As a startup, getting media exposure is vitally important. In order for people to be interested in your brand, they have to know it exists. What you may not know is that it’s surprisingly easy to get some media exposure. When you’re a new business, though, it takes some time to figure out how to do it. Check out these tips and rules for small business media engagement to get started.
5 Media Engagement Rules for Startups
- Use Twitter – Journalists are always looking for a hot, new story, and they spend a good amount of time on Twitter hunting them down. In fact, many journalists use Twitter to find sources for articles as well. Check out the hashtag #journorequest to see what journalists in your area are looking for!
- Be ready to go – If you reach out to a journalist, whether on Twitter or some other medium, make sure you can give them whatever you promise them. They’ll likely want to talk to you soon so they can meet their deadlines. Be helpful, and be ready for any and all questions they may ask you.
- Stay updated on current events in your industry – The more you know, the more you’ll be able to give. If you stay at the forefront of what’s going on at all times, journalists may even start looking for you instead of the other way around. Subscribe to as many relevant newsletters and websites pertaining to your industry as possible.
- Plan ahead – You know those obscure holidays like “National Cat Day” that everyone seems to love and somehow know about? Stay on top of those things. If there’s one relevant to your business, reach out to a media outlet to find out if they’re doing any kind of coverage for it. Make sure it’s on brand, and then put your story together.
- Don’t give up – Not every news outlet is going to think that your story is interesting every time. That’s just the way it goes. Make sure that you keep pitching your story and your brand anyway. Remember that for every 99 “no’s,” you’ll get one “yes.” Be patient and be persistent.
Building Your Brand as a Startup
One of the most important things you can do while you’re in the process of getting media engagement is to make sure that you stay on brand. It can be hard to nail yourself down at the beginning, but the better you know and can present your own brand, the better your reception will be. Figure out what your company stands for, what’s important to you, and how you can leverage those things to build your startup through media engagement.