7 tips to make YOUR start-up media-friendly

At some point in time, every entrepreneur aspires for attention from the media. Here are some things that'll take you closer to the goal.

Everyone wants eyeballs. Most of us want to be published in blogs and papers.

Getting media attention is probably the best way to prove to family and friends that starting up was probably not that bad an idea.

The moment you get covered by a popular blog or newspaper/magazine, there is one more badge that goes on the 'media' page.

We get a huge number of requests for getting featured and doing a story.

Being humanly impossible to cover all, we try and sieve out the one that catches our attention more then the other.

Now, in this start-up frenzy, how does a cloud infrastructure company grab attention against the much more 'bubblier' start-ups that deal with movies or food or sports?

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All journalists are crazy about numbers.

Statistics make great headlines even though 83 per cent of those are false.

You might be doing something great with PLM infrastructures or developing a network efficiency enhancer or you know what, but you'll have numbers. Play with them. You'll get noticed.

You might be in a real quandary on how to reach out directly to your target customers.

That is something which mankind still doesn't have an exact answer to. However, there are people everywhere.

Create good content -- things people would like to know about -- and then, just tell people about it. If you're developing software architecture, you might want to make an infographic drawing parallels with a civil engineer.

That wouldn't directly reach your target market, but some student studying civil engineering might share it with his more than 1000 'friends' and his uncle might become your customer.

So, make good content and give subtle hints about yourself within it.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier

If you're in a zone people don't understand, make them understand.

Give tips. Tell them about pitfalls, advantages, challenges, etc.

No one wants to write about dull topics but if you have knowledge to disburse, they'll grab on to you.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

Always look at ways how you can associate with other names.

It might be the tiniest deal or association but that is 'news'. Collaborating is not only good for your business, it will also keep you fresh.

Collusions and allusions, they're always great to have.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier

Media acts busy and to a certain extent it is, but if you give it something worthy, they won't miss it.

Pushing something more than three times is not something one would recommend.

Change your message, rework on something fresh and send it out to the media guys again, also the same story can have different angles... see if it makes a compelling features story or business story and reach out accordingly.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier

Everyone loves exclusivity.

If you have a lot of things churning up, give each publication a different exclusive.

Media guys love 'exclusive interviews'. They'll go out of their way to promote it.

Relationships always help.

A media relationship is not a one-time thing. You'll need it over and over again.

And they usually have some interesting gossip every time, so you might just land upon something that would help your business in a grand way. Use them as your allies.

No matter what your start-up deals with, you can always be the one to walk on the red carpet. Leverage stuff.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh