Don’t Pitch, Inform for Positive PR in Startup Tech Companies

Positive PR is a must to generate interest in your startup tech company, but nobody is going to read a sales pitch. Instead, use quality information to build your authority and get noticed.

Startup tech entrepreneur and current HubSpot CTO Dharmesh Shah cites an important distinction you need to understand in order to use PR outlets effectively: you can’t just use media outlets to sell your company. The only articles that people read are the ones full of real, valuable information.

Does this mean you can’t use press releases or social media to sell your product or services? Of course not! It just means that selling to people can’t be your primary goal.

Why Pitches are Worthless

In the PR world, no reader is going to tolerate a sales pitch. The telltale signs of being sold to are obvious, bloated, and downright annoying for most of the population. You can tell the old, recycled, uninspired content for its high proportions of buzzwords, insincerity, and focus on talking up the company it is designed to promote. People are bombarded with advertising on a constant basis, and have evolved a “B.S. filter” that ignores straightforward sales pitches.

The Power of Quality Content

Your audience wants to read relevant, insightful information, so that’s what you need to provide to them. This is what’s going to get and keep their attention and make the effort worthwhile for both you and your potential customers. Instead of droning on about your startup technology, no matter how cool it is, focus on identifying important elements around your technology that are truly important to your audience.

When your primary goal is to inform your audience, you become an authority—only then can you mention information about your company. Again, your sales intent needs to take a distant backseat to the presentation of quality content.

Takeaways:

Focus on what you would want to read if you were your ideal reader. What would genuinely grab your interest?
Provide a value. If your reader isn’t going to walk away with anything other than information about your products and services, don’t bother trying to syndicate it.
Keep your descriptions short. There’s no problem with casually mentioning your company’s products and services, but the fewer words you spend on it, the better.

About the Author

Jose Vasquez is a serial entrepreneur and tech specialist dedicated to helping startup tech companies grow and succeed. As the founder of Build. Brand. Blast., Jose has worked with dozens of enterprises to find direction, gain momentum, and achieve results.