The Ultimate Guide to PR for Startups

The Ultimate PR Guide for Startups by
ENTERIE
author: Andrzej Jędrzejczak

About The Guide
Everything you need to know about PR for tech startups which want to start an active,
effective and well organized communication
PR for tech startups has its own characteristic. It so happens, that tech startups are the
biggest client group for Enterie – PR agency network for digital economy. We have decided
to gather all our experience, as well as daily dilemmas of our clients, to create this ultimate
guide to PR for tech startups.
The guide is dedicated to PR managers and specialists responsible for communications in
their organizations. We hope you will find here answers for all, or most of your questions
regarding PR – techniques, activities, prices etc. – and this text will help you to successfully
set up, run and develop your communication, both in your home countries and on markets
where you choose to scale up. And if you need more tailored advice – do not hesitate to
contact us!

Table of content
1. How to plan
2. How to organize
3. How to manage
4. How much to pay
5. How to do
6. How to scale up

How to plan PR for startups
ARE YOU READY FOR PR ?
Answer to this question is crucial, and more
difficult than it seems to be. Therefore some
leading questions might be helpful here:
Is my business stable enough?
Especially at the beginning of its development,
startups tend to change their business model,
target groups, or even the industry and services
they offer. Public relations activities are usually a
long run. So it makes no sense to invest in building
awareness and reputation for something that can
change in a minute?
Do I have resources to run PR activities?
Even if PR is sometimes called (completely
wrongly) a “free advertisement” in fact it always
requires time and work.
Even if you hire a PR agency, you will need to
invest your time in introducing your company and
explaining your business. After that you will have
to feed your consultants with information,
authorize materials and oversee activities. Make
sure you have time and/or a manpower.
What PR goals do I want to achieve?
If not, maybe you do not need PR services at all? It
is very unlikely – all organizations have to
communicate with its various stakeholders. It is
important to do it deliberately. To define goals,
you can use the help of PR agency. But you can
also start with this guide.

How to plan PR for startups
WHAT ARE SENSIBLE GOALS FOR PR?
▪ To build reputation and credibility on the
market. Information about your business
coming from journalists is always better seen
than paid ads
▪ To educate the market about your services and
technologies – especially these innovative ones
– as well as needs you help fulfill
▪ To support sales – without objective
information about your new products and
services it will be hard to win clients’ trust.
However, “to support” does not mean “to
drive”
WHAT OTHER GOALS CAN PR SUPPORT?
▪ To build brand awareness on B2B market –
especially in market niches served by industry
media
▪ To support website positioning in search
engines, by gaining inbound links from high-
worth domains
▪ To build your expert image in respective field
▪ To enforce your brand as an employer
▪ To drive investor attention
WHEN IT IS BETTER TO USE OTHER TOOLS?
▪ To build brand awareness on consumer market
– even a bunch of articles mentioning your
company will not substitute reach advertising
campaig
▪ To drive sales – do not expect media to
spontaneously write about your product and
encourage readers to purchase. That would be
an advertisement, and you have to pay extra
for it.

How to organize PR for startups
HOW TO SET UP PR OPERATIONS
At the beginning each organization has to decide –
who, and using what resources will run its
communications? Is it worth to build its own PR
team? Should it be independent, or rather as a
part of marketing division? Is it better to hire in-
house specialists or to hire a PR agency? Answers
to this question will depend on how important PR
is to your firm, and what resources you have. Here
are some hints:
Advantages of having your own PR team
▪ Costs – an hourly rate of an in-house specialist
is lower than an hourly rate of an outsourced
consultant. Under the condition, that you can
effectively use the time of your employees
▪ Proximity – a fast, direct access to information
and experts can save a lot of time
▪ Independence – building personal relations
with media, independently of a third party
Advantages of hiring a PR agency
▪ Possibility to use agency’s resources – such as
know-how, knowledge and broad contacts of
its consultants
▪ Costs optimization – as in every outsourcing
model, you pay for services that you need and
when you need them
▪ Second opinion – a possibility to discuss and
validate your ideas– something which every
specialist working alone lacks

