Why Understanding Your Startup’s Targeted Audience is Important in PR

I recently shared some public relations (PR) tips with a group of entrepreneurs at a Microsoft Bizspark event. Most of the tips have already been posted here, but I will address one big point I covered at the event but somehow missed in that post I just linked: understand your purpose and target audience when doing PR.

For example, if your target audience is Asia, then I reckon that getting covered on SGE, e27, Dailysocial, Startup Dating, and on this very blog you’re reading now could be more effective than going after American tech blogs. If your targeted audience is in the Western part of the world, then getting covered on TNW and TechCrunch might be more helpful. Of course, if you drill down to country specifics, then you should really look at hyper-local media in their own local languages, too.

The tech media’s audience is usually developers, entrepreneurs, and investors. So that means if your purpose is to get more users through PR (say for a food app), then the tech press can only bring you early adopters who like testing out new apps. But your core audience is likely food lovers who can be found on food blogs or culinary magazines. So it often makes more sense to go after journalists who write for your core audience.

Some folks might ask why this matters anyway because it is best to get covered on as many sites as possible. While that is true, I think knowing your targeted audience will help you formulate a better PR strategy. For example, if your target audience is business people in Japan, you might consider giving exclusives to Nikkei rather than giving them to us. You will also likely want to build good relationships with reporters from Nikkei and maybe the Japan Times.

For more tips, you can refer to the deck below. It isn’t a complete guide and I’m sure there are way more experienced PR people out there. If you have more tips to share, please do so in the comments.