Why Startups Need PR

In our work with numerous startups, we’ve encountered a widespread lack of understanding among many entrepreneurs about what PR is and why it’s essential.

Let’s start with a brief aside. We often see startup owners and executives presenting to clients. In 90% of cases, these presentations look like they’ve been copied from each other, as if they were all made from the same template.

Typically, the first slide in these presentations states that the startup’s market is valued at $300 billion! The presenter then glances triumphantly at the audience. But this line does little more than elicit yawns and smirks. Next, the presenter tries to “seal the deal” by citing statistics from “Smith & Sons” that this market will grow by another 12% this year! At this point, they may as well end the presentation, because these words not only fail to impress but reveal a lack of understanding in both marketing and sales strategy.

Investors aren’t interested in “leaders of the solar system” or “champions of the galaxy.” What they care about is how many real customers, inquiries, sales, and distributors this startup has. This is crucial information: is there demand or not? If there is, investors will start paying attention.

But how do you get those first customers, inquiries, and sales if your product isn’t fully developed? This is where well-executed PR comes in. Marketing is a bit too late—you’ve already nearly finished the product. Advertising is premature—the product isn’t ready yet. But PR is perfect for this stage! You need to show customers what your product will be, so they feel an urgent need to be the first to have it!

What Should Your First Step Be?

Even before signing a contract with a communications or PR agency (they may differ in name but perform the same functions), clients—typically business owners, executive directors, or other senior management—often wonder if PR is worthwhile, what benefits it will bring, and whether it will pay off. Marketers understand that a profitable modern business must include both external communications and public relations, but company directors may still question the need for PR. Therefore, let’s look at some of the reasons for this skepticism and the questions we frequently hear in PR agencies, including ours.

Where does an experienced PR specialist start? First, they identify the target audience (TA), meaning those people who are most relevant to the company’s products or services. This is important for both startups and established companies with products already in the market.

Next, the PR professional identifies the right channels for sharing information and determines the tone of the message. The current trend is “trust marketing”—information should be delivered as a trusted dialogue to immediately build credibility with the target audience. It’s crucial to communicate openly, naturally, and simply, speaking the language of your potential clients. Otherwise, if you misidentify the target audience or communication channels, the money spent will be wasted, your efforts will not pay off, and the expected sales flow will not materialize.

The channels for delivering information can vary widely, including partner meetings, careful engagement with competitors, publications in media outlets, press conferences, and other events—all designed to gradually build the desired image of your company.

Initially, specialists test their hypotheses on a small group, then expand the target audience. Customers are categorized as either potential or actual clients.

Of course, you could opt not to hire seasoned professionals and try developing a promotion strategy yourself. However, in our 14 years of experience, this often ends up as a cry in the wilderness, leading to significant financial losses. This isn’t because you’re a poor business owner but because we’re often influenced by stereotypes, and online business is no exception. To create an effective promotional product, it’s essential to replace these stereotypes with:

• highlighting your company’s strengths,
• promoting high product quality,
• building the company’s prestige,
• establishing authority with clients, etc.

And achieving all this is not as easy as it might seem at first glance.

Now, let’s discuss one of the crucial stages of a successful PR campaign—gaining customer trust.

How to Build Trust Quickly and Effectively?

For those who think trust is merely hypothetical, think again. Client trust is the foundation of your startup’s long-term success, high profitability, and, ultimately, your own well-being.

So, how do you earn it quickly and effectively? The best answer is to work with specialists. A good PR firm will design a strategy for you that builds and sustains client trust over the long term.

By partnering with a professional PR company, you will:

• assess potential upcoming risks,
• become familiar with reputation costs,
• understand the right growth strategy for your company.

In the near future, you’ll be able to view this work from a completely new perspective.

Delegating the role of trust-building is an excellent option, as you still hold a key role—ensuring the growth and development of your business or organization.

What will actually change? You’ll start receiving inquiries from clients genuinely interested in your products or services, already inclined to trust you—known as “warm leads.” These are no longer just potential clients but real ones, and eventually, they may become your brand advocates, building a positive image for your company.