A lot of startups and fast-growing companies start
with an agency. And this is a very good solution.
You can benefit from know-how transfer, use their
already developed contacts and still retain costs
flexibility. However, at some point you will need
someone in-house to coordinate and feed the
agency with information. This will help to utilize
firms’ communication potential to maximum
HOW TO CHOOSE A PR AGENCY
Very often the decision is simply based of your
business contacts recommendation. And for a
start – this is not that bad strategy. But let’s
assume you do not have a good recommendation?
How to find and hire the best PR agency for your
business?
How to organize a tender for a PR agency?
Start with research. Search online, ask your
business partners. Pay a special attention to:
▪ The profile of the agency – is it specialized in
technology and/or tech startups? Or does it at
least have a specialized tech team?
▪ Experience of the agency – do/did they work
for similar companies, from the same industry
or niche? If yes – they will have knowledge of
your business environment and media

HOW TO CHOOSE A PR AGENCY || cont’d
Prepare a brief – a document which the agency
will use to offer you right services:
▪ Introduce your company
▪ Describe your goals and expectations
▪ Provide deadlines and technical details of the
tender (more details: below)
Send your brief to selected agencies and confirm
their participation in the process.
Have a debriefing – agencies can ask you
additional questions. Do answer them. The more
information you give, the better proposals you can
expect.
Analyze proposals and meet selected agencies
▪ For rehearsals you can ask agencies to prepare
more detailed presentations, including creative
ideas
▪ Request to meet the team that will work with
you – you will work very closely, so chemistry is
also important
Make your choice and sign the contract
▪ Negotiate the scope of work and prices
▪ After signing the contract – reach out to
agencies you did not pick; give them your
feedback on their proposal and the reasons for
your decision; agencies usually put a lot of work
into preparing proposals – a good feedback,
which they can learn from, will be a way of
saying thank you for effort

How to write a PR brief?
A brief for a PR agency should include:
▪ Information about your company – what do
you do, who found it, what is your market
position, who are your competitors, etc.
▪ Business goals you want to support with
communication – building recognition,
launching on new market, supporting sales,
building brand as an employer or other goals
▪ Description of the offering – if promotion of
products/services is your main goal – describe
them: who will use them, what needs do they
address, why are they better than other
solutions?
▪ More about the company – if you are more
interested in corporate PR, say something more
about your mission and vision, values, size of
operations, awards, memberships in industry
bodies, etc.
▪ Desired services – if you already know what
services you want to purchase – name it
▪ Technical details – provide deadlines for
submitting proposals and further steps of the
tender, describe what should be included in
proposals
▪ The budget – it is always good to give the size
of your PR budget – you will get offers fitting
better to your needs and possibilities, as well as
easier to compare

How detailed should your PR brief be?
▪ The more information you provide, the better
proposals you can expect. You may also want to
provide additional information about your
market and competition, send links, etc. There
is really nothing wrong in helping the agency a
bit. To assure confidentiality of information – it
is good to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement
(NDA) prior to sending a brief.
Can you ask for creative ideas to be included
in proposal?
▪ Yes, PR agencies are usually asked to present
some creative ideas, to
▪ demonstrate creative capabilities. This should
be rather be a part of the proposal at
the presentation level. Remember that
creative ideas are an intellectual property of
the agencies. Asking to prepare extended
strategies and ideas at the beginning of the
process can be seen as a way to get it for free.
Many agencies will not join such pitch.
▪ If it happens that you especially like an idea of
an agency which you decided not to hire, you
can propose to buy the idea, and execute it
with a different partner.

