Your brand must stand out to attract popular journalists, media outlets, and users. Here are five great digital PR methods to help you.
Is your tech startup ready for digital PR?
Creating a proper PR plan for a business is often disregarded. Many great technologies fail due to a lack of a digital PR strategy. It’s difficult to generate leads and sales if people don’t know about your goods. Additionally, it’s even more difficult if you don’t actively promote your brand.
Digital PR helps your firm establish early momentum, get investors, and convince people to sign up. Like traditional PR for firms, digital PR for tech startups has three basic goals:
- Establish a good reputation.
- Communicate.
- Make sales.
In every industry, there are new startups and software-as-a-service (SaaS) products. That’s why your brand must stand out. Here are the five best strategies for doing that.
1. Create a unique brand story using digital PR.
A strong digital PR strategy begins with an engaging brand story. In the age of startups, your company’s features and inner workings cannot be the focus of your PR. Its story must have a context that appeals to your audience. It must emotionally compel people to want to use your product.
Superhuman, one of the fastest-growing email services, shows how a strong story helps you stand out in a crowded market. Superhuman positioned itself as the answer to the biggest email user issues — speed and clutter. A busy entrepreneur or professional who has to sift through their email inbox every day to find crucial emails relates to this. Additionally, Superhuman is a newsworthy product. This results in valuable media coverage in major tech publications.
Do you have a great brand story? Find a new angle to connect your product with your target audience’s key pain point.
2. Know your starting point for digital PR.
To identify your digital PR strategy goals, first assess your brand’s online reputation.
There are two ways to look at it. First, what shows up when you Google your company or founders? Second, does a founder’s LinkedIn profile or a website or landing page rank on the first page of Google? If not, you must first secure your brand name. Basically, your brand is non-existent online. Even if someone hears about it, they won’t be able to see it on Google.
In addition, look at your brand’s present media coverage. Has your site been featured in enough media to warrant an “As Seen On” or “Featured In” section on the homepage? Flashy brand logos don’t attract new customers. However, they’ll help you look more credible to site visitors and convert them into leads.
3. Pick relevant journalists and publishers.
“If you build it, they will come” sounds utopian. However, in the real world, you must promote your brand, no matter how amazing it is. If you don’t, no one knows it exists.
Therefore, how do you start a digital PR campaign for your IT startup? Gather articles, blog posts, and news items. In addition, gather other editorially vetted information from relevant journalists and media.
For example, Google Search for top blogs and websites in your niche. Use keywords such as “Facebook advertising tips” or “Twitter marketing strategy” to find your SaaS. Try HARO, which connects journalists seeking material with writers. On HARO, different journalists ask questions that you can answer. In return, you get a brand mention/backlink in their article/blog post.
Build relationships with the proper content creators and outlets in your sector. Take time every month for this.
4. Your startup PR strategy can’t rely on wire services alone.
Many startups believe that preparing a press release and sending it to a wire service is the only way to get their startup news out there.
However, this is not true. You can also email a story pitch to journalists you already know. This boosts your chances of gaining powerful, organic, high-authority digital PR assets. It’s possible to see them in publications like TechCrunch and VentureBeat.
5. Email relevant pitches to journalists.
It’s not enough to know the appropriate journalists. To be featured in their articles and stories, you must actively submit relevant content and story possibilities. Therefore, it pays to pitch an original research study or an amazing client success story.
You might also associate your product with a current event or trend. During COVID-19, Zoom grew a great deal. Several major publications covered Zoom and its role in pandemic communication.
Trello, as well as many other SaaS startups, leveraged this approach to garner PR. However, grabbing a journalist’s attention isn’t the only option. In addition, to get on a publication’s or content creator’s radar, simply link your product with their issues.
Suppose a site covers themes such as freelance work and entrepreneurship. This, therefore, is where your document management SaaS helps freelancers and digital nomads work more productively. If your angle is compelling enough, an interview might be one result. In short, if you approach a content producer with a value-adding standpoint, you’ll get a favorable response.
The Long-Term Benefits of SEO and Content Marketing on Your Digital PR Plan
SEO isn’t simply about driving visitors to your site. Additionally, it’s a key component of your long-term digital PR plan.
Investing in SEO ensures that your product appears in all brand searches. Create high-quality content to answer your target audience’s most frequently asked questions. This helps you dominate relevant long-tail keywords. In addition, it establishes you as a reputable authority in your niche.
