Press is not always best when it comes to your first funding announcement
The sun has set on Pi Labs’ 2022 Growth Programme, culminating in last week’s incredible Demo Day. As the founders take significant steps closer to their goals, I’m looking back at some of the comms lessons learned over the whirlwind 16 weeks in this year’s cohort.
One of the questions I am most often asked is how to get press coverage. I usually answer this with a question of my own… “why do you think you need it?”
Founders typically start thinking about communications when they are nearing completion of their first funding round. This is a huge milestone, and an important opportunity to get the message out there that the business is geared up for growth.
But getting the message out there isn’t an objective in itself. My role is to encourage founders to align their marketing or communications activity with actual business goals. When it comes to announcing the first funding round, the business goals are usually one of three; build the team + develop the product, convert new customers, or talk to investors about next stage investment.
So, the question really is; what action do you want your audiences to take once they learn of your funding — do you want them to apply for a job, buy your product or invest in the next round?
Your answer gives me the clue about who you need to talk to right now, and where you will find them, i.e., what media to target. Your potential new hire may not be reading the same media as your next customer or investor.
In fact, and here’s the rub, they may not be reading much traditional media at all!
To add another challenge, your story will be competing with hundreds of other start-ups that have completed funding rounds of similar, or bigger, investment value. It’s tough out there… Diversifying your marketing and promotion is just good business sense.
Don’t get me wrong, press coverage is fantastic, but it should be one of many tools that you employ to get your messages heard by the right ears. Your own marketing channels — website, newsletters, LinkedIn — are just as important to present a well-rounded picture. After all, there is little point getting great press coverage if your audience then hits a dead end when they subsequently look you up on LinkedIn, which they will undoubtedly do.
Think about the story you want to tell; why this funding matters to your start-up, why your investors invested in you, how the funding will shape or change the business and what the market can expect to see next. This gives you a lot of rich and compelling content, to drip feed across your marketing channels over a couple of weeks, giving it longevity beyond any potential hit in the press.
What does all this mean?
It means you need to get your ‘marketing house’ in order before that funding deal is signed. And if the last dated post on your LinkedIn profile was four months ago, then we need to get to work, and quickly!
Pia is the latest Venture Partner to join Pi Labs, supporting Pi Labs’ founders and portfolio companies in building their reputations as they plan for growth, with a strategic lens across message and proposition, developing communications programmes, establishing marketing foundations within the business, and ultimately, strengthening perception and relationships with key audiences and valued stakeholders.