How many PR agencies you should invite to
your tender?
▪ If you don’t have a good grasp of the PR
market, you can invite several to make a first
selection, but do not ask them to provide
extended proposals. Focus on profile and
experiences of the agencies (see: above). A
large number of agencies invited to the pitch
can discourage some to join it.
▪ For the next phase select 3-4 agencies – the
ones you want to meet.
Is it better to hire a small or a big PR agency?
▪ Big, international PR agencies are usually more
expensive (but not always). For higher fee you
buy access to international know-how, and a
larger team when needed. For corporate
managers it is sometimes important to pick a
big brand agency – this is a choice that no one
will question. For startups it usually doesn’t
matter.
▪ Smaller PR agency will probably have more
reasonable fees – also thanks to lower cost,
savings on fancy headquarters and
shareholders profits. As a startup with a limited
budget you will be a more important client for
a smaller shop than for a big players chasing big
budgets. Which means the agency will simply
try harder to keep you happy.

What else you should consider when
choosing PR agency?
▪ Experience of the agency – this is probably the
most important factor. If the agency has been
working/works for clients from your industry,
similar organizations to yours, you can assume
that it knows your business environment and
media. It is good to ask how long did the
agency work for those clients, what was the
task and the scope of work.
▪ The team – it is important to make sure if the
agency have right people on board (also senior
consultants) and who will actually work for
your company.
▪ Except “your” account managers experience
(most important), it is also good to check if
there is the “right chemistry” between you and
them. You will work on daily basis with these
people, so it is good to like each other.
▪ Staff turnover – if consultants stay with the
agency for several years – it is a very good sign.
First, you don’t want to have new account
managers every half a year. Second – it means
that they are happy with their work. And happy
people work better.
▪ Costs – but we are sure you know that well!

How to manage PR for startups
You have your PR strategy in place. You have your
plan of activities ready, and an agency with
defined SOW to support you. It is time to start to
manage your communication activities. How to do
that?
▪ PR Manager – even if you decided to outsource
PR activities to a PR agency, you will have to
invest some time in coordination. Especially at
the beginning, when the agency needs to learn
about your business. Therefore, you need
someone who will be a contact point and who
will coordinate activities – feed the agency with
information, accept materials, work on plans,
budgets and strategies. In case of startups this
role is assigned to the head of marketing. At
some point you may think of appointing a PR
manager.
▪ Reporting – it is good to have regular reports of
activities (what has the agency executed) and
results (most often – publications and media
mentions, but also various statistics for web
traffic or social media engagement). First – you
need them to track progress, to evaluate and
modify your actions and spendings. Second – it
always prods the agency to work better.
However – do not order detailed reports if you
have no time to analyze them. Remember that
you are charged by the hour of work.

How to manage PR for startups
▪ Regular evaluation – even if you communicate
with your consultants on daily basis, it makes
sense to have regular evaluation/planning
meetings. Especially at the beginning of the
cooperation. Go together through the status
report, discuss current issues. It will give you
the sense of control and you will be sure that
the agency goes in the right direction,
according to your expectations.
▪ Measurements in PR – this is a broad and
complex issue. Times of infamous
AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent) are gone.
Except its many disadvantages, in the digital era
AVE doesn’t make much sense. In general,
measurements should depend on goals you
want to achieve.
▪ If you need to gain credibility – you should
focus on the quality of earned publications, the
number of mentions will be less important. If
you want to build broader awareness – then
focus more on the reach of media. Most of
online businesses are focusing on hard,
quantitative indicators of traffic on their web
platforms. In terms of generating traffic, there
are better means than PR. However, backlinks
earned by an article in a well-positioned media
can have a significant contribution in
positioning your www outlets in search engines
that you are charged by the hour of work.

