MAXIMIZE YOUR FUNDING MOMENTUMA handbook for how to use public relations to control and propel the message surrounding your next funding round

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Whether it’s your first seed round or a Series D, securing funding provides momentum for growing technology companies. Any founder who has gone through a raise will tell you it is never easy, typically filled with the stress of deadlines, travel, painful rejection and sleepless nights. So, by the time the round actually closes, founders are ready to shout it from the mountaintops.

Not so fast.

Funding has the potential to be one of the most important announcements you’ll make, so take the time to develop a communications strategy with your internal marketing team and external PR agency before sending out external messaging about the news. With so much at stake, you want the message to be on point. This handbook will look at how B2B tech companies should prep a comms strategy before closing a funding round, best practices for making the announcement, and what to do after announcement day to ensure the right messages are being communicated to all stakeholders.

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Section 1:Communications Prep: The Funding Round Is About to Close

When should you tell your PR team?

Don’t wait to tell your team about the round until the day you file your Form D. With an NDA likely protecting information exchange between you and your external PR team, your funding announcement conversations should begin as soon as you reach term-sheet phase.

The sooner they know, the more empowered your PR team will be to put together an announcement strategy that has your best interests in mind, whether that be announcing before the Form D is available to the public or on another timeline.

What questions should you answer for your PR agency upfront?

There are a few key questions that will inform PR strategy and press release messaging. These include:

● When do you plan to close?● What is the amount? (It’s likely you won’t have the final

amount until very close to closing, but it’s helpful to give your PR team an idea of the amount range ahead of time.)

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● Who is leading the round?● Are there any other notable investors participating in the

round?● For what will the funds be used?● What’s unique about the round?● Will any of the investors join the board?● Are you willing to share the company valuation? (Often, media

will ask about the company valuation. This is not necessary information, but is helpful to know upfront whether you’re willing to share or not.)

● What does this investment say about the industry at large?● Is there a trend in recent investments in the industry?● Who can we quote in the press release?

What deliverables should you expect from your PR team?

1. Press release draft Your press release is an important part of your funding

announcement. With the whirl of activity around the news, this will be an essential asset for media to have on-hand as they write stories around the announcement.

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Your PR team will use the initial details you give them to develop a press release draft, inclusive of facts around the news and quotes from executives and key investors, working with your team to finalize the language prior to pitching the announcement.

2. Announcement timeline The PR team should also develop

and share an announcement timeline that clearly outlines when they need approvals or deliverables from your team and their plans for media outreach. This timeline should also include availability of spokespeople for interviews - typically company founder and lead investor - if requested by the media.

3. Media targets Sending a press release to media

contacts at random selection is never a good strategy. An experienced PR team will recommend which media targets make sense based your announcement goals and the industry/ies that the announcement impacts. Whether it be with targeted vertical trade media or national business writers, the right targets for your announcement will differ depending on what you want to accomplish with your messaging.

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Section 2:Pitching the Announcement: Funding Is Closed, Release and MessagingIs Approved

Defining your target media

Depending on your industry and the details around your funding round, the media your PR team targets for the announcement will vary. Typically, baseline targets will include appropriate national business and tech outlets, industry trade outlets, venture capital and funding trade outlets, and local area outlets.

Will we offer an exclusive?

An exclusive story means that only one journalist can see the announcement news before it’s released publicly in order to give the outlet granted with the exclusive extra time to write a story, as well as the opportunity to break the news.

Exclusives have their opportunities and limitations, and the strategy depends on the goals for the announcement.

Opportunity: An exclusive can make an announcement more attractive to top-tier reporters when they know they’re going to be first to break the news.

Limitation: An exclusive story typically means that other top-tier publications will not cover the news because the story

is already out. While you get one great story, you don’t always get as many total stories or announcement pickups.

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Embargoed pitching

When pitching a funding announcement, your PR team should pitch under embargo in order to avoid any details of the funding getting leaked before the announcement date. This simply means that media must agree to keep the information private until an agreed-upon date and time to which all recipients are bound. Once they agree to an embargo, it is safe to share the details of the announcement.

Embargoing the news also means that no information about the funding can be shared from the company via social media, the company blog or other outlets prior to the press release going live.

Securing spokespeople

In addition to designating at least one executive spokesperson from your company to take media interviews about the announcement, it’s also likely journalists will want to speak with a spokesperson from your lead investor. To respond to these requests quickly, it’s important to supply your PR team with who these contacts will be, as well as their general availability leading up to the announcement.

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Ahead of any secured interviews, your PR team will share a briefing sheet inclusive of details about the opportunity, journalist and outlet to prepare your spokespeople for each interview.

Working with your investors’ PR teams

Many times, investors’ PR teams will also want to pitch the news of their investment to media. Before your PR team begins early outreach around the funding news, it’s important to determine whether or not this will be a factor in your funding announcement.

To coordinate outreach efforts between stakeholders, your PR team should set an outreach strategy and timeline alongside your investor’s team.

Press release distribution strategy Prior to announcement day, your PR team will work with you to determine a press release distribution method that is appropriate for your company announcement. The release needs a place to live online where media can be directed on announcement day, which could be through an online wire service or hosted on your company blog/news section.

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Section 3:News Is Out! Announcement Day and Beyond

So, you made it to announcement day! Here’s what you can expect:

● The press release will go live at the agreed upon time — once it does, that opens the gates for journalists to

post their stories.

● As coverage runs, your PR team will share it in real-time, as well as provide an end-of-announcement-day recap of activity.

While funding announcements often see a surge in coverage on the day of the announcement, that doesn’t mean it’s all you’re going to get. You should expect to see coverage not only run on the day the news drops, but also in the days (or even weeks) following the announcement.

Conclusion

Funding will likely be one of the biggest announcements your business makes over the course of a year. With strong communication and careful planning alongside your PR team, you can create meaningful press coverage that will amplify your success to customers and prospects,as well as give your investors something to share with their network of other potential partners.

On to the next round!