How to generate buzz in a buzzless industry
How do you get people to notice your startup?
Focus on the wider impact your industry has on society
No matter what industry you’re working in, there will always be something that makes it interesting for a wider audience. Your best bet is to look at the big picture. How do developments within your industry impact people in their daily lives? How do they impact the causes or issues they care about?
With a very specific customer base (farmers, governments, and others working in the agricultural sector), AgriTech hasn’t always been the sexiest industry. The potentially low public interest and readership levels meant that, in the past, journalists weren’t necessarily clamoring to cover new industry developments.
Computomics, a data analysis company that offers custom services for next-gen sequencing projects from crop science to metagenomics, knows this all too well.
But as Managing Director, Dr. Sebastian J. Schultheiss, told Growth Quarters, growing public consciousness about the effects of climate change, food security, and the conversation around sustainability have completely changed this perception.
Simplify complex solutions by focusing on added value
Now imagine that you’re not only operating in a niche sector but also have a niche solution within that sector.
For Yael Alter, CEO of egg sex determination startupSoos, this was a big challenge.
“There are difficulties in growing while associated with the AgriTech sector. Solutions are complex and heavily dependent on science which requires intense research and the industry demands a 100% complete product before going to market,” Alter explains.
“In addition, these solutions are usually restricted with heavy regulation and require mass amounts of capital to fund. The biggest difficulty is being in the livestock sector, as the number of investors interested in animal husbandry is substantially lower.”
Soos’ groundbreaking technology makes it possible to determine and change the sex of eggs before they hatch. But why should anybody not working in the poultry industry care about such a niche and technically complex solution?
Alter laid it out in a way that’s straightforward, easy to understand, and easy to remember.
“We manage to get people excited about our product via the noticeable benefits our solution provides. Here is an example of a term we coined, ‘The 4 P‘s’, showing our added value:”
Consider how your product advances a particular tech sector
Of course, not every solution will have such a clear and direct social impact. Instead, consider how your product fits within the current tech trends. As Schultheiss explained:
Alter agreed:
Choose the right outlets
Consider what your goals are. While making it into a top-tier publication may seem glamorous, if your goal is lead generation, reaching a global audience may not be worth the effort.
“We’ve found that staying true to your niche is very important,” Alter tells Growth Quarters. “You would be surprised by how specific some niche outlets can be. The specificity doesn’t stop just at agriculture or even livestock, but we have various poultry/chicken media outlets and conferences/events. This allows us to reach our consumers without having to go after very general events/outlets.”
“With that being said, we still believe that you need to spread your efforts to reach a more general audience. While looking for poultry farms to adopt your solution, a niche poultry magazine would probably be your best bet, but not so much if you’re looking for investment for example. Our PR and Business Development team try to find the right balance of effort allocation between niche and non-niche outlets,” says Alter.
Soos itself has been able to get coverage in both Poultry World and The Guardian. Alter shared that the key is knowing what types of stories to pitch to different publications. While the readers of Poultry World may want the nitty-gritty details behind their solution, a wider audience will be more interested in the impact it has:
Focus on your community
But is spending time in gaining media attention really worth the effort for niche startups?
Ru Wikmann, CEO ofBeeSage, isn’t so sure. When he met his co-founder, Girts Kagis, (whose father is a beekeeper) and their advisor, Janis Kronbergs (an avid beekeeper himself), at an IoT hackathon, it was fate. Wikmann and Kagis soon created Beesage, a company that’s developed smart beehive scales to better monitor and maximize honey production, was born.
While Wikmann admitted that press can help with things like word of mouth, SEO, and positioning, he explained:
Get networking
While gaining media attention may not be a priority for every niche business, attracting investment is.
“Very few investors understand hardware and they often regard it as being riskier,” Wikmann explains. “What helped us get the initial funds for starting were some accelerators suited for our overlapping micro-niches, namely, EIT Climate-KIC and Buildit. X-Europe has been a great program too in many aspects.”
Both Computomics and Soos have also greatly benefited from joining accelerator programs and startup competitions. In fact, Soos’ first international pilot was mediated through an accelerator and, in 2020, they won a $1 million investment at the Grow-NY competition.
Computomics has made the most out of the EU’s various funding opportunities by participating in grant proposals and partnering up with research bodies, universities, and other industry players to apply for joint grant applications.
Another great way of creating visibility is by joining business networks. Computomics, for example, is a member of the University of Hohenheim’s CANNABIS-NET, CyberValley, and the International Seed Federation (ISF).
The one golden rule for generating buzz
If after this list you’re still having trouble finding the right channels, not to worry. Sometimes the best strategy to generate external attention is simply taking a deeper look internally. As Wikmann explained:
Story byAndrea Hak
Andrea is TNW’s Branded Content Editor and, as a writer, she’s covered a wide range of topics from ClimateTech to AI and gender bias. She’s(show all)Andrea is TNW’s Branded Content Editor and, as a writer, she’s covered a wide range of topics from ClimateTech to AI and gender bias. She’s always on the lookout for stories that explore the social and political impact of emerging technology.
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