How much to pay for PR for startups
To spend your money effectively and not to
overpay for PR services, it is good to know how
the prices are calculated. It will be easier to
compare offers of PR agencies. This chapter
should help you.
Basic terms and calculation
▪ Scope of Work (SOW) – this is the base for
every calculation. SOW is a list of activities,
usually monthly, which PR agency is obliged to
run for you. The agency estimates time
necessary to execute, mostly in hours, and
hourly rates.
▪ Hourly rates – this is a second factor of the
calculation. PR agencies can use diverse hourly
rates, depending on qualifications needed to
execute particular task.
▪ Hours spent on developing strategy will be
more expensive than these spend on reporting.
Sometimes, for a sake of simplicity, one
average rate is being used.
▪ Retainer – is a type of a long term agreement,
when agency assigns a team to run
communication on behalf of a client, always
defining scope of work, in exchange for a
defined fee. It is usually signed for a year. Long
term agreements are healthy for PR agencies –
predictable and enabling to plan the budget
and employment of the agency. Therefore,
activities under retainer agreement are
relatively cheaper than these included in one-
time projects.

Basic terms and calculation || cont’d
▪ Projects – this form of cooperation is less
popular, as PR (building relations!) is usually a
long run. However, in case of startups, it
sometimes starts with a project as a kind of a
trial period. Projects are relatively more
expensive than the same activities under a
retainer agreement. Agency has to cover the
time of “learning” the client, planning, setting
up a press office, etc. Higher price also
mitigates the business risk (of hiring
consultants and other related costs).
▪ External costs – all expenses needed to
execute activities, excluding costs of
consultants work. It is good to keep these two
categories clearly separated, so you are sure
that none of them are exaggerated.
▪ Read also: Prices of PR services – a guide for
startups
Exemplary prices of PR activities for startups
in Europe
Costs of PR activities will differ depending on the
scope of work and the country. To give you a
general idea, please, see the estimation provided
by agencies associated in Enterie PR network on
the next page. [All proces given in Euros, netto]

Junior
hourly rate
Senior
hourly rate
Denmark 100 220
France 100 200
Germany 100 200
Italy 50 200
Netherlands 110 185
Poland 40 80
Spain 30 150
Sweden 100 200
UK 85 225

Launch
pack*
Monthly
basic services**
Denmark 6700 3500
France 6000 3000
Germany 9150 3750
Italy 6750 2000
Netherlands 9225 4000
Poland 5700 1950
Spain 5400 1800
Sweden 6300 4000
UK 11200 3900

Basic terms and calculation || cont’d
*Launch pack – a 3 months entry project for
startups launching on new market, covering:
▪ strategy and messaging development,
▪ preparing and distributing launch press release
▪ organizing 1-2 interviews,
▪ writing and offering 2 byline articles to media,
▪ monitoring and reporting.
**Mothly basic services – within a longer
agreement, covering monthly:
▪ running a local press office,
▪ handling media requests, answering questions,
▪ media monitoring,
▪ maintaining and updating tailored media list,
▪ writing and distributing 1 press release,
▪ writing and pitching 2 articles,
▪ seeking speaking opportunities: preparing
statements commenting on the market,
▪ developments, when appropriate,
▪ ongoing advisory

How to do PR for startups
If you know what goals you want to achieve with
PR activities, but you don’t know how – read this
section. If you decide to hire a PR agency – they
will surely propose you a set of activities. Still, it is
good to have some basic knowledge of what can
work best.
What you need, and what will work?
If your company is a startup just beginning to
consciously communicate with its stakeholders,
you should start with basic documents and
infrastructure:
▪ Developing communication strategy – this will
be a base to plan your activities, it should
define your communication goals, target
groups and key messages
▪ Developing communication plan – which is a
set of activities based in time, with allocated
budget and other resources
▪ Preparing/collecting a press pack - including
descriptions of your company and products or
services, logos and other graphic materials,
photos and bios of your founders and experts
▪ Setting up your press office – listing media
important for your business, identifying key
journalists and collecting contact details
▪ Setting up tools which you will use in your
work, such as virtual press office or a platform
to monitor your media presence

