Why PR is important for machine learning startups

Machine learning (ML) has become a prevalent subsection of AI. Many businesses in and beyond the tech sector increasingly rely on machine learning to predict outcomes, make processes more efficient, and save time and energy. Even so, ML startups can’t assume that businesses will take to their services like fish to water – they have to establish credibility by building a solid brand reputation through strategic public relations. Here are just a handful of reasons PR is critical for the future success of machine learning companies.

PR helps you clearly define your audience For any startup, one of the most basic – and often one of the hardest – questions to answer is, “Who is your audience?” Obviously, a product is more likely to thrive when it has a broad appeal, but the answer to that question can’t simply be “everyone.” As a machine learning startup, before you begin to reach out to the press, you need to have a target user or industry and accompanying demographics in mind, and you need to know how to get them excited about what you have to offer.

In putting together a PR strategy, machine learning startups should start by clearly defining their audience: research not only the types of businesses that are already incorporating ML services into their operations but also the types that present an opportunity for integrating ML. Get familiar with which sectors your services will suit best – such as finance, content, government, and even publishing – and with their preferred forms of communication. Read the publications and newsletters they read and follow influential industry journalists on social media. The better you know the kinds of stories they look for and what resonates most with them, the more prepared you’ll be to craft key messages for your company that will also speak to relevant customer audiences.

PR challenges you to define your focus and your fit Developing a brand-image-boosting plan to get into the news cycles will force you to lay out the fundamental story, vision, and mission at the core of your startup. It’s particularly important for a machine learning startup to be able to accessibly and succinctly explain not only its goals as a company but the purpose and utility of its technologies, which can seem overly complex to laypeople or non-tech-savvy readers.

In addition, the machine learning industry is growing quickly, which means having a defined sense of brand identity and the value that you bring to the end user will put your startup ahead of competitors. You know the work you do is transforming an industry; the magic lies in relaying to the public exactly how you’re transforming the world through specific use cases they can understand.

Crafting key talking points that express what your company does and how it fits into the greater context of the industry is another crucial part of putting together an effective tech PR strategy. If your startup has a distinctive story behind its founding, that’s another great tool you can use to set yourself apart from the crowd. Origin stories are great for connecting with journalists, potential users, and even investors.

PR puts you in touch with the right contacts Once you’ve defined your audience and set down the messages, the next step is to assemble the contacts who can help spread the word about your business. Machine learning startups can benefit enormously from connecting with journalists that cover not only AI beats but also the industries in which your technology will be used. Cultivating relationships with reporters at your desired publications is instrumental to building brand recognition with potential customers.

That said, relationships with journalists are a two-way street. If you hope to interact with them meaningfully, you shouldn’t merely bombard them with company announcements and stories that you believe are worthy of their time and ink; you need to recognize their needs in turn. For example, when you see a reporter looking for expert commentary on machine learning topics, you can provide insights to help them with their article.

Keeping an eye open for these commentary opportunities and rising to the occasion of responding to them requires the same diligence as selecting publications and reporters for outreach in the first place. Devote the same kind of research to the outlets and writers you want to cultivate relationships with that you devote to potential customers. The payoff is undeniable: gaining credibility with these media contacts can even potentially lead to speaking opportunities at events, on podcasts, and so on, which will again allow you to share your story, key messages, and expertise all at once.

If you don't already have a network of journalists or don't have time to establish one yourself, a good tech PR agency will have contacts already in place and will understand how best to reach out to those journalists.

PR primes the pump for future success

At this point in its evolution, machine learning as an industry is well-known to the people who use it and lesser known to everyone else. But it won’t always be this way, and the startups of today have a big hand in determining how machine learning, the media, and the public interact in the future. 

Getting an original entrepreneurial effort off the ground is a big accomplishment and should be celebrated, but the fact that you exist doesn’t guarantee that journalists will want to write about you. By creating a PR strategy to define your audience, your unique selling points, and your brand story, you will be well-equipped to connect with the journalists who can make that coverage happen for you.