When you’re planning to launch your startup, there is a lot of pressure. You’re going to want to dive headfirst into marketing, messaging and getting news out to all the publications as soon as possible, but you’re going to have to resist this urge.

Before you can run, you need to crawl, and crawling does not need to slow you down but rather it needs to help you get the right foundations in place so that you can have the most successful launch possible.

Here are 5 tactics you can use before launching your startup.

#1 Decide on the direction of the company: You will need to identify the path your business is on. Typically you would have a form of business plan (whether an official one or not) in this business plan or document, you would have the general direction your startup plans to go into with projections and timelines. Understanding and clarifying, your direction will play an essential role in deciding where and when you need to launch.

#2 Set a specific goal: You do not need to reinvent the wheel in one go. There are many goals you can set within the foundation of PR, but there are 3 strategic goals – according to us – that truly matter for your business; building awareness, positioning yourself as an expert and moving the industry conversation forward. During a launch, you are likely to focus on awareness, which means you need to attach tangible goals to it, such as, reach targeted publications, new users, etc.).

#3 Clarify your message so the audience listens: Make sure you can introduce your company in plain English, in just one sentence. No matter how tempted you are to include industry jargon, make sure your content is something, even your grandparents could understand. It needs to demonstrate a problem that you solve clearly. In other words, your message needs to tell your audience why it is valuable to them. Your existence alone isn’t enough to make headlines.

#4 Choose the right media. The trick to getting published is doing your research. You need to know who the journalists are, what they write about and how to contact them. Ensure that when you do contact them that you are aware of the best practices to follow (the do’s and don’t of contacting journalists). Target your pitches so that it will interest them. Do not send generic messages to your entire user base. Before you pitch, you’ll need to run your content through our newsworthy test. 

#5 Measure your results & reiterate. As a startup, your feedback loop is short and concise. It is essential to adopt processes that allow for quick turnarounds. When you are working with the media, your turn around times should be fast. Long feedback processes will impact your ability to get a story to a journalist in time for it to be published, and more importantly, for it to still be relevant. Make sure you have a startup mindset and work as efficiently as you can. Read more about the startup mindset and how this works hand in hand with PR.

Not sure where you should start pitching for your next press release? Here are 4 publications that almost all EU startups can leverage

#1 EU startups: The key to getting published in most publications is finding relevance in your pitch and story. During this pandemic, the rise of working from home and needing close physical proximity to get work done is a thing of the past. We pitched EU Startups with Happeo. Evaluate the story and why it is relevant to the audience.

See the featured article here: https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/06/needing-to-be-physically-close-to-get-good-work-done-is-a-thing-of-the-past-interview-with-happeos-co-founder-and-ceo-perttu-ojansuu/

#2 Silicon Canals: Another focal point during the pandemic has been the cash crisis for charities. Our pitch focused on leveraging insights for the industry. When pitching in this way, ensure the insights you provide leverage information that makes sense for your product or service and position it in line with the publications/journalists angle.

See the featured article here: https://siliconcanals.com/news/fintech-amsterdam-growth-mollie-ginger-kinder-payaut/.

#3 Sifted: Scaling beyond borders requires a focus on the problem you solve and the relevance in the country you want the story to be published in. For BUX’s country launch in France, we pitched Sifted on the need for neobrokers. This positioned BUX as a relevant solutions provider while highlighting the pain points our target audience is feeling.

See the featured article here: https://sifted.eu/articles/youth-banking-france/

#4 TechCrunch: When your solution is one of many competitors, one way to differentiate yourself in the media is to pitch an entirely new way of doing something and focus on that relevance. When pitching to TechCrunch with bunq, we need to add relevance through the industry and why this is different. The angle needed to be clear and concise; the fintech industry is crowded, and bunq’s offers a completely new kind of metal card – one that benefits the environment and takes going green one step further.

See the featured article here: https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/28/bunq-launches-metal-card-and-plants-a-tree-for-every-e100-spent/.