9 Signs You Need Help With Public Relations
Tags: Startup, Entrepreneurship, Public Relations, Pr, Founders

PRontheGO: 9 Signs You Need Help With Public Relations

We asked PR and growth experts to advise our founders on Signs they Need Help With Public Relations. What are pitfall examples that made startups take wrong turns with their PR? What are the signs on missing resources or skills in PR that would require an expert to join in? How do startups that do their PR themselves know when it is about time to hire a professional PR consultant? -Here are their top 9 signs:

1) Competitors are running ahead

“You see your competitors in the news way more frequently than you do your own business. It’s not just about keeping up with the Jones’, it’s about sales. If your competitors are all over the media, which is fueling sales growth, you need to stay relevant and tell your ideal customers the story of why you are different, better, and worthy of their time, interest, and money.” — Caitlin Copple Masingill, Founder + President at Full Swing Public Relations

2 Your news value is missing.

“When creating news releases to share their announcements with the media, almost all startups that take an in-house DIY approach to their coverage efforts make a classic rookie mistake: they forget the “news” part of their news releases, and they look at the media outreach effort as an opportunity to sell, rather than inform. They also don’t infuse a professional voice into their releases (examples: using way too many self-congratulatory and hyperbolic adjectives to describe themselves and their offerings, using an overload of all caps sentences and exclamation points throughout the document), and they fail to share information that’s unique, exclusive, or interesting. Bottom line: when crafting a news release in an effort to get press coverage, startups must seek to capture a tone that’s more like CNBC, and not QVC, in order to be taken seriously by journalists and editors. They should focus on sharing noteworthy information that’s presented clearly, concisely, and convincingly and is also useful to the marketplace. Most importantly, they must avoid the over caffeinated, infomercial-esque hype that will prevent them from getting respect and attention from a credible media outlet.” — Rafe Gomez, Co-Owner at VC Inc. Marketing

3) People don’t get what your business does.

“One sign you need help with PR is if external audiences are mistaking what your business does or provides. You need to build accurate brand awareness, taking prospects one step closer to conversion since they will already know who you are as a business. In this situation, you especially need to clarify any incorrect information about your company because vague or inaccurate information can create confusion as to what your business is.

As a first step, you need to clean up any outdated or inaccurate information about your business in the digital world and start to get your message out there through owned, earned and paid channels.

For standing out in competitive markets, creating a holistic strategy, garnering consistent media coverage or securing top tier media placements, it could be time to hire a PR consultant.” — Immy Ransom, Marketing Communications Specialist at Digital Silk

4) There is no dialogue with your target audience.

“Having a strong brand reputation hinges on being able to listen and have back and forth conversations with target audiences. Start-ups will commonly focus on telling their consumers about the product, rather than listening and engaging with their client base in a more personalized way. Lean start-ups that manage PR internally will often miss the mark here, especially if they do not have a dedicated PR person. If their PR efforts too closely mirror advertising or sales, it’s probably time to outsource and reap the benefits of thoughtful PR.” — Kimberly Smith, Marketing Manager at Clarify Capital

5) You’re wasting your time pitching based on historical stories.

“Stop chasing journalists based on what they did yesterday. They’re worried about this week’s deadlines and the stories/topics they’re researching. So instead of haunting them based on what they normally write, focus on what they’re taking action on that potentially hints at what’s next. That’s the power of Predictive™ Media Scan.” — Ed Marsh, Growth & Strategy Consultant and Chief Revenue Officer at IntentData.io

6) You are becoming old news.

“You haven’t been in the press for over 6 months. Staying relevant is key. And if you are hanging your hat on old press coverage, that’s okay temporarily. But keep your press coverage up to date. Talk about timely issues or offer valuable insight via thought leadership.” — Frank Tortorici, Senior Strategist Media Relations at Marketing Maven

7) Your pitches are ignored.

“Founders should ask for public relations help if they’re consistently sending out pitches but getting either negative or no responses. This could be a sign that they may need to refine their pitch, or they may be sending pitches to media that aren’t aligned with the brand’s message or audience. Another way could actually be the opposite, where someone may be getting many features and interviews but they aren’t translating into increased engagement or sales. This again could be a sign of misalignment, a lack of an effective marketing strategy to compliment the PR efforts or simply an ineffective call to action.” — Carla Williams Johnson, Founder and CEO at Carli Communications

8) Media coverage doesn’t pop up when someone searches your name.

“One thing that we, publicists, try to reiterate amongst each other is that we no longer just pitch the media. To stay current, we incorporate SEO into the language of our pitches, and a good publicist targets media outlets that tend to generate higher SEO scores, thus increasing the chances those articles pop up when a client’s business name is searched or when a viewer searches a term related to the client’s messaging.” — Juan Brizuela, Consulting PR Manager at briz PR

9) When you focus on pitching headlines, instead of providing information.

It’s a common belief that email subject headers and media release headlines engage journalists. That is wrong. When I worked on the main planning desk for all the BBC’s national and global news outlets, my eye went straight to the bottom of any email or release first. To the short description of the business — known as a ‘boilerplate’. Why? I wanted to check the source I was dealing with before I engaged. You need to nail and include those 50 words. I can show you how in my ebook, launching December 2020, available www.cowiecom.com — Felicity Cowie, Founder at Cowiecom

Thank you!

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PRontheGO.com — The Creative Entrepreneur’s source for PR hacks.

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