A new year is coming and there is a new enthusiasm for business growth and prosperity. In contrast to 2020, an uncertain year, I have found business leaders and their employees with a fresh sense of optimism.
The news cycles were covered by Covid-19 for the past year. Many brands stopped pitching brand-specific stories in the PR spot because they respected our country and avoided companies receiving negative blows. Instead, many brands turned to think, with a focus on how their founders helped their teams to address their challenges.
As I led a PR company specializing in startups, I have seen specifically that the start-up space has been heavily affected as many companies have been trying to raise funds. Nearly a year later, though, most people have adapted to Covid-19 and the protocols have been put in place, and it is more hopeful for investors to reinvest in new firms.
Along with capital raising, I believe the establishment of a PR strategy is equally important for start-ups. Good PR can help investors, boost backlinks, increase awareness of the brand, and support companies to the ‘first of their kind.’
Why PR matters to a new company
PR can help the target audience project a favorable image. The image is all; it can make or break a company and even be a decisive factor in sales.
However, the media coverage you need for household naming overnight cannot be achieved. It takes time to lay the foundation in the media. Please note whether you decide to create or recruit an in-house PR team:
- Coherence is crucial: Press coverage requires consistency and additional time is not available when trying to grow a company. The time limits and time constraints they work under can make it difficult to nail down journalists. PR teams must push for a story and keep up with the follow-up.
- PR is not a sprint, but a marathon: It is also valid for PR to say, “life is a marathon, not a sprint.” Your PR team develops long-term strategies, and patience is essential. PR campaigns must be consistent in order to be effective. And it takes time to build those relations with the media. The goal is to ensure that the name of your business is constantly published in the press and online. The more a target audience hears in a credible publication about a company or brand, the more it is confident.
How to make your PR investment a high return
It can be difficult to control certain aspects of your business, whether large or small. To date, you as the founder had no task off-limits. But to see growth, people in their field must be allowed to take control. In order to see growth. And, while your PR team is working their magic, a piece of simple but efficient advice is a good idea to follow:
- Good to communicate: It is important that you are not only in close relationships with your PR team but also that you get into the inner circle. They are the closest you can take your company to the next level next to your leadership team.
- Understand how it works if you work with a company: It is good to understand how they work when interviewing PR firms because not all work together. Agreements generally run from six months to a year, because it takes time to get large press hits. PR is a process and it is important for your overall success to know how it works from the beginning and trust in it.
- Just be ready: It’s difficult to run a company and it’s even more demanding to get you down. Despite the fact that you are often pulled in several directions daily, your PR team still has to be accessible. Note that journalists work on deadlines whether this involves supplying a story or even interviews with you. That is why you need PR now.
- Prioritize PR: PR is often the last part of the plan of a company but should be one of the first in fact. In my experience as CEO of a PR company, the more time you have to create the materials necessary to pitch media outlets, the earlier a company can join.
My suggestion to founders planning to work with a PR company is to research and interview your company in advance. So, when you are prepared to bring your team on board, it will be known to you and your company’s mission, you will have begun to establish a relationship and work together to bring your company to the next level.
