Dina Mostovaya: Startups need to be ready for PR

What are the key indicators or signals for a tech company to consider investing in PR? Any prerequisites to start PR?

It's essential to recognize that PR serves as a powerful tool for startups to achieve their business goals. Whether your aim is to become searchable, garner attention for your product, attract investment, expand into new markets, or build a strong employer brand to recruit top talent, strategic communications can facilitate all of these objectives and more.

Regarding the minimum requirements to start doing PR, as an early-stage startup you must not only have an MVP, but a finished product that journalists can try and see. You also need to have a clear strategy, goals, and a landing page. 

Then, a PR professional will help you craft your storytelling with a communications strategy, create and fill out your social media correctly, organize a photoshoot with the team, and provide you with media training, explaining how journalists work. That’s the minimum a startup needs to move on to pitching and securing publications.

Can you provide examples of situations where tech companies have benefited significantly from PR?

Among clients of PR and Communication Agency, which I founded, Mindset Consulting, we have a lot of success cases that show how PR boosts companies’ business goals—from fundraising and attracting top talent to client base expansion and speaking at top events. 

One of our top accomplishments of 2023 is Spain-based space-tech startup Sateliot, the global pioneer in IoT satellite connectivity and a SpaceX partner. Mindset secured over 280 organic brand mentions, most of them in tier-1 media. As a result the company's awareness grew by 16%, they raised their Series B round with investments from Banco Santander.

Another example is a California-based startup Neatsy. The startup was featured in the Bullet Pitch Newsletter, which resulted in five inbound requests from investors and partners, plus an invitation to participate in the famous American startup show The Pitch.

With coverage in TechCrunch, Sifted, Fast Company, and on major TV channels, our client, Berlin-based green tech startup WeDoSolar, sold out within a matter of weeks and received several commercial proposals; over 20 investors contacted the founders about investing.

The founder of HR-tech solution Solar Staff said that publications we have generated for them in tier-1 media like Forbes, TechCrunch, Fast Company and Crunchbase News help them start conversations with B2B clients.

For Shader, an AI-powered real-time camera app, PR has impacted the startup’s relationships with key stakeholders: Following a news announcement, the founder scheduled a meeting with a highly sought-after engineer. Additionally, within two months, there has been a tenfold increase in app downloads, growing from 2.5K to 25K.

Where and for whom PR might not have been necessary?

It is not necessary in situations where there is a lack of clear business goals or when the product MVP which journalists can test is not ready yet. As with any other growth channel and tool, PR serves to achieve specific objectives.

It also may not be needed for those whose goals are already well achieved through other tools, such as networking or government relations. If these alternative pathways are successfully meeting the company's strategy, then additional PR efforts might not be required.

To add to that, founders and startup team should be ready to share information about the business: statistics of usage, revenue, investors and other facts, which can help journalists write a story.

How does the stage of a tech company (startup, scale-up, established) or its industry (nature of product and service) influence the necessity and approach to PR?

A company’s development stage significantly influences its communications strategy. 

As a company progresses, raises further funding, and becomes known in the market, trust in the brand typically grows. This allows for more PR opportunities, including highlighting product features, showcasing case studies, and conducting research. Additionally, as the company expands into new markets, there's a need to develop relationships with new media outlets and establish partnerships to support growth and market penetration.

While an early-stage startup often relies on innovative strategies, solving the market problem, and the speed of its technology to gain attention, and their resources and opportunities are very limited, established players focus on expanding their reach, maintaining credibility and sharing their values. Late-stage companies aim to become the first choice on the market, to create a loyal community, to influence regulations and the society as a whole; so, they gain greater exposure through a variety of tools and mechanics. 

Moreover, when we talk about established brands, we take into account that their communications strategies have high marketing budgets. In this case, the PR team supports these marketing projects with media relations, thought leadership content creation, and creative ideas.

What PR can and can‘t do? 

I’d like to highlight that first of all PR is about long-term goals, establishing your reputation, and increasing the company’s attractiveness for different audiences. Usually, it is not about direct sales. 

Organic media publications are all about offering an audience an aggregation of useful information from experts whose opinion they value. In such articles, a brand’s name is only mentioned once (or very rarely twice). Furthermore, 90% of such content is published without active links to the company website, which could significantly boost sales.

Meanwhile, some of our clients’ cases demonstrate the opposite, selling out rapidly and attracting new clients. Honestly, this is a huge bonus for a startup that I call “PR ​​karma.” It is when everything works like clockwork—big interviews, public speaking and other outcomes that result in meaningful business indicators.

What are the risks of not having PR?

Well, there are a lot of them! Firstly, there's the danger of negative public perception due to misinformation or misunderstandings, which can quickly tarnish one's reputation. Additionally, without PR expertise and a loyal media pool, crises can escalate, resulting in significant damage to the brand’s image and trustworthiness.

Moreover, lacking PR strategies may lead to limited visibility and missed opportunities for positive exposure in the media or through partnerships. This can hinder growth and competitiveness in the market, and makes it challenging to establish credibility and authority within the industry or community.