Understanding Public Relations is essential for growing any business, but even more important for startups working with a confined budget. However, as PR enters the digital sphere, businesses are exposed to a new world of opportunities that accelerate results and increase optimal growth. Utilizing the correct digital tools, PR can transform the growth of your company through strategic planning, generating and increasing profits.
Why Startups Need PR
The right PR strategy increases a brand’s credibility which is one of the most important characteristics of a business. Through a complete remodeling of a brand image, PR identifies and builds mutually beneficial relationships with its publics. One way it does so is by taking a holistic approach to media coverage, creating a sense of transparency between brand and consumer. In PR, convincing your leads is the first step to reaching potential new clients and establishing a loyal audience. Incorporating PR tools for startups adds a digital element to traditional PR practices.
The PR Strategy
A good PR strategy ensures that a brand emerges above others as the solution to consumer needs. Its goal is to highlight the positive aspects of a brand to ensure success all around while boosting its visibility. Establishing a sense of credibility and transparency through shapeshifting your brand image is vital to the promotion of your brand. However, media coverage is the key to gaining the desired traction from the brand’s target market. Identifying the correct target market is pivotal, above all, in determining strategy success.
PR Tools That Every Business Should Use
PR professionals work to elevate and tune brand messaging, connect with journalists, identify relevant media outlets for the ideal exposure and create an overall positive brand image. To save time and effort, PR tools have been created to alleviate the heavy lifting these professionals must take on daily. Utilizing PR tools for startups is a great option for those looking to create and maintain a positive image from the get-go. They can also help monitor brand industries, create content and identify the right media outlets and coveted audiences.
Identifying Media Personnel
As media experts, PR professionals navigate the web and research brand industries on a daily basis to identify the most prevalent person to reach. The type of media coverage largely determines the success of the campaign, therefor it is crucial to promote content through credible and trusted media outlets. Haro, help a Reporter Out, is a great tool for sharing, pitching and delivering your story to many reliable sources at the press of a button. The website is designed to mutually benefit journalists and writers by relieving journalists from the stress of finding a story, all while helping writers efficiently promote their stories. Incorporating such PR tools for startups can simplify the process of contacting journalists for those who are unfamiliar with PR.
Finding the Right Contact
Being that most PR professionals are media experts they can all agree on one thing; finding the right media outlet or journalist is the easy part. What makes media relations an arduous task is the fact that many journalists, if not most, make themselves difficult to be reached. These journalists do so in attempt to filter their inboxes from receiving spam-filled, low-quality pieces. However, there are ways to find journalists and even spark their interest. A leading public relations management platform, Muckrack, is well recognized around the world for providing the most updated contact information for over thousands of journalists. In addition, the software company showcases their works, keeping a tightly knit profile for each, making the process of contacting the media easy for anyone.
Elevating Content Creation
PR professionals oversee all thing’s media, therefore creating a visually compelling campaign is one way to catch audience attention. A great tool for those who don’t have the time or budget to invest in professional graphic designers, would be Pexels. The website provides over thousands of high-quality stock images that can be downloaded free of charge and used anywhere. For a more unique experience, a great option for creating your own designs would be Canva. This free digital graphic design tool allows anyone to create first-rate content for everyday use. Their templates make it simple and enjoyable to create unique and tailored designs for personal or business needs.
Analyzing Progress and Competition
With so many brands on the market it is important to stay ahead of the game, and what better way to do so than by keeping your competition close. SimilarWeb was designed to allow businesses access to any website or industry analytics, enabling users to track and compare website traffic, as well as strategy and growth. These websites make great PR tools for startups who are looking to identify the top performing marketing channels. Websites that provide analytics are important to incorporate in your PR strategy to identify where you have the most opportunities for growth.
Utilizing a PR Agency
In comparison to traditional PR, digital PR provides thousands of tools and platforms that help maximize brand equity and maintain results. Therefore, choosing the right PR tools for startups is crucial in order to reach optimal results for your digital PR campaigns. Working alongside an agency that specializes in PR can be highly beneficial, as they improve every aspect of a brand’s image. Percepto uses a combination of ORM, PR, online branding, content marketing, digital PR strategies and PR tools for startups to transform, promote and protect brand image. With a team of highly skilled content producers and both Marketing and PR departments, we implement tailored strategies for each business, build brand equity while securing a strong and positive online image for your brand.