What you need, and what will work? || cont’d
Next you should introduce your company (and
yourself) to the media. How?
▪ Issuing press releases about new developments,
new services and products
▪ Offering interviews with founders
▪ Meeting journalists 1:1, inviting for a coffee or
lunch to start relations
▪ Inspiring journalists to write about your
company in a broader context interesting for
media and readers
First publications and mentions about your
company will gain you some credibility. Later, you
can fight for larger visibility, start to shape your
image and awareness of your brand and offer.
These activities can be useful:
▪ Press releases about new products and
services (if really innovative)
▪ Press releases about new clients (if they are
known brands)
▪ Positioning your representatives as industry
experts
▪ Commenting on current market developments
▪ Creating and publishing consumer and market
reports
▪ Offering exclusive texts and other content to
key media
▪ Other creative activities to interact with your
audience and media

What actions make no sense and will not
work?
Certain activities, even if they sound as a good idea,
may not be suited for you. You should carefully
consider:
▪ Press releases about personal changes. Such
things as promotions are being covered only in
case of well-known brands. In case of a startup it
is very unlikely
▪ Press releases about minor changes in your
products, new features at your web platform,
etc. If it is not really innovative or game changing
– the chance that media will pick it up is very
little
▪ Press conferences – again, if you are not a big
brand which is influencing the whole market, or
you have nothing really important to
communicate – better drop this idea.
Journalists are more and more busy, there is a
risk that no one will show up.

How to scale PR globally
PR SUPPORT WHEN ENTERING A NEW MARKET
Tech companies, focused on building reach and
conversion, often underestimate the role of PR
when entering foreign markets. It is true, that PR
will not drive sales (even if it can support it). But it
is necessary to build trust for a new brand. A local
PR agency can be helpful in several ways.
How a PR agency can be helpful to startups
scaling up abroad?
▪ Communication advisory – although European
markets are more and more similar, still,
knowledge of local specifics, cultures and
contexts can decide on failure or success. PR
agency will help you develop a local strategic
approach, key messages and tone of voice, as
▪ well as to identify right touchpoints and media
tailored for the local audience.
▪ Eyes and ears on the market – local PR
agencies constantly monitor markets of their
specialization, follow developments, industry
media and news. When we do not have our
own office on the spot, a PR agency can be a
great source of information.
▪ Contracting (and controlling) contractors –
local PR specialists, having good knowledge of
their own market, can be very helpful to find
you other Partners and providers. Especially
these from marketing industry – interactive
agencies, advertising agencies, media houses,
etc. It is always good to have someone with
local insight evaluate their proposal.

How a PR agency can be helpful to startups
scaling up abroad? // Cont’d
▪ Trust, trust, trust! – As mentioned, in case of
a new player on the market, especially a
foreign one, gaining credibility is the very first
communication goal. Therefore being such a
company you should cover two things:
▪ Localization of your communications – all the
materials you use should be prepared in a local
language, native level. Just think of your own
reactions to all these mailings translated by
google translator…
▪ Certificate of credibility - even basic presence
in high profile media will serve as a certificate
of your credibility, a signal that someone has
already checked your business
▪ Local representative – having someone who
can speak on your behalf, who knows about
your product and the local market is crucial to
build good (or rather any) relations with media.
And if you don’t have such person on the spot,
a PR consultant can play this role.

PR GOALS AND ACTIVITIES FOR NEWCOMERS
Entering a foreign country with your business is a
bit similar to launching a new
company/product/service on your own market.
However, there are a few things you should pay a
special attention to. What should you do then?
What to do in first 3 months?
▪ Develope a communications strategy for
respective market. Copy-paste of your
communication strategy from your home
market is probably not the best idea, but it can
be a decent start for localization. It at least has
to be adjusted to local culture, environment,
media contexts, as well as to activities and
positioning of your competitors.
▪ What is convincing to Germans, does not
necessarily have to work in France.
▪ Verifiy and localize – especially in terms of
language, but also creation of local testimonials
and materials corresponding with local context
and market data. Don’t forget to use local
examples and… pictures. Especially of people,
so they do not look like taken from a free stock
site.
▪ Introduce yourself to the market – depending
on your profile and the specifics of your offer,
you may do it with several tactics