Now we return to the main question—how much does your company need PR? Before answering, let’s outline a few key concerns we frequently encounter. So…

Why does my company need PR if everything is going well?

What will I gain by hiring professional PR specialists or a PR team?

Will the sales flow decrease after implementing PR technologies?

Is there really any point in public relations if we already have plenty of attention from journalists?

Is internal PR as beneficial as everyone says?

Can a small company get by without PR technologies?

These questions highlight a lack of understanding about the true benefits of PR services and what they actually entail. Why does this happen? Primarily because many company owners, when ordering PR services, receive something completely different. This misunderstanding arises from the lack of clarity around what these services truly consist of.

The blame often lies with companies that claim to offer public relations services without fully understanding what they’re doing or why it’s valuable. Simply search “Order PR” online, and you’ll find countless ads that have nothing to do with true PR: “Promote your social media account,” “Post reviews on forums,” “Publish press releases for minimal costs,” and so on. None of this aligns with real public relations or true PR promotion, which is inseparable from marketing strategy—a concept many mediocre or inexperienced companies unfortunately lack.

So let’s fill in the gaps in our understanding of classic PR technologies. We’ll start by defining what PR technologies really are.

PR—(from the English term public relations)—is the creation, development, and maintenance of connections with the public. That’s all there is to it.

As aptly defined by L. Ron Hubbard, the goal of a PR specialist is to form, direct, and utilize public opinion to improve reputation and expand the organization, whether for themselves or their client.

Now we’re ready to talk about the connection between PR technologies and the target audience. So…

How PR Technologies Influence the Target Audience

Let’s first determine why companies need PR in the first place. Primarily, it’s to become recognizable in the market for their products or services. This is achieved by consistently conveying information about the company’s activities to the target audience. This is especially relevant for startups. The sooner people know about you (and importantly, in the right light), the faster you’ll recoup investments and start generating profit.

There are communication channels in place to deliver information to the end consumer. The main ones are:

• corporate website and external resources,
• mass media,
• print publications,
• online platforms,
• social media.

Public relations not only help a company become recognizable but also prevent it from blending in with the many other companies offering similar products or services. Moreover, it’s essential to highlight the uniqueness of your product or service to avoid it being confused with others. The main goal is to establish a brand and bring recognition to your products. With recognition comes trust and loyalty. This is the only way to build authority. Here, we focus on “white PR”: we do not engage in “black PR” and do not plan to do so.

What, then, can well-executed PR technologies impact? They undoubtedly influence:

• primarily, on the end consumers of your products or services by communicating your product's competitive advantages, brand values, and so forth;
• strangely enough, on government institutions, especially on leaders in power. This can be achieved through public organizations and mass media;
• on your partners and investors (quite logically). It’s essential to regularly enhance the authority and value of your products, thereby increasing the intangible value of your brand;
• on your company’s employees, both current and potential. This helps establish the company's image and recognition, which attracts more qualified and sought-after specialists.

In the end, at the final stage of a PR campaign, the reputation of a market leader is formed, which significantly boosts the authority and trust in your brand. Consequently, the value of your company’s services increases, which in turn leads to higher profits.

Now, we approach one of the most pressing questions: does PR lead to an increase in sales?

Is it true that implementing PR technologies leads to an increase in company sales?

Increasing sales is crucial for companies of all levels: from a small roadside kiosk to the largest corporation. They strive for it and “passionately desire” it almost from the day of the company’s opening. Many directors think that if they seek the help of a qualified PR manager, sales will skyrocket, almost exponentially. Without a doubt, creating the company's image and enhancing its recognizability leads to increased sales. However, let’s not forget that success depends not only on well-implemented PR technologies but also on your role as a director or owner of the company. A PR manager creates and improves your company’s image, but sales are influenced by numerous other factors, such as product quality, logistics, sales techniques, and much more.

