A regular presence in the media is important to your company’s growth in several ways. You can gain new users, potential investors, and partners, as well as brand recognition and trust. Here are some great ways to generate coverage, regardless of your news.
Your startup might do a big announcement in the media from time to time, such as a major funding round, but this type of news doesn’t come around so often. So how do you keep a regular footprint in the media when you have nothing to announce? Well, there are multiple ways to appear in the press besides a press release, including:
- Pitching your company’s founding story
- Giving your opinion about trends in your industry
- Using the current news cycles in your industry to provide commentary and create a voice for yourself and your business
Build your profile using the history of your company and its founders
The press is fond of beautiful stories and inspiring journeys. Maybe the founder of your startup has an unusual career path, or he or she came up with the idea for their company while facing a hurdle and thinking: there should be a way easier way to tackle this, I’m going to build an app, platform, product to solve this! That makes for a great story!
Pitch your company founding story to reporters who cover your sector of activity, or who have already written profile pieces of other startups or startup founders. It is a great way to establish your credibility and build a public profile all while indirectly pitching your product, the problem you are solving, and your vision as a founder.
Don’t wait till you are famous to share your opinion!
Write an opinion piece sooner rather than later. As a disrupter in your industry, you are working on the front line of problems that incumbents can’t or haven’t solved. Your point of view on the industry is most likely novel and interesting!
Expressing your opinion on your line of business is a very good way to gain visibility with your key audiences, and you can sustainably do this by writing an opinion piece. A great op-ed will position you as an expert in your field and build trust with your potential investors or clients.
One additional advantage of an op-ed is that you have control over the messaging since you are the one drafting it, and submitting it to a publication. It is also easier to pitch to the media since the content is written in its entirety, which relieves journalists from an increasing volume of news to process.
Use the current news
Anticipate predictable news cycles: Back to school is a great time to pitch your EdTech startup’s proprietary stats/data. If you run an e-commerce tech, Black Friday and Christmas are great seasonal hooks to pitch your company’s growth and traction.
Additionally, apart from the subjects you can anticipate, keep a close eye on news relating to your sector of activity, on your competitors, and more generally on media cycles. For instance, your cybersecurity or data management startup is a prime contact point to comment on a cyber attack, which often generates media coverage as spectacular as hacks.
We hope these tips are useful for your startup! And we look forward to reading your headlines here very soon!
