How to Initiate a Start-up Into Its Industry Using PR
Over all else, brand awareness is the key to success. While there are a number of nifty marketing tips and tricks that can be used to form these basic building blocks, it’s actually by mining through the coal that start-ups can find the real gold: their PR strategies.
Start-ups’ marketing teams (whether internal or external) must be aware of the five key PR steps to gain popularity and forge a clientele base: events, networking, speaking, seeded content and awards. But these strategies can be merged to create a flowing plan based purely on talking to people.
In a competitive marketing world, marketing teams need to kick themselves into gear and drive head-first into the whirlwind of PR in order to succeed.
Show Enthusiasm
As a seedling company hoping to blossom into a key player within an industry, start-ups have to get themselves in front of the right audience and leaders. We’d suggest Googling local expos, exhibitions and other industry-led events and attending them. Here, start-ups have the potential to grow their clientele, but more importantly, engage in conversation with industry leaders.
This means new business owners will need to push themselves into new situations with entirely new people, but the benefits of simply showing enthusiasm for the industry are tenfold. With the right support from a marketing team, your start-up could be a star attendee.
Make Friends Before Contacts
Hand-in-hand with event-attendance comes networking. Networking is an unpopular process so nerve-wracking to some that there have been countless seminars and events based solely on training for it.
Networking is, strangely enough, not actually about networking. It’s about making friends. Fellow industry-mates can offer unprecedented support and introduce start-ups to a bunch of incredible people with great opportunities.
The six degrees of separation is no lie, it’s a real phenomenon. By attending a number of networking events and frequently building a web of industry friendships, a start-up is bound to get seen by the right people with the right investment money – and friends share.
Listen to the Industry
As a small company, start-ups often assume their brand voice is too quiet to be heard above whichever market they’re situated in. On the contrary, its small voices making big waves that are the most appealing to investors and clients.
By attending expos and peacocking your industry knowledge among industry leaders, you’ll build the potential to become a budding spokesperson for industry-relevant issues. Just a few connections and conversations could get you a spot as a guest speaker – a prestigious role that puts your brand voice above many others.
Big Media Isn’t Everything
It’s tempting to go for big media outlets and publications when dishing out business news. Last month, we wrote a blog post on why it’s best to go for local media in a company’s early years.
Recognition Can Open Doors
Eventually, when the basic conversational steps have been completed and you’re well-initiated into the industry, marketing teams can get their hands dirty and dive into awards submissions.
Hopefully, maintaining a friendly, innovative, included and enthusiastic brand identity will have paid off, and the recognition from the industry will soon pile in. All-in-all, launching a start-up is all about PR and personality.
If you’re a start-up looking for some help with getting your brand out there, we offer expert marketing advice as well as Business Trajectory Consultancy, a practice that weaves your marketing and business plan into a tapestry worth hanging!
Get in touch today to see how we can help.