Article authored by Lucy Moore, account director at Refresh PR
There’s never been a better time to be a UK technology business – whether you’re a start-up or long-established company with a firm footing in the sector. Want proof? Britain’s technology sector attracted £2.5bn worth of VC investment in 2018 – far more than any other European country.
But with a burgeoning digital economy, there’s increasing competition for businesses that need that all-important funding to ensure they can continue to push forward. With new tech businesses springing up by the dozen – on a daily basis – ensuring your business is compelling enough to secure that ever elusive funding is crucial.
So exactly how can tech businesses get noticed in an increasingly-saturated market? And where can owners find the time to make this happen alongside product development, growing the team, scaling up, innovating, undertaking R&D, or any of the other critical focuses of an innovative tech company.
For companies with their heads in any of these focuses, it’s easy to see why marketing often falls to the bottom of the pile. And with PR and marketing options often feeling like a minefield, how can time-strapped entrepreneurs choose which tactics will benefit them most? Of course, that’s down to the goals and objectives of each individual organisation, but there are number of ways to get you started.
Figure out what you need from marketing
It’s easy to fall down the route of taking a scatter gun approach to marketing, particularly in the early stages. This can, however, leave you time poor, stressed, and unable to realise all of the opportunities afforded to you through it. Start working out your marketing aim by asking yourself why you need it and how it can feed in to your wider business goals.
Cleverly thought out PR and marketing campaigns can help you achieve a number of core business objectives - from gearing your business up for investment or sale, to launching a new product or increasing sales – so it’s crucial you identify the business need and mould your marketing around it. You’re probably reading this article because you have an interest in how you can use marketing to secure investment, so you’re already half way there!
Spend time building your brand
It’s a busy time to be a tech investor right now, with some of the UK’s top tech investors likely assessing the merits and viability of thousands of companies each week. It’s important to remember that when it comes to marketing, experienced investors have seen it all before and know all the tricks in the book when it comes to how you position yourself and your offering. As a result, businesses need to ensure they’re doing even more to cut through the noise.
Invest in building a strong vision and clear value proposition, as well as bottoming out what makes you different and coming up with your key USPs – whether they are centred around your technology itself, your people, or how you do things. Whatever they are, make sure they’re ACTUALLY different from those of your competitors – and prove it.
Then, be creative with how you deliver your proposition. Investors assess so many companies each year that you’ll need creative delivery in order to stand out. The lead up to actually meeting investors can be long, and companies should be building their brand way before this time comes in a creative way, so that by the time you get in the room, they’re already half sold.
Think about what investors want to hear and build that into your comms strategy
Yes, bottom line is always going to be most important to potential investors, but it doesn’t stop there. They’ll want to know that your business plan is bulletproof, you have a solid management team, you’re a good fit culturally with them, and that your business slots into their current investment portfolio well.
If you’re targeting your business at specific investors, rather than more generically, it’s a wise idea to research their portfolio, how they communicate externally, and how they position themselves, and mould your approach around this. Making it easy for them to see how you fit into their portfolio and are therefore a ‘safe bet’ will make it easier for them to say yes.
Work out what media your potential investors are consuming
In an ever-changing communications landscape, it can be extremely difficult to keep up. From national and trade press, to print to online media, to social channels and industry events, there are countless ways to reach potential investors.
While it’s advisable to do a full channel audit in advance, a good starting point would be the business sections in the national broadsheet papers and national news broadcasters, as well as specific investment trade titles. However, getting into these publications isn’t easy. You need to send the right story, at the right time, to the right journalist. You might have an in-house person that is well versed in doing this and has brilliant relationships with important journalists, however, if you don’t it can be hard to cut through. This is where many businesses seek the advice of a specialist.
A good comms agency will know exactly the right angle for the specific media you want to target, the messages they want to hear, and when they want to hear it. They will also work with you to ensure your business is positioned in the right light and your key messages are incorporated.
When you’ve figured out all this, THEN think about what you need to do on a tactical level
Only when you’ve got your marketing and comms strategy laid out, can you start thinking about tactics. Whether that’s coming up with a great content plan – aimed at securing exposure in key media titles, driving traffic back to your company website, and positioning you as a thought leader in your field.
Or maybe you decide to invest your time in events – which can be a great way of meeting likeminded people and sharing your story. And if the event is high profile enough, there will almost certainly be investors there scoping out their next investment. Securing a speaker or panellist slot is a great way of raising your profile and demonstrating expertise on key topics, themes or issues.
Or maybe it’s investor-led networking – ensuring you make time to find the events you know investors will either be at, or take notice of. The more people you meet, the more you’ll be able to spread the word about what you do: simple. While it can be difficult to find time to get out to these events, if you select them wisely, they can bring huge benefits.
Market your way to the top
It’s an exciting time to be a tech business. However, those companies keen to secure the funding to continue to grow must understand the importance marketing plays in this. With so many businesses fighting for the attention of investors, clever businesses must devise a marketing strategy that makes them stand out, or if the expertise and resource is unavailable in house, seek the help of a professional to do this for them.
