PR Agency for Startups

The right PR agency is like a guide you need at the beginning of every journey. And this journey for a startup starts even before entering the market. It’s not difficult to understand what’s going on in the mind of a business or a tech startup owner. The first concern, usually, is the overwhelming desire to bring their vision to life. It’s a specific mix of excitement about making a meaningful impact and anxiety about not repeating age-old mistakes.

Some people believe that all publicity is good publicity, but we can’t agree, seeing how poor responses and failed PR campaigns of Bud Light, Target, and others’ 2023 branding messages have affected already established companies and their reputations. These examples prove that businesses and startups specifically need professional PR agencies and their PR services to embody their ideas successfully.

Now, the marker is quite saturated. We’re talking about PR agencies, of course. According to Statista, in the category of large ad markets, the PR market is still one of the leading sectors and is expected to reach $133.82 billion by the end of 2027. This means that you’ll encounter many PR agencies claiming to be the best, unique, and exceptional.

The sheer number of offers is enough to make a person feel overwhelmed, let alone make a decision. We created this article to help you find a PR firm for startups that can help you tell your brand’s story and connect with your target audience.

Is Hiring a Startup PR Agency Necessary?

Let’s answer one of the most asked questions: Is it necessary to hire a PR firm for startups? Some company owners decide that they can conduct media relations and reputation management and create communications strategy on their own. Now, there’s nothing wrong with working without a PR agency for startup companies; however, a good PR agency will be able to deliver more than social media marketing or generate media coverage – they’ll be able to tell your story to create a deep connection with your audience.

If you Google the question, “Should I work with a PR agency for startups,” you’ll find various responses. Granted, most of them agree that you should collaborate with PR agencies, but it’s interesting to observe the answers that tell you that it’s not necessary but reasonable.

To put it simply, you’re selling a product or a service. You need customers who know what you’re doing and are interested in buying your offers. To do this, a Startup PR agency can seek leads, shape your communications strategy, work on your reputation management, and tell your story in mainstream media.

Doing this job in-house is plausible, but it’s more recommended for startups to work with a public relations agency.

How Can PR and Media Relations Help Startups?

Getting media placements when you have a new company and brand is challenging. You have to start from a blank page, build up the strategy, draft corporate communications, and focus on both short- and long-term reputation management.

Often, tech startups address PR agencies since they have limited resources and networking scope. A PR firm will be able to draft a strategy, address the challenges of entering new markets, and build up the brand from scratch.

Why public relations, though?

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, 65% of consumers trust earned media more than other forms of advertising (any form of marketing). This isn’t to say that marketing is less beneficial; we’re simply underlying the essential nature of building relationships with audiences through public relations.

Here are some of the most note-worthy benefits of public relations for startups:

• Brand awareness: Public relations will help your startup stand out and build trust within the customer network that hasn’t heard of your company yet
• Attracting investors: A good PR agency for startups will work hard to highlight your business potential and attract not only consumer attention but also venture capitalists ready to invest in your idea
• Differentiation from competitors: Since the market is full of competing ideas and startups, it’s essential to bring in public relations and highlight your company’s unique aspects
• Attracting talent: Remember that your target audience isn’t only the consumer but potential talent as well. Positive media coverage will reach these people and guarantee you have a large talent pool for your future growth
• Attracting collaborations: Finding business partners who see the value of your ideas is essential for business growth. A public relations agency can help you build strong relationships with such partners
• Cultural relevance: Public relations can help your company stay culturally relevant during specific events, trends, and societal issues

These benefits show how essential it is to collaborate with a public relations agency that has experience working with startups.

Successful PR efforts by famous companies: A case study

Some startups and ideas fade away without seeing the light of the day. It’s an unfortunate fact, but we’ve seen it more than necessary to suggest that working with a public relations firm to build corporate communications and improve established relationships is essential.

We believe that success stories and examples drive change. That’s why we prepared some of the most successful public relations campaigns of famous technology companies.

