The entrepreneurial spirit in Ireland is rife. Last year alone, 20,000 new companies were registered. From start-ups to more established businesses, Irish business owners have a hunger to succeed – and many dream of scaling beyond Irish shores. For tech companies, the big goal is often breaking into the US market. A specialist tech PR agency can help them achieve that. However, start-ups and small businesses must be prepared to start PR at home before jumping into another market.
Why should a US-based journalist write about an Irish start-up?
One of the pitfalls that businesses can fall into is to forget about building up a base in Ireland and instead move straight to hiring a PR agency based in their target destination. Pitching a story to a busy journalist in New York or San Francisco is tough at the best of times, but much tougher when it’s an Irish start-up that they have never heard of and that doesn’t have an established media track record that can find easily on Google.
The company is a little fish in a big pond; building up recognition and credibility in an overseas market with no track record at home is almost impossible. When costly investments are involved, it can spell disappointment.
The best advice is to go back to basics and begin PR for your business at home, with the aim of becoming a big fish in a smaller pond. Once you have achieved this, it will make the transition into new markets much easier.
Getting Irish journalists interested
With such a glut of successful Irish start-ups, it’s difficult to open a newspaper without seeing the latest success stories. There is a great appetite in Ireland to hear about emerging success stories. We love to hear about how ‘our own’ are succeeding, especially internationally.
So how do you become one of those stories that capture the imagination? A specialist tech PR agency will understand the tech landscape in Ireland; they know the journalists, what their areas of interest are and most importantly, how to communicate with them. They will help to develop an aligned communications plan that will deliver impactful stories that help to build the tech company’s credibility.
Making it as a success at home, and building up credibility in Ireland, gives tech business owners a great platform from which to launch into other markets.
Social media and Google bleed credible coverage worldwide
The media coverage and social media buzz that your specialist PR agency delivers will have a global impact in terms of online search results. For instance, if a customer in New York or San Francisco is doing its due diligence on an Irish company, they will often go to Google first. It they see a range of stories and articles in credible Irish media that have featured the tech start-up, then many important boxes may be ticked. They may also see the company pop up when searching using important industry search terms. These stories are critical building blocks of the brand value of the start-up.
Example
We work with one Irish medtech company that has a global footprint. This company wanted to build its brand recognition in the US, where the majority of its clients are based. The team engaged with a US agency to achieve this, but was disappointed with the results.
When we started working with this client, our focus was on building up the brand in Ireland before embarking on a more global approach. We developed a simple one-page messaging document and got to work on generating high quality media coverage in Ireland. The client’s online presence has grown significantly as a result. This has helped with our pitching to the US and UK and we also now receive incoming media requests from overseas journalists for the company’s spokespeople.
This is just one example of how starting PR at home with a specialist PR agency is a great way to build the credibility and brand value.
The message to tech start-ups in Ireland is to start your PR at home. If you would like to work with a specialist PR agency contact us today. We have 20 years’ experience helping companies like yours build their brand and business in Ireland and around the world.