How to start with the PR Strategy: A beginner's step-by-step guide for startups

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What is Public Relations?

Public relations is the art of creating favourable public opinion for one's company, its product or service through the spoken or printed word, through actions or through visible symbols (Carl Hundhausen, 1937).

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This definition is almost 100 years old, but it is still very accurate. In other words, PR is not just text publications in magazine, it can also be in forms of broadcast, tv, or podcast.  

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What Public Relations can and cannot do?

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PR is the basis for the growth of your company:

• It can raise brand awareness
• It can build trust
• It can shape the brand image

PR is NOT Marketing:

• It is unpaid, so it does not guarantee a publication
• It does not necessarily generate leads
• It does not increase the conversion rate immediately, only long-term

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How to start with Public Relations?

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 We have prepared a short checklist for youto have them ready BEFORE your reach out to journalists.

·     Press Kit (Logo, Press photos of the Spokespeople,Boilerplate)

Simply put, press kit is just an accumulation of your company’s keyinformation.

For this, you need professional Press photos of a spokesperson (e.g.CEO, CTO, etc.), NOT a selfie.

Lastly, a Boilerplate is a short description of your company in 3-4 sentences. It should include the company’s name, when and who founded it, and what is the company doing.

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 ·     Website and Social Media presence

When you approach the journalists via email with a link to your websiteor social media, the first thing they will do is to click on the link or google your company. Therefore, you really need to be visible.

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 ·     Press section on your website including Press contact information

Including name, phone number, and email address always makes it more associating when reaching out to the journalists.

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In addition to those, PR Strategy is definitely needed when you attend events or approach investors.

“A company without a story is a company without a strategy.” – Ben Horowitz

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Here are some questions you should ask and have the answers prepared before reaching out.

·        Who are you and What is your story?

·        What messages do you want to send out?

·        What are your USPs?

·        Who are your competitors?

·        Who is your target audience and What types of media do you want to address?

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One thing you need to shape your PR Strategy, or your story is The Circle of Why.

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Press Release: Dos and Don’ts?

·        Only use a press release when you really have something to announce!

·        How to write it: Factual and Neutral. No sales pitch (use a news article as a template)

·        Structure: headline, (bullets/teaser), daze, first paragraph, more paragraphs, (quote),boilerplate, press contact (name, phone, email), max. 1.5 page

·        Timing: Monday – Friday, best is Tuesday - Thursday, best before noon (11AM)

·        Distribution list: only relevant target media

·        Work with an embargo

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Media Outreach: Dos and Don’ts?

·        Be friendly and respectful ! Even if they don’t answer right away

·        Do your research: Which topics does the journalist usually cover, What is she/he interested in? Is she/he event the right contact to address with your topic?

·        Think like a journalist: make the story relevant, timely and different

·        Don’t send out generic emails with typos: address the journalist with an individually tailored topic

·        Think ahead: the goal is to build long-term relationships with journalists

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Last tip

•        Don’t hire a PR agency until you can afford a good one

•        Don’t rely on PR for everything

•        Don’t let the intern handle your PR strategy

•        Don’t make journalists sign NDAs

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