When something good happens in your startup, you jump on the phone to your publicist and want to get it out, right there and then, but when something terrible happens, we shut down the flow of information immediately. Yes, failure is unpleasant, but it is reality. Turning that reality into an angle can result in meaningful content that the media might be interested in. Here’s how failure can be great PR for you and your next venture.

A year and a half ago, wedoido, a Dutch startup aimed to revolutionize the wedding industry and while on a fast track to success, the company could not have predicted the pandemic. Due to the coronavirus, all the weddings booked via wedoido were postponed or cancelled. Without revenue coming in and uncertainty about when the crisis would end, the company decided to close its doors.

Thomas Vles, founder of wedoido, wrote a blog about the lessons he learnt from the startup. Speaking about the failure of the startup, he shared a valuable story about failure and how other entrepreneurs can learn from this.

“We celebrate the life of entrepreneurs, but rarely do we speak about unavoidable business failures. Failure is part of being an entrepreneur, failure is crucial to innovation, and it’s an important factor for success. But somehow, failure is still a taboo.” – Thomas Vles

How failures can be picked up by media for great PR

After the blog was published, the Black & White Communications team pitched it exclusively to Sprout, an entrepreneurial magazine. By pitching it directly and exclusively to one magazine, we doubled down on our story and gave them the angle that would be the most interesting to their readers. This pitch resulted in a great interview which was featured by them here. 

When you pitch exclusively to a media outlet with the right angle, your chances of getting featured and published increases significantly. This is the power of pitching with the right intention and angle that would interest a journalist to write about it.

“Bianca is one of the best communications specialists I have come across in my career. She will always go the extra mile with inspiration through the right angles as well as ticking all the boxes with writing and networking. I’ve worked with Bianca in 3 different startups and on a personal basis and would recommend any ambitious business to invite her to your team.” – Thomas Vles

The domino effect of a good story 

When media outlets publish a story, the likelihood of a domino effect is high when the angle is appealing to both readers and the broader audiences. In the case of wedoido, the pitch was powerful, which prompted other outlets such as Nu.nl to publish an article, featuring an excerpt from Thomas Vles’s blog, which refers to learning from your mistakes.

After being featured in Nu.nl and Sprout, Thomas secured three more interviews for the following week with a segment in the national news at 20.00 on Sunday, 13 September 2020, with 2,2 million viewers – the most watched TV program in The Netherlands.

When you position your story as a value add to journalists and an audience, the media will find it valuable to publish and once you get the ball rolling on this angle, outlets will find it interesting to publish their own version of your story.

How to get your startup published

Black and White Communications offers rock-solid communications strategies for bold startups, world-changing companies and inspiring organisations. Get your startup in the news with a powerful PR strategy in only 3 steps. Request a PR audit from us here, receive a custom strategy and then get the tools and knowledge to execute your strategy effectively. Start today but getting in touch.