10 PR Tips For Start-ups in Asia

Praying is one way to get covered. But there are other ways.

With little budget, using public relations (PR) tactics to gain exposure for your start-up is one of the most cost effective promotional methods. And as a blogger, I do have some points to share with fellow entrepreneurs in Asia on how to do PR in an efficient manner.

Here are ten tips, starting from the most obvious:

1. Before you pitch, make sure that your product is ready

We often receive pitches from start-ups whose products are still in an early stage. Common bugs are fine but the core functions of the product need to be up and running at least. How else do you expect bloggers to test them? And let me warn you that it’s a definite no to just pitch in your idea without a working product.re

2. Keep the pitch short and sweet

Can you describe your start-up in a couple of sentences? Why is it remarkable? If you can’t explain, then that’s a problem. At PO, we always ask ourselves what’s awesome/interesting about news items we receive before writing them. So you need to be clear to really capture bloggers’ attention. A video would help a lot too. Services like Screenflow or Camtasia are useful for this, and are pretty simple to use. There are others here. And don’t forget to upload it to YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and try Youku or Tudou for China-based audiences. It makes video embedding simpler for us.

3. If you’re a localized clone, admit it, and focus on strengths

For clones, just tell the blogger that you’re basically a “me too” product. (Since there’s no way to hide it.) Instead, focus on your strengths. Tell us how you have localized your start-up to suit certain markets and achieve success by doing that. That’s considered innovation too and many bloggers will find that an interesting angle to work on.

4. Reply to press inquiries promptly

This will help writers get their stories out faster, rather than having to wait for your email. If you delay your reply, you also risk your email getting buried under other pitches which bloggers may tend to forget about your start-up. In short, the trick is to keep them interested by giving them what they want asap. It makes writers’ jobs easier too.

5. Building relationships with bloggers

The worst thing that you could ever do is to treat bloggers as content generator machines. Smart founders will understand that building relationships with bloggers works like magic. It increases the chances of you getting coverage, if for no other reason that if you’re friends, the writer is going to know more about your company and about your own mindset. And if they know they can easily call you and get a quote, it’s going to be more convenient for them to write stories about you than it is for them to write about some stranger’s startup.

6. Meet them, if possible