
  • Finally, you must try to find an original angle with, if possible, an ounce of mystery in the title!

To go further, you can also look at what are the most popular articles of the journalist’s audience. If you propose a relatively similar article, the journalist who knows his statistics will appreciate to try to remake the buzz! 😉

Finally, get ready for a regular review of your social profiles. If you have already had articles or had been mentioned, make it appear on your site, it will reassure the journalist who will see that other journalists are interested in the project. The ability to submit articles on Startuppers Club is made for that! The editor is interested in many topics and publishes on your startups even when they are not very well known. It may be a good practice to share the articles that will attract others!

Write a mini demo article

Here are some concrete tips for presenting your content as best as possible:

  • Start with a hyper-catchy title with a verb that drives you to action
  • Continue with an executive summary in 4 or 5 bullet points to quickly explain to the journalist the content of the message
  • Write an article, even slightly synthetic, that will allow to give the information you want to see published (not forgetting to name the sources if necessary.
  • Link to your site so it’s natural to be interested in your project! And then icing on the cake, if you can have a landing page built for journalists, with all the info he might need a direct contact from someone nice to you. So here you have already seduced a good little pack of journalists!
  • Always offer an ORIGINAL photo – Not your logo, not the photo you have already shot to 50 journalists, not the photo that is already on your site etc … Because a content with a photo or two, it’s so much cool … Some media are quite modern now (this is the case of the Startuppers Club !!) and even propose to put a video instead of the image. Do not hesitate, but do it well! Do not be rude or you’ll go for sogouins.

Oh yes, and avoid the technical jargon that nobody understands! And make short sentences to make it easy to read!

Sign up for the day with the jounalists

Try to form long-term relationships with reporters and establish a relationship of trust that will last. Some ideas for getting closer to journalists:
– Interact with them on social media, commenting on their articles
– Share their articles: it’s about giving and it shows that their content is useful
– Become friends with them, they are very cool people! 

Keep in touch even when you do not have items to place. It is important to introduce yourself as a person, not just as a brand booster. Personal relationships take time to develop but can be very effective in the long term.

If you do not have any journalists yet, feel free to > submit an article to the editor from Startuppers Club . We will be happy to make your voice heard!

5 things you can not do not want to mess up your PR campaign

We talked a lot about what to do, but there are also things not to do under penalty of being blacklisted:
– make spelling mistakes in his press release: forbidden!
– put a completely banal title: we will forget you immediately!
– overselling your product: bad taste!
– send a communiqué too long: no one will read!
– send press releases every day or harass journalists
– provide with the same non-personalized press release to all the journalists of the place: attention spoiler: the specialized journalists know each other and speak !!

Finally, do not forget to measure the return on investment of this press relationship campaign. Finally, other ways of communicating are possible, such as the marketing influence or more daring marketing actions.