Leading a startup can be challenging, especially when you have limited resources and a budget. However, early-stage startups must establish their trademark and stand out from the competition. Effective PR is an excellent way to build trust and engage with your target audience.
However, it’s important to avoid making common rookie mistakes that could negatively impact your brand’s reputation or even lead to being ignored by media outlets. To help your startup succeed, we’ve compiled a list of.
08 Common Public Relations Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
1. Not Knowing Your Audience
Understanding your audience is crucial when it comes to developing an adequate marketing plan and PR plan. Without a straightforward understanding of your target audience, it is challenging to communicate with them actually.
Knowing your audience allows you to customize your message and select the best channels to use to get them. Therefore, identifying your Target audience should be one of the primary steps when creating a marketing strategy and PR plan.
2. Not Having Anything to Announce
One of the most common Public Relations mistakes are that startups make is trying to get media range without having a unique story to announce. It’s highly unlikely that a magazine or newspaper will feature you just for existing. Typically, such features are reserved for bigger and fast-growing scalps or successful serial entrepreneurs.
To get noticed, you need to announce something worth talking about, such as a new partnership with a well-known corporation, a round of funding, or a launch in a new global market. Usually, internal announcements like a new team member or a new feature won’t cut it.
3. No Public Relations Strategy
Sounds fair, right? Some startups just leap forward without a strategy and think that things will magically fall into place. It doesn’t work like that.
If you’re expanding fast, the best thing is to hire a PR expert to help develop a useful strategic dream. If your company can’t employ someone full-time, then you shall think about collaborating with an external PR agency on a full-time service or consultancy basis.
4. Not Attaching PR/Visual Materials
It’s crucial to keep in mind that editors are usually pressed for time and may not have the chance to follow up with you for further details. This is especially real when it comes to team videos or photos, and the actual press freedom.
Therefore, it’s crucial to contain all relevant details right from the start. One helpful tip is to send the Press Release in an editable Word format or G Doc, rather than a PDF, which they would have to restore to edit. Additionally, be sure to send various sizes of images that are tailored to the insist on magazine you’re targeting.
5. Targeting only Top Global Media
It’s essential to remember that PR isn’t just about going big or going home. While targeting big media platforms is crucial, it’s not the only choice to consider. Sometimes, it’s more effective to reach out to smaller, local, or sector-specific publications that have more potential to be read by your audience. This strategy can produce positive results in the long run, further just high traffic for a few days.
6. Trying too Hard
If you don’t receive any response to your requests for days or weeks, chances are they’re not interested. Even after mailing three follow-up emails, the chances of getting a reply are remote.
In many cases, magazines don’t have the help to reply to every request. If your email is neglected by most of the media platforms you reach out to, we suggest revising the content of your request email and trying again shortly.
7. Not Being Clear Enough on Email Requests
It’s crucial to keep in mind that members of the media accept an overwhelming number of PR requests every day, which means that they may not have the time or help to go through all of them. Moreover, even if they do, the probability is that if they are not interested within the first two corrections, your email will likely be dropped. So, to make your pitch stand out, start with a clear subject line that catches their awareness.
Once you have their engagement, address them by their name and journal to show that you are targeting them especially. Finally, use the next couple of corrections to underline some effective statistics, facts, or jazzy language that will also pique their interest.
8. Making it Tough for People to find Your Contact Details
It is a significant issue that many people forget. It’s crucial to have your connection details easily available on your website, mainly if you are taking to engage with journalists or other media platforms.
By including an email address, social media links, or a phone number on your About Us page or in the footer/header of your website, you’re making it comfortable for people to get in touch with you.
It is crucial in today’s digital age, where almost everything is done online. Hopefully, this article has delivered some helpful insights on how to avoid some of common public relations mistakes and execute a successful PR campaign for your startup in early stage.
If you are looking forward to boost presence of your startup, you can always connect to Mediagraphics PR, one of the top PR agencies in Delhi, India. We’ll help your startup in securing top-tier media coverages to gain the maximum publicity and audience trust.