Furthermore, it’s important to address concepts like “value increase” and “sales growth.” They don’t depend on each other. Sometimes, PR can increase the product’s value and potentially lead to sales growth; other times, PR technologies combined with other elements of product and service promotion boost sales, but the owner chooses not to raise the product price. More often than not, a good PR campaign boosts demand for the product, makes the service trendy, and selling becomes significantly easier, raising the product’s value.

However, a few nuances must be considered. PR technologies don’t guarantee an immediate result; they work in the long term. If you need a quick but not guaranteed result, it’s better to turn to advertising, which, however, offers no guarantees either. Additionally, increasing sales levels should be addressed separately from PR.

In practice, the majority of sales often fail at the final potential stage when it seems like “almost there.” For example, after an excellent PR campaign, your boutique has become well-known, your target audience has become even more loyal, and customer traffic has increased. But on that day, your sales consultant simply had a bad mood and was rude to every second visitor. What will be the outcome? Thanks to numerous reviews, your store may be avoided. Who’s to blame: the public relations specialist or your careless employee? Unfortunately, the reason for declining sales isn’t always quickly identifiable, and the client chooses the path of least resistance, blaming an innocent PR manager who did an excellent job.

Thus, PR is just one tool among many, and the approach should always be comprehensive, like analyzing your sales department’s performance, ordering a “mystery shopper” service, and so on.

From everything mentioned above, we have come close to discussing PR goals.

Goals of PR Technologies

When talking about the goals of a well-conducted PR campaign, it’s essential to note that everything is very individual. The primary goal, as mentioned, is to popularize products or services.

Initially, the specialist must determine which image best suits your company. They carefully develop it, document it, and even test its potential effectiveness. Additionally, the specialist needs to understand how your company is currently represented in the market and what image it has. This requires identifying the attitudes of all potential clients we discussed earlier: investors, partners, employees. The specialist then begins working on the company’s image.

The process generally starts by forming the company’s values, which are then communicated to the target audience through advertising messages, gradually shaping the desired image. The right image will ensure greater loyalty and increase the number of potential customers. Whether they ultimately become actual customers depends on you and your team: the sales department, logistics, management, etc. A competent PR specialist will never guarantee that the new image of your company will lead to an “overwhelming” increase in sales. If they promise this—run, as they are certainly not a qualified specialist.

In advertising, the sales flow may increase more predictably, but its effects are usually short-term, whereas a PR campaign offers long-term results. Sometimes, expensive advertising doesn’t increase sales at all.

The next question is just as important and can be classified more as a misconception than a question.

If my company already has media interest, is there a need for me to order a PR campaign?

We often get asked this question. At first glance, why indeed, if journalists already have a strong interest in your company? And in part, it’s true if you’re working with independent journalists rather than outright “on-hand” journalists. Regular media coverage, or even television appearances, increases interest in your company’s products or services. Moreover, people still trust the media, especially the older generation. Media interest might also indicate the effectiveness of your marketing department or outsourced marketer.

But there’s a “but.” You cannot track feedback; you don’t know how positive the opinion is about you as a manufacturer, how genuinely in-demand your product is, and whether the target audience’s interest in your brand is stable.

You certainly cannot predict if consumer interest will change if something negative happens to your company or what might happen if, for example, a competitor releases a commissioned article about you. In short, you definitely can’t track feedback, nor dictate to journalists how they should present information about your company.

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PR campaigns are specifically designed to generate feedback from your target audience, which can be evaluated, leveraged, and, if needed, directed along a path that aligns with your goals.

With effective PR, even events that seem negative can be turned into positive reactions from your audience. For example, suppose a defect or series of serious issues is found in your product. A competitor might attempt to create a negative PR campaign around this. The question is, how can you turn this into an asset and make it a positive story for the client? Quite easily! Why was the defect discovered? Thanks to your new defect detection and diagnostic system. In the past, this system wasn’t available, but now it reveals more defects and issues, which will allow the company to significantly improve product quality and reduce defect rates! In the end, you’ve won. You’re the advocate of client interests, implementing systems to reduce defects. Your product just keeps getting better!