Zoom

Before the pandemic, before the 2020s, and before we all started working remotely, Zoom was just a startup. It was an idea promising the improvement of digital communications and remote work. We don’t have any solid ground to suggest that Zoom wouldn’t have seen success without these developments, but an unexpected pandemic in 2019 surged the demand for the program. Zoom’s team and public relations agency took advantage of this situation and worked on their media relations.

In their PR campaigns, they started addressing security concerns openly. This included educational content and explanatory videos, guiding users to the safe use of the program. They saw an unprecedented 383% increase in value in January 2020, and as Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom, reported, the growth is continuing, and remote work is here to stay.

Dropbox

We’re sure you’ve heard of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). It’s a strong marketing technique that’s often used in public relations to create a fuss around a new product and sales offers. Dropbox’s public relations team used this strategy flawlessly when launching an exclusive invite-only beta version of the product.

Their PR services also included a “word-of-mouth” promotion method and increased users by 60%. Yes, Dropbox was already an established company, but what it offered to its audience was new and a bit challenging to adapt to.

To help you understand how to use these public relations lessons for your company, we have prepared a little guide on PR strategy creation. You can find these insights from a professional PR firm below.

How to Create Your Comprehensive PR Strategy

Taking on public relations responsibilities alone as a company founder or a single team member wouldn’t be reasonable. That’s because PR has many nuances that need a professional approach. We recommend hiring a PR person or an experienced PR agency that’ll be able to connect you with relevant media outlets, suitable journalists, and publications.

While you’re researching professional PR services for your startup, we’ll guide you through the strategy creation process that we use in our company and can help you:

• Build meaningful relationships with your audience
• Learn what challenges your company solves
• Create engaging and meaningful content
• Use social outlets to do your part in public relations
• Find suitable publications and journalists and form relationships
• Pitch your idea to journalists and publications

Build meaningful relationships with your audience

This may seem like an impossible task, but we’re not suggesting you talk to every single one of your potential customers. You must learn more about them and know what exactly they’re looking for in your product to be able to speak their language.

The more you know about people who are going to buy your product, the better you can market it and build long-lasting relationships. You must find out what language they speak (the phrases they use), where they mostly “hang out,” and what knowledge they seek.

Here’s how to do audience research:

• Market research: Use tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms to ask questions and gather information directly from your potential consumers
• Customer data: CRM can help you track and analyze customer feedback
• Social media platforms: You can analyze your audience’s behavior on social media with tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social to learn about their sentiments
• Buyer personas: This includes developing a detailed description of your potential, generic buyer
• Competitor analysis: Study your competitors to see what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong

Learn what challenges your company solves

If you want a golden rule to promote your brand and product, remember this phrase: ” Features tell, and benefits sell.”

It’s true. You can describe your product features, experiment with words, and try different sentences, but without promoting its benefits, you won’t be able to achieve the maximum potential of your idea. That’s why it’s essential to understand the challenges your product or service solves for your audience.

Having this information can help you create content and publications that are relevant to your audience. You might know what your product is and how it’s made, but you’re not always the target consumer of your product, so you need to get into your audience’s head.

Here’s a list of questions that’ll help you identify challenges that your product solves:

• What challenges and pain points your customers have (after audience research)
• Are there recurring issues that your customers experience and can’t solve?
• What are the primary needs of your customers, and how does your product align with them?
• Are there any solutions that address your audience’s challenges?
• How and why do they fall short in addressing the issues thoroughly?
• What makes your product different from these solutions?
• What unique benefit does your product provide?
• Are there any gaps in the market today that your product can fill?
• How accessible is your product?
• How does your product improve user experience?

