PR agencies help clients create and maintain your brand reputation through earned (media clips) and owned (content for your brand’s channels) media. They come with press relationships and awareness of editorial and event calendars and can craft and pitch stories, prepare you for media interviews, write and distribute press releases, build and disseminate surveys, and handle crisis management. They can also offer outside perspectives to help you manage your and your stakeholders' expectations about what the outside world will find interesting about what you're building.

Additional activities include growth marketing/lead generation, product marketing, content marketing, and syndication.

External-facing brand assets, marketing decks, customer-facing collateral, website copy, press releases, and content all require a framework of messaging that can help your business achieve its goals. Below are activities informed and enabled by those assets:

1. Reputation management
2. Executive presence/thought leadership
3. Customer testimonials and surveys
4. Media relations
5. Interview prep/media training
6. Stakeholder communication including distribution partners and local officials/regulators
7. Internal communication
8. Market research
9. Speech writing
10. Events
11. Crisis management‍

What all these activities require are crisp and compelling messaging that support your business. If someone on your team can handle many of these responsibilities but needs additional help crafting and improving messaging and supporting the outreach and amplification, a PR consultant or agency can be effective partners. Here are things to consider when considering a PR firm.

Sequencing your brand/comms work is everything. You may find that it’s too soon to hire external people because you first need to build your brand story, customer testimonials and overall impact, and insights about your field. If you don't have someone on your team to do this, a PR firm or strategist can help you do this early and important strategy work. You need enough happening in the company to be able to start pitching media.

Is the right time to pitch media when you’ve raised money? No. Today, the act of raising money is not a differentiated enough story. There are fewer media outlets than ever, so it will be important to work with your team or a PR firm to identify what is newsworthy and help you prepare to tell a more interesting story.

If you’re early and you’re seeking to recruit talented engineers, the stories may be rooted in the founding team (founder-market fit) and the unique way that you’re approaching a difficult problem. Make sure to focus on the audience you’re trying to reach and the goal you’re trying to help them achieve.

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Your narrative has to have enough of a stretch, and your story needs to be emotional—not transactional. That said, it also needs some data, results, and market share before it will catch the interest of the media.

5 reasons to work on earned and owned media

Here’s why it’s important to start crafting your messaging now:

1. Recruiting: Make key hires by telling and sharing a differentiated story.
2. Sales: Shorten sales cycles, and deliver quality leads in the fastest possible way.
3. Customers: Increase retention and acquisition through a campaign that includes earned media.
4. Competitive landscape: Differentiate against the competition, and drive awareness to leverage industry opportunities.
5. Fundraising: Build momentum and excitement about your company and your leadership before you begin fundraising.
   

Why you should identify a point person for the firm

It’s never too soon to think about identifying someone internally who can start to build a communications plan. Whether internal or a firm, they can help you strategize and execute on:

1. Identify key audiences you want to reach
2. Developing content and gathering data and insights and testimonials that establish you as an expert in the field
3. Goals for each and timing
4. Channels, assets, third-party experts: What content and insights (#2) might interest identified stakeholders that you want on your side?
5. Media relations: Who already covers you? Start following them, and listen before engaging.

Hiring a PR agency does not mean that you’ve outsourced the work. Be prepared to carve out time to work on your content and work with outside agencies and consultants helping you craft your message and pitch on your behalf. Be ready to treat them like an extension of your team. Be honest with them about what is so impactful about what you’re building and what you want to achieve with them.