In addition to bringing in funding, launching a crowdfunding campaign can be a powerful and cost-effective tool for startups to execute a successful public relations campaign. By coupling your launch with a strong PR push, you gain added benefits like top tier press mentions and improved brand recognition. There is'also a direct correlation between the amount of media coverage your startup receives and the amount of funds it brings in.
In order to capture the attention of the media, you'll need to put together the right tools and information.
Gather your pitching tools
Journalists are extremely busy and receive hundreds of pitches a day. To prevent your email from being promptly deleted, spend some time crafting a concise (less than 80 characters), attention-grabbing subject line. For the same reason, your email pitch needs to be equally as concise (bullet points are great). Think of your email pitch as a virtual elevator pitch. You'll also want to take time to research some target media contacts to get in touch with.
Here are a few other tips for pitching the press:
Before reaching out to a journalist or blogger, you should do some research to discover who covers your industry and shares your target audience. Make a list of media outlets that you'd like to be in, then find the journalists who covers topics and startups similar to yours. Read a few of their pieces and reference them in your email pitch - it'll show you did your homework.
It's easiest to start your outreach with small media outlets. Once you've got a few of these under your belt, use them as social proof when pitching to medium sized outlets. Top tiered outlets use small and medium sized publications as sources, so use them as social proof when pitching to the big players.
Journalists receive so many emails per day that it's easy to lose some in the shuffle. Follow up your email with another email, a phone call, a tweet - you get the picture. Keep following up until you get a response or feel that the contact has been “saturated.”
Bloggers and online journalists are often paid by the pageview, so when you're featured, be sure to maximize their pageviews. Share the article on all of your social media platforms and email it to friends and family. Ask them to share the article, as well. If journalists equate covering you with a payday, you've just made a great contact for future coverage.
Because online journalism pays by the pageview, journalists must choose the pitches they believe will appeal to the largest audience (and thereby generate the most pageviews). Write your pitch in such a way that your story is relatable to a larger industry issue; this will prove to the journalist that your story will attract a large audience.
Fundable is a software as a service crowdfunding platform. Fundable is not a registered broker-dealer and does not offer investment advice or advise on the raising of capital through securities offerings. Fundable does not recommend or otherwise suggest that any investor make an investment in a particular company, or that any company offer securities to a particular investor. Fundable takes no part in the negotiation or execution of transactions for the purchase or sale of securities, and at no time has possession of funds or securities. No securities transactions are executed or negotiated on or through the Fundable platform. Fundable receives no compensation in connection with the purchase or sale of securities.