Remember, PR is, above all, a system consisting of various interconnected elements. It allows you to effectively manage information flows and establish a productive dialogue with your audience. A skilled specialist knows which information channel will be most relevant to your situation, which format will best resonate with your target audience, and how to ensure that the positive image of your company endures in the market as long as possible.

Now, let’s briefly explore the features of internal PR.

When is Internal PR Especially Useful?

Internal PR represents a carefully developed system for shaping and maintaining the desired image within the company.

The main goals of such PR include:

• Establishing and maintaining trustworthy communication within the team;
• Facilitating interaction between employees and company management;
• Increasing motivation among both key and regular employees;
• Providing information on the company's core values.

It’s crucial for you to cultivate a positive image of the company among your employees. After all, when they communicate both internally and externally, they inevitably share impressions, actively or passively creating the company’s image beyond its walls. Employees who don’t value the company they work for are unlikely to feel motivated to contribute to its success. Sometimes, a single wrong comment at key company events can undo the work of the entire PR department, while uncontrolled communication with the media might even lead to sensitive information ending up in the hands of competitors.

This is why an internal PR approach needs to be even more thorough. A well-planned approach makes it possible to establish a proper information policy within the organization, ultimately fostering a positive company image.

How Beneficial Can PR Technologies Be for Small Businesses?

This is a question we often encounter. And here, the objective is not necessarily to save money but to understand the effectiveness of PR technologies specifically for small businesses. The answer is clear—yes, PR is essential for small businesses, too. If you don’t create the right narrative about your company, someone else will. In small businesses, maintaining the right form of communication with the audience is especially important. Here, it’s essential to carefully craft information triggers and select the most relevant communication channels.

For smaller companies, hiring an in-house PR staff may not be viable; it’s usually easier to outsource PR services to a communications agency. We frequently work with small businesses in the area of PR and can help create a positive image for your products or services.

PR always involves information triggers, and every company has them. The specialist’s task is to make these triggers as significant as possible for your audience.

Thus, the most important tasks for small businesses will include:

• Shaping the desired image;
• Creating promotional messages that highlight advantages;
• Identifying the relevant communication channels with the target audience;
• Reducing costs for creating and placing ads;
• Securing effective target contacts.

To reduce expenses, as small businesses already have limited resources, it’s crucial to:

• Inform the audience about company achievements and benefits;
• Increase internal and external backlink volume;
• Maximize the number of calls, inquiries, and messages by refining feedback channels;
• Publish articles and interviews about the company in the press, which can increase loyal customers and potentially boost competitiveness with larger firms;
• Improve the website’s search engine ranking;
• Avoid irrelevant ad placements and online advertisements.

To achieve all of this, it’s important to first develop a solid marketing strategy, which is relevant for companies of any size. Understanding the benefits of engaging with your target audience helps to reach your marketing goals and create a productive dialogue with potential customers.

Which is More Cost-Effective: An In-House PR Department or Outsourcing Specialists?

You’ve probably considered this question at least once. So, which option is more financially feasible? A well-staffed PR department includes at least three specialists who require monthly salaries, along with the need for a technological base, which might include media contacts, a developed SMM audience, digital projects, services, etc. Building all of this from scratch is neither simple nor time-efficient, and hiring a specialist with a ready “toolkit” can be costly.

It’s usually much cheaper and more productive to sign a contract with a company that already has both experience and a technological base. This way, an outsourced PR specialist can establish your company’s image faster, more affordably, and more effectively.

The key factor when choosing a company should be its number of successful projects over its time in the PR market rather than loud slogans or ads.

What’s the main takeaway here? Even the best PR technologies and well-conducted campaigns are useless if they don’t build a sustainable positive response among your audience. This includes:

• Defining business objectives;
• Developing a business growth strategy;
• Utilizing marketing communications;
• Engaging in PR activities;
• Employing various advertising channels;
• Planning PR events;
• Establishing internal communication systems.

Only when all elements are integrated, without overlooking any part, can you truly form the right trajectory for your business’s growth.