What to do in first 3 months? // cont’d
Introduce yourself to the market by:
▪ Issuing a press release about your launch
▪ Organizing an interview (an interesting angle is
necessary)
▪ Pitching an exclusive text about your
service/product/market in an interesting
context of needs and problems it addresses
▪ starting cooperation with influencers and
opinion leaders
Further PR activities – what to do next
▪ Once media are familiar with you and your
offer, it is time to keep up the visibility.
▪ The scope of activities might be similar to the
ones you use on your home market. Still, you
should remember two things:
▪ Bragging about local success – such as new
clients, implementations etc. This is very
important, especially in b2b sector. Let your
potential clients know that other companies
have verified your offer and chose you as a
partner. It will assure prospective clients that
you are a good/safe choice for them.
▪ Local case studies – the purpose of developing
a local case study or gaining local testimonials is
the same, but it has far stronger impact. Such
testimonials are a great argument and sales
support. Should be used in media, but also by
your sales forces.

Coordinating PR activities on several markets
Having in mind localization, do not forget about
coherence of your communication efforts. Also,
coordination of activities and production of
universal materials for several markets can bring
you significant savings in money and time. How to
organize and manage communication on several
markets?
▪ Each market has to have a representative – a
local employee or an agency consultant who
can talk to the media, knows the language and
the market
▪ A company should have a communications
manager – a central role to plan, manage and
serve as a contact point for local
representatives and agencies
▪ A leading PR agency can be a help for
communications manager in coordinating
activities and rolling out communications plans
on local markets. It is an additional cost, but
saves time and work, as well as enables to
focus on strategy instead of operational tasks
▪ Own communication team and own
coordination is usually a choice of smaller (or
rather younger) organizations. In such
arrangement an in-house PR/marketing
manager communicates and coordinates
several agencies by him/herself. In case of
limited scope it is usually a good solution,
which allows to save some money (on expense
of own time and work).

Coordinating PR activities on several markets
However, it is often not the case of the size of
SOW but the attitude of startups, when founder
feels responsible for everything and still learns to
delegate work. (I call it “we do it better” attitude).
Letting go and putting more trust in internal and
external partners is both challenging and
unavoidable. At some point it simply pays off to
outsource certain services.

▪ We are an international network of independent
technology PR & marketing agencies, supporting
innovative, disruptive, fast-growing firms.
▪ We help you to find your way around on local
markets, bringing knowledge of a local culture, media
landscape and business environment.
▪ We explain technology and new business models to
your clients, investors or business partners.
▪ We operate in most of European markets and in U.S.
▪ Learn more >> https://enterie.com/
ENTERIE
who we are

▪ Strategy development based on market research, analyses and
experience of best local PR professionals
▪ Localisation and adjustment of content, case studies,
communication activities and materials, including translation,
copywriting and graphic works
▪ Media and influencers relations, including 1:1 meetings, arranging
interviews, press releases, media events, by-line articles
▪ Community and industry relations, including presence at selected
events, trade shows, meet ups and other communications platforms
▪ Online and inbound marketing, including display, SEO, SEM,
advertorials and social media outreach
ENTERIE
what we do

▪ Best quality PR services wherever you want
to scale up
▪ Understanding of digital, disruptive, fast growing
business
▪ Local know-how: ability to deliver fully localized
and adjusted services
▪ International reach: communication activities on
multiple markets
▪ One-stop-shop coordination: convenient and time
saving
▪ Cost effectiveness: lower costs of a local,
independent vendor
ENTERIE
what you get

Contact
Andrzej Jędrzejczak
andrzej@enterie.com
http://enterie.com/

The Ultimate Guide to PR for Startups

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