The power of great media coverage to drive brand awareness and initial interest in a startup’s offerings is without dispute.
What isn’t well known, however, is that PR also propels buyers into and down the sales funnel. It even helps B2B tech sales teams by enriching their sales enablement content as they seek to close more deals.
Swyft has illustrated, and also explained below, how PR positively impacts a tech startup’s sales funnel.
Above the Funnel
PR Campaigns — Funding News, Product Launch News
As buyers begin the process of researching or even acknowledging that they have a problem, the power of PR to promote a startup to a broader audience will quickly put them in the running. Buyers may see an article in an online tech publication, posted by a media outlet on social media or included as part of a daily email news digest a media outlet shares. Regardless of the attribution source, media coverage improves a startup’s visibility.
In the process of creating brand awareness, PR provides the kind of demand uplift a startup needs to fuel rapid growth. Everybody remembers reviews and customer stories about a startup as reported by journalists; these stories become powerful motivators for others seeking similar answers to their needs. What’s more, this coverage creates social validation that in turn results in more organic, direct and referral online search queries, all of which leads to higher levels of website traffic and leads that are faster converting than ordinary raw leads.
Top of Funnel
Demand Generation:
PR Campaigns — Funding News, Founder News, Industry Vertical News, Product Launch News
PR informs the buyer’s journey both above and at the top of the funnel, with PR growing awareness of an early stage tech startup, extending it beyond its existing audience to reach prospects, influencers, media and even investors. When funding articles get covered in national and local tech and business news outlets, startups experience a massive uplift in brand awareness. Articles in respected news media serve up traffic either directly (Referral source) from the article or through Direct and Organic search. Mentions of a startup in tech news media social posts drive further brand awareness and engagement, which also increases website traffic, brand buzz and SEO goodness.
Leads:
PR Campaigns — Product News, Industry News, Founder News
Greater website traffic driven by articles in respected media websites with high domain authority (DA) benefits your startup’s SEO activities, allowing you to be found through Organic, Direct and Referral sources. Favorable media coverage from objective 3rd party media outlets rev up the emotional investment buyers bring to the initial research and review process. Combined with a well optimized website and effective web content strategy, startups will successfully convert inbound traffic stemming either directly or indirectly from news media coverage.
Middle of Funnel
Marketing qualified leads:
PR Campaigns — Product News, Industry News, Customer News Coverage, Executive Bylines, Industry and Business Awards
PR serves as a stronger source of validation for buyers as they begin to hone in on their favorite purchasing options. While buyers in the form of Leads will continue to engage with marketing assets, they are also on the lookout for company news in a variety of sources — tech news outlets, industry vertical news outlets, LinkedIn, etc. Media coverage from respected news outlets gives buyers a defensible reason to engage more deeply with the startup, and it opens the door to a more emotional connection that makes closing the sale even easier.
Bottom of Funnel
Sales qualified leads:
PR Campaigns — Product News, Industry News, Customer News Coverage, Executive Bylines, Industry and Business Awards
Sales teams take over once an MQL becomes an SQL. But the fact-finding and competitive evaluations continue, making ongoing media coverage even more valuable as the buyer’s seek a clear winner.
Media coverage at BOFU helps make the case with continued favorable product news, customer success news, industry awards, and much more. Objective, 3rd party validation such as this provides both logical and emotional rationalizations for picking the startup over an entrenched competitor.
Sales teams can use media placements and award announcements as part of their ongoing one-on-one prospect engagement, providing them with an excuse to reach out and keep the buyers in the loop. Buyers involved in a complex, multi-month purchase tend to rely upon more sources of information, and media coverage still ranks as one of the better sources of unbiased product information to factor into a final buying decision.