Chhavi Dang is the Founder & CEO of Comm Sutra, a PR agency she founded in 2013 with an aim to provide a PR & communications ecosystem for Startups and Entrepreneurs. Her mission is to help promising start-ups by positioning them as market leaders.

Humans have been telling stories for as long as they have been around. But why is storytelling so powerful? Storytelling creates connections between people, and between people and ideas. Stories teach, inspire and influence. Stories carry forward the culture, history and values that bring people together. They can be the most powerful medium to communicate and bring about change.

Storytelling in 1900 started off as a ‘Publicity Bureau’, which has now mushroomed as Public Relations(PR); a specialized function that is widely adopted by one and all.

Storytelling for start-ups

For start-ups, effective storytelling is an opportunity to start meaningful conversations with the external world. It can be what separates them from the pack. A strategic approach to storytelling can take their on-paper idea to business goals and ultimately to success. But ensuring that your voice is heard in an increasingly noisy ecosystem requires a deliberate and consistent effort that only a marketing strategy may not be able to address.

If you want to take your idea and business to the next level, you need a PR strategy that helps you carve a differentiated positioning in a crowded market by telling a compelling story about your brand and business. Investing in PR will let you communicate with your target audience about your unique vision and the ‘why’ for your business.

What Good PR Can Do

PR is important for all businesses but it is especially significant for start-ups because it can increase brand recognition and brand reputation, which can take a start-up from a small business to a household name. When done well, it can enhance your (and your business’) professional standing by creating the right kind of buzz around your product or service and help you gain market share. But besides these obvious advantages, well thought out PR strategy can be a helping hand in salient ways too.

Good PR builds a portfolio of interviews and mentions in the leading publications of your field, elevating your status in the industry. Through a thought leadership campaign, you can regularly submit guest articles to hyper-relevant publications. Your opinions on the current industry trends will keep you in the public eye even when there isn’t any ‘news’ about your business. Sharing your perspective will help you earn credibility with your target audience. Such opportunities will take you from the position of a relative newcomer to someone who is leading innovation and new thought.

This approach is valuable because it gives you a chance to start a conversation with a potential investor without actually pitching to them. It shows that you are someone who understands the industry. It showcases your expertise and demonstrates that you are deeply thoughtful about the space you inhabit. Your opinions about the industry become a pitch that an investor can use to assess your ideas organically.

However, when an investor decides to support a business, they are not simply doing it on the merit of the business idea alone. They will invest because they trust the people who implement it. PR can help you create a consistent brand message that both the consumers and investors can learn and trust.

Today, there is fierce competition for investment and funding in the start-up ecosystem. Your product may be cutting edge and filling a real gap in the current market but if investors haven’t heard of you, getting funding will be next to impossible. Industry publications and editorials are important sources of information for investors. And if your name appears in the right places, investors can take it as social proof that your idea is worth investing in.

PR can give you opportunities like Reddit AMAs, Clubhouse Room Appearances, Instagram Live sessions and YouTube Interviews. This will increase your digital and social media footprint and build long-term relationships with clients. You will be able to engage and retain them. Your company will grow sustainably, making you an exciting investment prospect.

And finally, not everyone likes the same stories. A successful PR strategy will help you develop a variety of story angles that will resonate with different people. This will give you the choice of using different pitches depending on your audience, increasing your chances of finding common ground and connecting with potential investors.

Navigating the COVID-19 Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on everyone. People have had to take drastic measures to stay afloat and countless careers have been impacted. Spending, on anything considered non-essential, has been reined in, irrespective of whether you are a start-up or a traditional business. Often, PR gets pushed into the ‘non-essential’ category. But it has been demonstrated time and again that PR can help brands in times of crisis.

With effective PR, a start-up can communicate honestly and compassionately. Being transparent when you communicate may even counterbalance an overall negative narrative. And with people being obligated to stay indoors, the time spent on the Internet and social media has increased. PR can help you utilize this opportunity to connect with your target audience, especially if it can be centered around dealing with these difficult times.

Beyond Storytelling

At the end of the day, the fact is that PR generates conversion rates 10 to 50 times that of traditional advertising. It can help project a favorable image of your business, drive growth and catalyze investments for your business. But it needs to be a well-thought-out and long-term strategy rather than just flash-in-the-pan mentions in the media.