TL;DR
Develop your messaging before you talk to the press.
The more you practice and internalize, the better you’ll be “on the fly.”
Don’t be casual with your company stats.
Developing your brand’s key messages is an essential exercise at the company’s earliest stages - ideally before there is a lot of attention on your company and definitely before a formal corporate announcement. Even before you take steps toward building out a PR function - like bringing someone in house or retaining the services of an agency - you’ll want to get your story straight.
You know your company better than anyone - can’t you just wing it? It’s true that some people are genuinely better on the fly. But being good on the fly comes from truly knowing and internalizing your brand’s messaging. Even the act of developing your messaging will help you come off as more authentic when speaking publicly. Clearly articulated brand messages help keep everyone on the same page when speaking about your company to various audiences. This becomes essential as your company grows and you have multiple people speaking about the brand.
Messaging isn’t just for reporters; these storylines will help you develop your sales decks, investor presentations, website copy, social media posts, ads, recruitment conversations, and so much more. Your brand’s messaging answers questions like: Who are you? What problem are you solving and how are you solving it? Why should people care right now? What’s the ultimate impact you are trying to have? Our earlier post provides some specific exercises on generating your company’s ethos, which serves as the basis of your brand messages.
To generate the content needed for a PR event of any type - from funding announcement to a product launch - you’ll need to surface the information, stories, facts, and data that are relevant to reporters and other audiences. Taking the time to develop your messaging package is about doing exactly that.
The anatomy of a key messaging package:
There’s no need to memorize answers to every single question a reporter might ask. Not only is this inauthentic, it’s not very effective. Pro communicators understand that the better approach is to cultivate good media training habits and understand which key messages they are trying to get across. That’s where “packaging” your messaging comes in. It’s important to practice and articulate (literally speak out loud to a mirror, a friend, a spouse, etc.) the messages before you sit down for an actual interview. You’re bound to sound more natural and fluid if you aren’t saying the messages for the first time in front of a journalist.
Headline - Of course you don’t get to decide which headline will run but taking the time to actually imagine what a dream headline might be helps you stay on topic. A beneficial headline might include the company name, elements of your brand promise, and even your brand’s key value props. It should be in line with your overall brand messaging, and importantly, in line with reality. Think: “Company X Raises $42M Series B to Bring Safe & Reliable Healthcare to Senior Citizens,” not “Health Startup Secures Second Funding Round.”
Talking points - Take the time to break your message down into 3-5 component parts. If it takes more than that, your message is probably too complicated. You don’t need to memorize your talking points verbatim - they are more of a quick checklist of things to say.
Supporting facts & stats - For each of your talking points, make sure you have some type of hard data. This might be an interesting fact that underscores the thing you’re talking about, or it might be a proprietary stat. Real, relevant numbers can help tell your story. They also help you get coverage. A reporter’s job is to write about news - and numbers are often an effective way to communicate something new or interesting.
Illustrative Anecdotes - Numbers are helpful, but not enough to get your message to pull through. That’s where stories come in. Think about the way you see politicians incorporating stories about a plumber they met in Iowa, or a school teacher from Ohio. There’s a reason they all do this - people relate to and remember stories. Surface interesting case studies or testimonials that support your talking points. Keep these pithy, like you’re telling someone a story at a party.
Supporting Art - Having “art” at the ready helps speed up the pace of coverage and can further encourage certain outlets to report on your news. Product shots, founder headshots, photos of users, and b-roll all work. And be sure to always have a high-res version of your logo handy. Take the time to title each file according to what’s actually in the photo (include your company name) to help with search.
Other Collateral - It’s also helpful to have additional pieces of collateral at the ready. This can include giving the journalist access to a client for an interview, an investor quote, etc. These items add meat to the story.
Your FAQ document:
In addition to prepping your key messaging package, assembling a formal Media FAQ document can be an incredibly useful way to prep yourself. Imagine the questions a reporter might ask - about your specific announcement, your company in general (company origin story, vision, impact, etc.), or even current events and trends that pertain to your industry. With each question, practice pivoting back to your key messages. This isn’t about spinning or avoiding the questions, it’s about conditioning yourself to find the bridges that will help your key messages pull through. These might feel awkward at first, but you’ll eventually develop the muscle memory to do this seamlessly in real-time. Keep your FAQ document updated as you find answers that work for you, and review it before each interview.
A quick note on press releases:
Developing your key messaging package will surface the content you need to draft your pitch and announcement. For early stage startups, formal press releases aren’t always needed. A personalized post from your founder on the company blog or Medium does the same thing in a more intimate (and less expensive) way. Use your messaging package to draft that blog post as well as your pitch email that will be sent to reporters about your news. We’ll dig more into how to pitch the press and how to craft a press announcement in future posts.
And a few notes on company statistics:
1. Know when to hold ‘em. It’s up to you whether or not you want to release a particular metric. It’s the job of a reporter to ask for numbers that provide information - like revenue and growth. But if you’re not ready to share these metrics yet, just say so. You can always respond simply: “We’re not disclosing those numbers at this time.”
2. Which format should your statistic take? 50% isn’t the same as 2 out of 4, which is totally different than one-half. Think of your stat like a story you’re telling, and try out a few different ways to relay it. As a general rule, percentages are more ambiguous than hard numbers.
3. Don’t make ghosts. Don’t exaggerate your stats. It might seem like a good idea now, but part of the value of press coverage is that it generates a public record of your company’s growth. If you exaggerate numbers today, they’ll make tomorrow’s real numbers seem less impressive. Don’t haunt yourself.
Additional Inputs:
As always, I'm available to chat about your PR strategy or anything else marketing related. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to me at jamie@fuelcapital.com.