There is a mad rush by startups around the world to be the next “big thing”. In July 2014, the Entrepreneur magazine reported that the US, Europe and China were home to over 30 startups valued at $1 billion or more. The statistics also indicates 100 million startups are established every year across the globe. Startups need effective promotion to grow, and this is where public relations and branding comes in. The push to generate positive PR often involves the following objectives:
• Creating public awareness
• Seeking funds to grow the business
• Producing trial products and services
• Attracting customers and top talents
• Carving a market niche
Serious entrepreneurs understand the importance of PR and why people buy brands and not products. According to Quicksprout, here are strategies that can help a startups increase brand exposure:
1. Differentiate between PR and marketing
The first step is separating your PR strategy and marketing efforts. Unlike marketing, which focuses on increasing sales, one-way communication and short term activities, public relations is much broader. The latter encompasses image building, long term activities and targets greater audience. An effective PR strategy should focus on improving business reputation and ultimately growing revenue. These goals can be achieved by encouraging customer reviews; customer testimonials and leveraging social proof.
2. Focus on the different types of media
To achieve a big impact with your media strategy, pay attention to all three media constituents, the earned, owned and paid media. Owned media are pieces of contents a company owns and controls. The company can choose when and where to share this content. For instance; social media content, blog posts and website copy.
Paid media can also be used to enhance a startup’s visibility. Here, you can consider TV advertisements, PPC campaigns, the role of influencers and social media ads. Earned media are often out of the startup’s control. You can make the earned media work for you by enhancing the quality of your products and making the right moves to promote your brand.
3. Familiarize yourself with inbound business promotion strategies
Deploying effective inbound marketing strategy will help you reach out to your audience. The strategy usually focuses on areas content marketing, SEO, social media and branding. Since inbound marketing targets customers, you can achieve a better outcome by including the media. A good example is making a charitable contribution to the community. The earned media can pick the story and spread positive word about your brand.
4. Measure your PR progress
There are a number of tools designed to track brand mentions. By carefully sifting through what people say about your brand, you can pick positive sentiments and work out ways to consolidate the gains. The other metrics for measuring PR progress include web traffic and the number of new customers. Businesses can co-opt influencers in this strategy.
Local PR solutions provider
The PR manager is tasked with overseeing the implementation of a company’s public relations and branding strategy. A good manager must have good writing and communication skills. Behrman is a New York based PR agency that provides market specific, public relations solutions. When you visit company President and Founder Nancy at Behrman, you will find a team experienced in public relations and brand exposure. Behrmanpr works closely with media firms, influencers and retailers and to realize PR goals and implement branding strategies.
