When it comes to PR strategies, it is important to keep in mind that each field needs a specific approach and study, because in each field the objectives, interlocutors, tone of voice, and the titles and media to be addressed change.
(Thus, to take full advantage of PR, it is important to rely on a team that has cross-functional skills and at the same time can deal with so many areas with extreme depth.)
There are several areas that we have touched in Disclosers since we started as an agency (thanks to a team of 25 people): food, lifestyle, fashion, beauty, real estate, hospitality, marketing, HR, entertainment, education, finance, healthcare, music, tech and many others.
For this reason, we thought we would share a series of tips and insights related to some of the contexts in which we have worked, including examples of how we have implemented PR actions in projects of various companies and market niches.
Today we are talking about PR for tech companies, a sphere in which there is an important share of innovation and in which technicalities sometimes tend to prevail. Moreover, this is a sphere in which it is crucial to develop communication capable of breaking down some "barriers of distrust."
If then in the range of this branch, we look at a specific segment and, in particular, that of startups, we are also faced with other issues and needs:
- Capturing the attention of new investors
- Attracting new talent to the company
- Grow your customer base (quickly)
- Scaling up your business
These are some of the steps that, for example, every startup has to go through, and PR, at the communication level, helps build a foundation of trust between company and stakeholders.
But embracing the tech sector more broadly, how can we build truly effective Media Relations strategies?
Impact, practical examples and market analysis
We asked our PR Executive Micaela Longo, who shared with us some tips that can be applied to an effective communication plan to build good brand reputation and awareness that attracts the attention of talent, users, customers and investors.
PR for tech is quite specific, as it must communicate the values, features, and innovation most often of a new product not yet on the market, so it is important to follow certain steps to achieve the predetermined goals:
- Focus on what problem does it solve technology
- Focused On the social impact generating
- Use simple words to explain complex concepts
- Do practical examples Don't just explain on a theoretical level
- Educate on technology you're talking about, especially if it's half-unknown
- It's not just the big names that matter to everyone, often it is more the mission that makes the difference (difficulty: most journalists only publish if some investor puts their face on it)
- Take advantage of current events and trends market to express opinions
- Always use data to corroborate what you tell
- Analyze the market and make predictions with the client To place it on warheads also read by investors
Data selection and attention to timing
Our PR Manager Valeria Volpato told us about a case study example with one of our clients:
"In October for our client Unguess, a company active in the crowdsourcing industry, we produced a black friday-themed press release.
In detail, the content, in collaboration with Scalapay, was going to analyze the sentiment of Italians, French and Spaniards towards this highly anticipated anniversary. Given the extensive data on which the press release was based, and wanting to anticipate many other potentially similar releases on the topic, we started working on the content as early as the beginning of October.
It was not easy to condense such a broad topic with such interesting numbers into a few words, yet we managed to produce a text that journalists appreciated and thanks to which we obtained more than 40 articles: from Ansa to Repubblica, from Avvenire to Wall Street Italia, many of the most important national newspapers picked up on it."
To summarize, three important keys were as follows:
- identification of the more interesting data from the media point of view
- preparation in advance of contents
- focus on a short communication (condense the news into a few lines)
Cultivating curiosity
One aspect not to be forgotten is curiosity, a key ingredient for those who interface with innovation on a daily basis, allows one to broaden horizons and always acquire new skills as well as develop the ability to analyze various contexts from multiple points of view.
To keep up to date, Micaela recommends:
- the podcast "Mr. gadget daily" by Luca Viscardi
- Daniele Semeraro's newsletter "New tech trend"
You may also have realized that PR takes time and effort, so working with a PR agency that has a competent team in this area can be invaluable for a technology company that wants to focus on developing its reputation.
Of course, this is true for any company, but particularly for tech companies, because of the rapid pace at which new technologies evolve, which then risks leaving behind those who do not position themselves relevantly in their field.