Create engaging and meaningful content

A successful PR strategy contains comprehensive content marketing efforts, engaging copy, and storytelling elements. Here are some examples of content you can create for a successful strategy:

• Press releases: This content includes announcements about new products, services, company awards, etc. Apple is an excellent example of a successful press release strategy
• Blog posts: Part of PR is becoming a thought leader in your industry. Blog posts can help you share your insights by writing about trends and developments in your industry
• Case studies: If you’re just starting out, you might not have a lot of case studies, but showcasing how your product helped a customer highlights your problem-solving capabilities
• eBooks and infographics: Create eBooks and content with visual elements to showcase your expert advice on relevant topics
• Videos and podcasts: Visual elements are 60,000 times easier to digest (by our brains). Demonstrate how your product works and helps customers, share your expertise, and analyze industry happenings

Find suitable publications and journalists and form relationships

Getting noticed isn’t easy. It takes time, effort, and means to reach out to journalists and publications. This doesn’t mean you have to send out letters to every journalist out there; it just means you have to find the best, most suitable professionals to help you get media relationships.

Start by researching industry-relevant journalists, YouTubers, podcasts, and publications. Identifying what your audience watches and reads will help you create personas.

Once you have your list of suitable journalists, it’s time to build relationships and start networking. Yes, you can send cold emails and work on your sales pitch to interest them, but building a large network in your industry will help you get noticed.

Follow the journalists and publications on social media, engage with their content, share your insights, ask for feedback, etc. Start doing this before you launch your product so when it’s ready, you’ll already have a pool of people who can help you achieve your PR goals.

Craft personalized messages for each persona, get the timing right, and experiment with your communication strategies.

Use social outlets to do your part in public relations

Last but not least, besides building your company’s brand, you should work on your brand to do your part in PR. Yes, you can find a professional PR firm and a PR person who’ll write, edit, and publish engaging content to improve your business’s visibility, but you can do some work, too.

Use the advice we provided above and start creating your personal brand. Use social outlets and provide your audience with industry insights, advice, expertise, and other engaging content.

This will boost your visibility, which is automatically connected with your visibility and your business.

5 Must-Follow PR Trends in 2024

As a PR firm, we often use contemporary trends when working with our clients. We also love to dig around in the trend forecastings, but that’s a subject for another article. This time, we want to explore some of the trendy approaches startups are using to boost their visibility.

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing isn’t a new concept today, but years ago, it seemed like a luxurious service – something out of the ordinary that only established brands could afford. Of course, today, influencer marketing is just another way to boost brand visibility.

Recently, technology companies started collaborating with micro-influencers with fewer subscribers/followers but highly engaged and niche audiences. Such an approach can help your company acquire long-term partnerships rather than one-off campaigns.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social activism

CSR and social activism aren’t new to PR trends either. Social activism usually establishes good relationships between businesses and their audiences. We recommend looking into this trend and incorporating it into your strategy to attract more socially aware consumers.

Short-form content

Experts say that humans have average attention span of 8.25 seconds. This means that your audience members will get distracted when interacting with your content after 8.25 seconds if they’re not engaged enough. In short, to keep your audience engaged, you need to generate short-form content, particularly videos.

How to Find the Right PR Agency for Startups?

We created this guide to help you pave the way to increased company visibility and better PR practices. However, we still recommend working with a professional PR firm. It doesn’t mean you have to throw this guide away; it’s a simple outline of your PR journey.

PR is time-consuming and requires specific knowledge of tools, trends, and strategies. A PR person or a PR firm can help you guide through the product launch and crises. When asked, 72% of PR professionals stated that politics makes their jobs harder. It might not be a conventional way to persuade you to hire a PR professional, but consider that the right PR agencies might understand the political, societal, and environmental landscape better. Outsourcing these services can be beneficial for your startup.

How Can Glorium Marketing Help You With Strategic Communications

We see wonderful ideas form, evolve, and, unfortunately, fade away due to unsuccessful PR efforts. This is easily avoidable with a professional PR agency like Glorium Marketing. Our motivation is fueled by your success and your company visibility.

You can safely concentrate on core business processes while our team or professional growth marketers, PR professionals, analytics, and project managers work on your brand visibility.

Want to learn more about our approaches? Contact us today and book your 30-minute free consultation with our PR experts. We’ll ask you questions to learn more about your product and give you an approximate scope of the project.