Startups need their communication team to walk along with them as they evolve and grow, find the right stories to tell in different markets and then pitch them in the right media
The role of a Public Relations firm is to craft stories. The challenge is to establish a brand/product and understand the business goals of their client. When the business involved is a startup, the dynamics differ. The goals tend to be short-term, and innovation is key at both ends. At our end, innovation is key for ideas, market understanding and finding that right path to grow along with your startup client.
We have been spending the last few months meeting and working with several startup Founders (some seed/angel, Series A and Series B stage companies) in trying to go deep into what makes their ideas tick, what’s going to be the next leap of faith for them and how can communication play along as they grow.
Seeing is believing
For any traditional Public Relations company, your nature of business by and large tends to be local in nature (involving local media, companies who need communication campaigns to be run in set geographies). But when you work with the fast-evolving startup industry in South East Asia, one lesson to be learnt is- the world is your market.
The startups don’t need major campaigns, or high investment into resources. They only need their communication team to walk along with them as they evolve and grow, find the right stories to tell in different markets and then pitch them in the right media. Often the stories start off in developed economies and lead us to vibrant growing economies, which turn out to be key primary markets for these startups.
For any company seeing is believing, especially for your PR firm, who further has to sell your stories with the same passion that a Founder grows his startup. Hence, expose them to the realities. Let them experience the brand, see the digital disruption first hand. More often than not, conversations that we have beyond media, gets the mind ticking.
As PR professionals, we try and gauge the overall awareness levels amongst the people- do they even know the brand, what does it even mean to them? Media is secondary in little towns. For any startup their staff, partners are their bigger ambassadors than the media.
A popular online budget hotel marketplace in Indonesia is often referred to as an ‘Internet Hotel’ by the common man. That’s his way of describing the brand- as a PR person, it was the best summary one could hear for such a brand.
The Growing economies: changing mindsets
Indonesia is a perfect example where the digital disruption wave has gone far and beyond. Move away from Jakarta and one can see the impact on day to day lives. Be it ride-hailing platforms (the thousands of bikes parked at every nook and corner of every street), or online travel agencies (that’s what the locals call the most popular local online travel booking site) — they have truly disrupted the way people do business and have adapted it into their day to day life.
The smartphone revolution has truly exploded there. Most of the ride hailing platform (bike) drivers don’t speak a word of English and can only navigate their smartphone to the extent of accepting your booking. No GPS or navigation system is used by them when they drive you around. It proves just one point: Training and skill development is key to build any business.
Most of these startups have invested heavily in improving the skill sets of the local people — training in technology and thereby teaching them a new way of doing business. This change in mindset has primarily led to this disruption. Language is not important and that technology can cut all barriers and make the process seamless for all.
Perfect example of what my hotel staff said to me: Having worked for ten years in this property, he had never imagined he would have been able to adapt to technology so easily, hone up his training skills (without attending a professional hospitality training college) and be a part of the smartphone revolution himself.”
Due credit has to be given to the government authorities in any country for enabling this disruption. The Indonesian government has tried to accommodate digital disruption, which is changing the rules of the game in many industries, by adjusting policies in an effort to create a level playing field while leaving enough room for new developments. These startups that are actually new small and medium enterprises, are using digital technology to offer simpler solutions for day-to-day problems such as high unemployment and providing services to unbanked residents across the archipelago.
According to the country’s Central Statistics Agency (BPS), more than 7 million of the country’s workforce of 131.55 million people did not have jobs in February 2017. That number represents an unemployment rate of 5.3 percent, compared to 5.6 percent in August 2016 and 5.5 percent in February 2016.
Communication is key
Be it a local-bred startup or a global one with a strong presence, setting your communication goals is key. In small towns, your communication needs to be beyond media. The real stories are more powerful and will help any brand to grow. The impact of technology on day to day life, how it has led to upskilling for the common man, will be the real stories to tell.
Even in a small town like Solo, my ride-hailing platform driver, who couldn’t speak a word of English, managed to tell me with this new avenue it has thrown open opportunities for an alternate job career for him and all it needed from his end was to improvise his technology skills. As a communicator, I see this as good PR.
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