Advice for PR entrepreneurs: Focus on building relationships

In the new era of entrepreneurship, startups are beginning to fall.

Fortune data show that the number of new startups is drastically down. What’s causing the sharp decline? Experts point to business owners’ misunderstanding the importance of communications—both externally and internally.

For your startup to succeed, your ingenuity and passion must be partnered with PR prudence and a tight communications strategy. It’s crucial that you improve your messaging and relationships.

Relationship building should be an integral part of your brand strategy and business plan. Here’s how to start:

Work on building external relationships

Don’t contact journalists just to pitch them. Follow reporters, bloggers and influential social media users in your industry, and read their work. Doing so will help you get a conversation started; personalizing your approach can cut through the noise.

Be careful not to burn bridges with reporters. You can avoid doing that in a few key ways:

• Give exclusives sparingly.

• Don’t take rejections personally.

• Don’t disrespect anyone’s work.

• Refrain from picking favorites.

Make it your goal to spread your story as far and as wide as possible. Strengthening your external relationships will help you accomplish that.

Unify your internal teams

Your customers and investors need you, but your employees need you more. You are responsible for managing their expectations, setting business goals and developing a positive company culture.

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To ensure there’s fluidity across multiple departments, establish a brand voice. Then, create a messaging document so that everyone at your company has a copy and understands the brand’s intent.

Your identity and voice must be clear and tangible. Successful organizations have their identity set in stone. Building your internal brand takes time, patience, open and frequent communication, receptiveness and empathy.

The beauty of a startup is how close each employee can feel to your mission and success. Remember, you must win and lose together.

Lindsay Cosner is an account supervisor at Gotham PR.

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from PR Daily News Feed http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/8752201c-941a-49aa-9aed-dca640a1bae3.aspx