Developing brand credibility in the early stages

Brand credibility goes a long way. Founders often leverage financing rounds for this credibility by getting support from a VC Partner, a Comms/PR pro, or an HR team lead to ensure the news is eloquent, properly pitched, and positioned.

But how can you develop brand credibility if you:
a) Did not get that funding (yet…)
b) Got funding but chose to remain in stealth mode?

Developing your brand credibility early allows you to showcase your interim development, like product advances or customer success. It can also make it easier for a journalist to cover you, or future employees or investors to discover you – all contributing to building your reputation.

So what can you do?

VP Comms at Earlybird, Elisheva Marcus, frequently encounters and supports companies at this early stage. Here, she and Katharina Heller, founder of Heller Yeah Communications share tips for building your startup brand at its earliest stages — with a special emphasis on founders in stealth.

1. Solidify Brand Basics

Elisheva: Develop a living, internal 1-pager document about you/your company. Consider these core questions: (1) Who are you as a leader and as a person? (2) What’s your purpose and USP? (3) Where are you based? (4) What is your company’s mission? (5) What sets you apart from other players in the market? (6) What three main messages should people take away from your channels? You’ll return to this source of truth, and update it periodically.

2. Organize your Owned Channels

Elisheva: Get started by using your social media channels effectively. Update your ‘about’ section on LinkedIn to convey your area of expertise, listing key topics you are known for. Ensure your ‘top skills’ are indicated, plus relevant previous experiences. Even though you most likely won’t hire a comms professional or agency just yet, you can get professional support tailored to your needs and budget via an experienced freelancer. Ask your network or investor for recommendations.

Katharina: Even if you are in the early stages, your ‘owned channels’, such as your company website, should be properly set up and contain the relevant information that you are ready to share. What are you offering? To whom? What expertise do you and your founding team bring to the table? These questions should be answered as quickly and easily as possible when people visit your website. Are there customer success stories that you could publish on your website? Do it! It’s a great way to show your offering in action and build trust with potential customers and investors.

3. Stealth Mode-Specific Strategies

Elisheva: Your LinkedIn about section and work experience should identify that you are a stealth founder; this is a key indicator for investors to keep their eyes on you. Be sure to end your previous work experience and indicate “stealth founder” as your full-time current job, otherwise, investors may deprioritize tracking your work. Start posting and offering commentary on industry-related challenges or trends without naming the product/company you are working on.

A key strategy for early brand development begins with a personal brand which later funnels that public interest and trust directly into your company. In terms of newsletters, some founders have deep sector knowledge and have already built a community around them through a newsletter. If so, and you want to pursue that activation and growth, listen to the people who have executed this NL growth to perfection, like Morning Brew’s, Alex Lieberman.

Katharina: At your stage, you’ll probably have no in-house PR support and no resources for an external agency. That’s not a bad thing, as startup and tech journalists are particularly keen to have a direct line to the founders. If you’re in stealth mode, professionalize your pages as much as possible even if there is little information to share.

4. Build a Content Strategy

Elisheva: Since Earlybird’s LinkedIn recently crossed the 100k follower threshold, I’ve got thoughts about organic company traction for future articles! It’s tough to summarize such growth in a paragraph here, but see best comms practices for startups and I’ll add new ideas. For starters, plan to post 1–2x per week, around the same day/time, and share something about your industry or product: What are the pain points for that industry? What do people not understand about them? What have your initial customers taught you? What insightful industry data/trends can you share?

Link to relevant podcasts and articles covering these topics, and include pictures whenever possible. Always add your expert opinion and credit the source. Involve others by tagging and following people who could be relevant to you such as fellow industry players, startup enthusiasts, journalists, etc. X (formerly Twitter) will likely not be your ‘home base’, but it’s a good place to study journalists and update people in your industry about quick milestones.

Katharina: Always ask yourself: What can I do to make my content truly useful to my followers? What can they learn from me? What tips can I give them? Taking an occasional selfie with people in your network over coffee is cool and, depending on who you show yourself with, can give you reach. But please keep such posts in moderation. Focus on content that demonstrates your expertise and provides value to your followers. No one wants to see your umpteenth lunch date. And with all the posting going on, don’t forget to interact with others, too.

5. Read the News

Elisheva: To be featured or part of the news cycle, you must engage with it first. Just look at a recent advice from European tech journalist, Stefano De Marzo, who confirms this. Check out who is covering your industry, geography, and your competition. You’re looking for what has not been said, and where your opinion/idea or data can fit in or add value.

Go to Techmeme and search for your industry or keywords to quickly see results. Search TechCrunch , Sifted, Entrepreneur, VentureBeat, Fortune, etc. for your industry or topics or even competitors. With this info, make a simple spreadsheet of who is covering your topic. Columns to include: journal, journalist, topic, angle, link to an article by them, and importantly — a ‘follow-up’ column for yourself. Build real relationships by referencing this research, following the work of key journalists who cover your ‘beat’.

Katharina: Before approaching the media: Take the time to understand how journalists work and what real news is. Do you want to be featured somewhere specific? Read those outlets regularly, and subscribe to their newsletters to understand which journalists write about your industry, what interests them, and what topics and hooks they cover.

Perplexity is a great tool to search for journalists covering certain topics or industries. You may even have a journalist friend to ask for an unbiased discussion. This will give you direct insights into the expectations and needs of your target audience. Talk to founders in your network who are more established and whose external communications you admire. What lessons can they share with you, and what do they advise you not to do? Perhaps they could even make a direct introduction to a suitable journalist.

6. Prep for the BIG Announcements

Elisheva: Once you decide to make that big announcement — we’re talking product launch, funding, etc. Consider your time frame: Decide when you want to announce and reverse engineer from there. For ‘earned content’, which you pitch to journalists, you safely need 2 weeks to craft a press release and align stakeholders and 2 weeks lead time before a press embargo to pitch to busy journalists (that’s one month total!). If launching a new website in coordination with a press release, calculate the time to create all branding elements (logo, domain, etc.) and resolve any potential glitches before press day.

Katharina: Make sure you involve your investors at least 4 weeks in advance of your big announcement. They have a vested interest in helping you increase your visibility and reach. Let them know about the communication plans around your news, and provide them with copy and design assets for their social media channels. Additionally, ask your investors for a quote from one of their partners about why they backed your company and add this to your media if it makes sense for your business type. In some cases, your investor’s PR department might even have strong contacts with journalists that they could share with you or offer a second pair of editorial eyes on the press release you’re sending out.

Wrapping up: In short, by planning and focusing on the human aspect of who you are, removing stumbling blocks in your communication journey, and paying attention to your industry, you can own your story and make it relatable – even without shouting the big fundraising or product news.

Originally published on Medium

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