After building your product, the most logical thing is to launch it. After the launch, your expectations are of course, to sell and sell. However, before the selling is something you should think about first — public relations strategy.
The question is;
- Do you have a PR strategy?
- What will you do to ensure the PR strategy works?
Way before your launch, it is critical to begin developing a PR strategy. Way before your launch, it is expected that you have begun action on that strategy. You cannot launch a product today and begin your PR efforts today. Also, you cannot be expecting to launch your product in a week and only then is when you start acting on your PR strategy.
Successful PR is when you start it months before you launch. You need to use a set of tools and tactics to ensure your PR strategy is successful — growth hacking. Using some of the ways below, and starting earlier before time will enable you to achieve your PR strategy goals;
1. Create a publications list
When setting out to launch your PR strategy and begin looking for that publicity, it is important to have a wish list of publications you would like to be featured in.
You can treat this wish list as your vision for the PR efforts you want to undertake.
The thought of appearing in huge publications can be very enticing but it should not be a good enough reason to forget about niche blogs. Niche blogs can sometimes convert faster than large media publications. This is because niche blogs have already built their readership around your market and have therefore gained a targeted following.
List about 30 media companies and niche blogs that you would like to appear in. This is the first step towards understanding what it will take to get onto those platforms.
2. Read journalism content
After listing your desired media companies and niche blogs, follow up on that wish list by reading their content. For niche blogs, almost every piece of content will probably resonate with you since it’s your field. For large media publications, find articles and content that is targeted towards your market and read it too.
By reading all that content, you become familiar and updated around the issues that may be existing in the market which you might not have known earlier. You also get in sync with the pieces from particular journalists and are able to find one or two journalists that might be a good fit for you.
Additionally, journalists want you to contact them when you are familiar with their content and areas of interest. Reading this content brings you into the loop of what each journalist in the wish list you created is actually interested in writing your story.
3. Build your blog
Way before launching, start out building your blog. Come up with content in the form of articles, images, infographics, etc.
The importance of having a company blog cannot be understated. It is the only platform you own on which you can demonstrate your understanding of your field and portray your company as an expert in the field. Prior to launch, prepare content for the blog. After the launch, slowly push out this content for readers every 3 days or week depending on your strategy.
4. Find free/low cost tools
There are several free or low cost tools available online that can help you accelerate your growth faster even without a huge budget for expensive tools. From social media tools like Buffer and Hootsuite to analytics tools like Google Analytics, you can leverage the availability of such tools to improve your company’s visibility.
5. Build relationships
Using your wish list of 30 media companies, come up with a list of journalists you would like to reach out to. If you do not have their contact information, signup for Pressfarm to search through a database of more than 20,000 journalists contacts.
Once you come up with this contact information, you can then begin to build relationships slowly over time with your contacts in order to build up to the day you pitch your story for publishing to them.
6. Use social media
When you are starting out, in your PR strategy you need to hack it using all possible wheels. At the beginning of your company, the goal is to get as much visibility as possible. Luckily, social media is alive and well.
The effects of a sound social media campaign can be felt even long after your launch. Find the best two social media networks you should be on, and create a campaign to ensure your voice is amplified on these platforms as much as possible in the early days.
Originally published at press.farm on March 26, 2017.
