Congratulations! You’ve just raised your first, or even your subsequent, series of funding. You’ve probably spent months working with lawyers, stakeholders, existing investors and your now current investors to land that coveted batch of capital. So, now what? It’s time to share this news with the right people, at the right time and in the right way.
When embarking on a communications strategy, there are multiple stakeholders that you’ll want to own and share the message with. This injection of funds has given your company a stage to make positive noise to new and existing customers, stakeholders, and the media, and it’s time to take advantage.
While the news may seem straightforward, “company X has raised money Y,” there are actually an overwhelming amount of factors to communicate. For example, what do you plan on doing with the money? Has someone of note joined your board; if so, why are they relevant? How is this going to affect your hiring brand? How does this contribute to your plan for expansion? The list goes on and on.
Having both led communication for companies and successfully raised funds myself, here are the do’s when communicating your next series of funding.
Do worry about your internal as well as external communications. It’s important to highlight your funding both to the outside world and within your own company. Make sure you’re sharing across each level in the right way. It is important to arm your employees with simplistic and cohesive messaging.
That being said, do create custom messaging to each stakeholder involved in your journey. This includes past, current and future investors, investors who did not participate in your round, current clients, and even prospective customers. Each has a unique role and should receive communications targeted to their involvement.
Do give the right exclusive — if and where it makes sense. Certain publications can really elevate your message and amplify it at the right volume, while others may act better as supporting mediums at a later time. Sometimes, well-placed articles across a variety of publications can serve you just as well as an exclusive can. If you are organized here, you have the ability to secure three nonconflicting exclusives: print, broadcast and digital.
Do use this opportunity to create an evergreen content piece. This is something your hiring and sales teams will be able to use for months and years to come. This is a great opportunity to have culture and human resources platforms build a profile piece about company growth. Repurposing this content will serve as future evidence for all that your business is accomplishing.
Do organize the time to deploy your message across a variety of channels. This includes a press release, client emails, a blog update and social posts. It’s always smart to reach audiences with a combination of touchpoints to connect with viewers wherever they’re at. Using a media release distributor will also help with search engine optimization (SEO).
If you are a business-to-business (B2B) company, do have your client or partner logos approved for public use ahead of time. This can help you avoid a troublesome roadblock and ensure you’re prepared when you’re ready to go live with an announcement or press release.
Do your research for inclusion in funding announcement newsletters. These snackable news bites are great to drive traffic directly to your website or press piece while increasing your reach and brand voice.
The key here is to be organized. The great thing with funding announcements is that journalism tends to skew positive on the news. People are happy that you have succeeded and want to help you continue the journey. The coverage is less subjective and more factual, meaning that when done right, every message can help your brand.