How Public Relations Can Get you in Front of Venture Capitalists

As a startup, the road to find funding is not always the easiest. One aspect that will help give your startup a competitive advantage is your reflection in the media. Audiences view earned media as the most authentic form of marketing. The reason for this is because people trust what they read in the news.

For startups, getting a piece of media coverage is important to drive qualified leads to the site. But, it can also be a way to get in front of venture capitalists. If you’re a startup looking for your next round, here’s how public relations can help.

Media opportunities increase brand awareness.

In today’s interconnected world, a media strategy is one of the best ways to spread the word about your new company. On average, five to seven brand impressions are necessary before someone will remember the brand. Therefore, if your startup continues to have media coverage in relevant publications, more people, including investors, will remember your company’s name.

Getting the attention of VCs is similar to sales tactics. Prominent VCs are constantly bombarded with new, innovative startups, so they’ll need to hear (or read) your name continuously before they begin to remember it.

Investors can read trusted, third-party articles about your startup.

With plenty of companies all pitching for their share of investors’ capital, a startup with a significant amount of visibility in media outlets provides an investor with a third-party analysis and viewpoint. Plus, 80% of business decision-makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement. So startups that think targeted ads are a way to get in front of VCs should rethink that strategy.

Media helps with numbers.

Investors want to know real numbers before handing over a check. No one cares about vanity metrics, and many investors will toss a startup aside if they use them in their pitch deck. Startups need to get real metrics to high enough levels before they sit down with a VC.

Media can help achieve these metrics. Getting a story about your story or a quote in a relevant publication can direct targeted users to your website and product. While a feature story will bump up vanity metrics such as traffic or users, it will also bump up real numbers such as engaged and repeat users.

For B2B companies, before a customer makes a purchase, they research online. Studies show that between 70–80% of people research a company online before visiting the business or making a purchase from them. These numbers are no different for venture capital. When a VC goes to research your company, the first thing they will look for is credibility. Building up a media presence not only allows the customer to learn more about your company but also develops trust that your business is reputable.

Media coverage is not always easy to get, but it can help your startup get in front of the right investors. If you want to learn more, download our 50 PR hacks for startups.

Originally published at www.launchwaymedia.com.

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by +432,678 people.

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