The Pre-PR Checklist for Tech Startups

Reaching a stage with your startup business where you feel ready to work with a PR agency is an exciting milestone. It means that you not only have a story to tell about your brand, but you’re ready for people to hear it. It also means you’re thinking about your business in new terms -- in public ones, as part and parcel of a larger conversation within and beyond your industry.

If you’re new to the process, the public relations industry can seem frustratingly opaque. You might have an idea of what you need and want out of startup- and tech-oriented PR firms, but it can be difficult to know exactly what to bring to the table in order to start that process.

So before you set a meeting, make sure you have the following ready to go:

1. A full photography portfolio

There’s no brand visibility if your brand isn’t visually ready. This starts with a professionally-designed logo -- a vector file or high-resolution PNG -- not the 62-kilobyte JPG image floating around the company Slack. Your core design decisions should be pretty much set in stone, including a designated color scheme and font profile. A unified and precise design scheme projects professionalism, and anything less can be glaringly obvious.

You’ll also need publication-ready photographs -- shot by a professional, not your coworker’s iPhone, ideally at 300 dpi. Have a file ready to go with well-lit portraits of public-facing company leadership along with high-resolution product photography that showcases your product and its most important features. Potential clients sometimes forget to have photos of their products in context, but those are essential. If you’re building an app for buying concert tickets, you’ll need an image of someone using it on their smartphone outside a music venue. If it’s AI integration for an office, have an image of someone using it on a laptop in a meeting with coworkers.

2. Video content

We love the introductory video, particularly because it’s one of the quickest and most appealing ways to tell your story. You can use eye-catching animation with voiceover narration to highlight product capabilities and features. You can feature company leaders and position them as experts in their field or down-to-earth thinkers who noticed a problem and set out to solve it. No matter how you approach video content, hire a professional and start early. Good videos take time to make, from well-written script to concise final edit. Try not to repurpose old video content if you can help it. Start from the beginning with an idea, a tone, and a message. Remember that this is a friendly introduction, not a full-blown investor presentation, so try to keep it no longer than one minute or so.

3. Social accounts across all major platforms

You don’t need us to tell you social media is integral to your brand visibility. You should have official handles locked down across all major social media networks that are relevant to your brand -- and yes, PR pros will ask about this very early on. It’s fine if you’re not already posting, but you should know how much you do or don’t want social media to be a core part of your public-facing strategy. Either way, you’ll need those accounts made and looking sharp -- no blank bios, please!

4. A flawless, up-to-date website

At the absolute minimum, have a custom URL and home page. Hire a web designer to make it look polished. Nothing gives you away like an obvious Squarespace template. There shouldn’t be any broken links or messy code. A simple “coming soon” front page is perfectly fine if that’s where you are in your release schedule, but the full site must be ready to go live in sync with your launch announcement. Nothing deflates an incredible launch heralded by terrific press like a website that isn’t ready the moment people start wanting to know more about your company.

5. An idea of who you’re talking to (and how)

Once your internet presence and visual branding are sorted, you’ll need to have a general idea of what you want out of PR. You may know what you want to say, but who exactly do you want to speak to? Are you looking to raise brand awareness among the general public? Do you want to generate serious interest from a select group of potential investors in a specific industry? Have an answer to these questions, even if you’re not sure what the most important part of your story is just yet.

This brings us to the delivery. What kind of brand voice suits your product? Some brands are confident and of the moment. Some are funny and approachable. Others are more level-headed, data-focused, and analytical. Others still position themselves as indispensable to their industries and thus authoritative. What about your brand?

6. An idea of what you want out of PR

Once you know who you want to talk to and how you want to sound, it’s on to nailing down the framework that will define how your tech PR firm crafts your story. To do that, you’ll need to be able to tell your potential PR team who your competitors are, where your brand is headed (and how quickly), and what sets you apart.

You’ll also need to be able to tell a PR firm what you’re looking for, so they can help you decide if it’s the right fit. Do you want a PR agency specializing in startups? A high-tech PR agency? No matter what you decide, it’s important to go in with realistic expectations. We don’t have to tell you that there is no formula for viral success and that high-quality press mentions will beat a glut of low-traffic posts every time. That said, great things should feel possible with your PR firm. Brand management and promotion should feel like a collaborative process and a shared goal.

Once your PR partnership is up and running, it’s crucial to keep asking if you’re getting what you need out of public relations, whether you still believe you and your agency are in this together, and if your agency is capable of adjusting quickly and intelligently to the shifts that inevitably arise when launching and leading a startup. Big and small changes -- everything from logos to leadership -- are par for the course, and with those changes come needed adjustments to your branding, strategy, and the messages you’re sending. The right PR pros will take this on fearlessly and successfully. Don’t settle for anything less.