Weaving in PR & communications into your start up business plan

Taking a nose-dive into starting your own business seems to be the flavor of the past few season. Today, entrepreneurs come in all different ages, backgrounds, and experience levels, and in fairness, there have been success stories across all different types of entrepreneurs. Most start ups begin on a shoe-string budget when it comes to marketing their products, services or ideas, and look at public relations as a cost-effective way to get the word out in the market and drive their business plan. While this is true, there are aspects founders should keep in mind while putting PR/Communications at the center of their business marketing strategy.

Think Past Your ProductYou may have built a killer product, but that alone, can’t propel your product to the consumer. A communication strategy should think past the product and focus on the consumer pain points the product addresses. These pain points, or more importantly, the eradication of which makes your product great should we woven into your brand story, and further into your vision and mission for the company itself. If your product can’t solve a problem or if you can’t communicate what problem it really solves, then why should anyone care about your product?

Your Brand Is Not The Focal Point, The Consumer IsContent will lead the way, but every piece of content has to be molded from a consumer point of view. Using consumer insights to understand their fears, aspirations and desires will help you to create relevant content that truly connects with your consumer. More than process, it is an ideology of keeping the customer in focus, not just in making the product, but while communicating about it as well.

Patience Is A VirtueThere are tens of thousands of products communicating millions of messages to billions of people every day. Why should you not wait in line? PR/Communications is like exercise, the results do not show on Day 1, but a disciplined communication regiment backed by smart, relevant and clutter breaking content can give your brand sustained and long term results. And if you want to cut in front of the line, go back and read point number 2!

Who is your TG?Most start-ups will claim that there product is relevant and for everyone. This maybe true, but even Alexander the Great, arguably the greatest warrior of all time, won one fight at a time standing on the front-line every battle. Recognize who the earliest adopters to your product are live their life. Run your business in their shoes, and be the customer when developing content and communication strategies. This hyper personalized approach will help you fight one battle at a time in your quest to conquer the world with your product.

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Aniruddha Atul Bhagwat

Co-Founder & Director |Ideosphere Consulting

Don’t Be A Control FreakThere are numerous mediums to communicate with your consumer. Pick the ones that are relevant and consumed most by them, and most importantly, don’t try and control the medium. You cant. Control what you can: your message. Understand each medium and respective media to mold your communication to fit their agenda of delivering quality content to their readers and consumers. Start ups need to be realistic in terms of what story fits what medium, and while ambition is great, it should not be a blind one. A realistic and focused control on the message and expectations from each message will help deliver optimum results for a brand.

Using public relations as central core of your marketing engine maybe cost optimum, but it’s not easy. If, as a brand team, you are not willing to put in work, face rejection and criticism, and be patient, then unfortunately, PR is not for you. The long-term effects of a good communication strategy can help propel your brand to newer heights. As they say, things that come fast often go just as fast. Results of PR/Communication don’t come fast but are definitely worth waiting for.