What Are The Best Tactics To Get PR For A Bootstrapped Startup?
Startups try to create their image to the public in the best possible way they can. After all, they need a good response from the public to make sure their offering is getting a good feedback. Public Relations (PR) is about establishing and maintaining the image of the company in the eyes of the public. PR is of particular importance for a startup as they have to make their audience aware of their offering and acquire as many customers as they can.
A Bootstrapped Startup is a startup where an entrepreneur uses very minimal capital investment and uses the company’s revenues to fund his/her business. This method can be beneficial as the owner is not compromising on his equity to raise funds. Also, he gets to make all the decisions as he is the sole proprietor. Though it's hard to turn quick profits, there is less liability of the owner (in case he was taking a loan), plus he is answerable only to himself.
For such start-ups, money is a limited resource and has to be used wisely. A bootstrapped startup will not outsource their PR work to an agency, as that can be expensive. However, focusing on PR is essential for any startup, from both customers and investors. To win over investors, you need to show them that your product or service is of consumer’s interest.
For any startup, it is essential to gain popularity quickly. An all round PR coverage is essential, and the following tips can help you get one:
Build connections with Journalists:
Scout down the journalists that write about your industry find out their contact information, connect with them and pitch your idea to them. Keep track of what they are writing about, what trends you can see in their writing and think about the way you can convey your communication to them. Whenever there is a significant milestone your company reaches, contact such journalists and persuade them to write about you. Getting featured by quality journalists and publications will increase your business’s credibility.
Networking:
Any startup needs to form a vast web of networks to succeed. Networking is a free but potent tool. The more people are talking about your company, the better for your business. Whenever you attend a conference, a meet-up, talk to fellow founders, influencers and spread awareness about your product. This way you can also understand what people in your industry are doing, and if you can use their products too. You may end up finding a product that, if coupled with your product, will be a better offering for the customers. The connections you make here can help in getting references and help down the road.
Amplification of Content:
Amplification is one of the key steps for any marketing initiative by the startup. It can be the launch of your product; a milestone reached etc. Your content can be amplified through media and social network websites for a higher reach. Once you build connections, use your network and communities on social media to share information about your company. Try to analyse the industry trends and also determine how to showcase your product as the star among the competitors. Create high-quality content and educate your audience on your own.
Use innovative media platforms:
Traditional media is helpful only to an extent, in the digital age, you need to focus on innovative online and offline platforms to convey information. Analyse your target audience, ask them which channels they use to gather information, and target those platforms. This can range from generating SEO rich content, to releasing a Video about your company. You can use free tools like Google Analytics and Google Adwords keyword planner to understand the kind of traffic that is coming to your website. This can help you place your content in the sources which have the maximum engagement. These are free tools that give you details about your website, such as traffic source, bounce rate, how long did a visitor stay on each page etc.
Address your feedback:
With the popularisation of Social Media, it has become easy to get instant feedback from your target audience. People tweet or post on facebook about you, and you can quickly gather the response your product is getting in public. Addressing these feedbacks, negative or positive is essential. You should respond to every post or comment you get so that your customers understand that you care about them and their needs. What is more important is that you try to change your offering for the customers. Of course, you cannot mould your product every time a customer has an issue, but you can tweak your offering if you receive the same kind of feedback from multiple sources.
Social Media Monitoring:
Look for the influential people in your industry, and start following their posts on Social Media websites. Search for media and start mapping their stories, tone, content and posts on digital platforms. This way you can choose which media you can use to convey what. After creating touch points, you can reach out to them by tweeting and dropping them emails.
Sample twitter list for monitoring content:
Remarketing:
Use remarking tools like Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn to target journalists mail ids &look alike. You can also target people living in the US with a designation of journalist, Editor in different niche & start beaming them relevant content.
Example of audience targeting via Facebook:
Above stated tactics are some natural but essential things a bootstrapped startup can do to gain good publicity.
