Very often, the communications plan for a fundraising event is reduced to the announcement itself, a moment of intense, but fleeting visibility. After this quarter of an hour of fame, it mainly provokes a flood of commercial solicitations, often poorly targeted.
However, a well-designed communication plan must above allhelp achieve this fundraisingand what will be the whole point of our article. If over-communicating is a red flag, not communicating is just as much, investors are looking for entrepreneurs who will know how to sell their projects when they want to go beyond the capable, and as you will discover in this article communicating well involves a learning curve that must be built from the start.
Think like an investor
Before investing, a business angel or an investment fund begins by observing and looking for signals to select the startups that interest him. His first instinct: Google, Google News, and now ChatGPT. The information he discovers there immediately determines the perception of your company.
Articles, interviews, press releases, presence in sectoral media or on LinkedIn, each content (owned, earned, paid) is a brick of credibility to be treated. It’s up to you to choose the essential messages to convey: commercial traction, team strength, market vision, governance, growth or technology.
Also keep in mind that your perspective is not that of the investor. Where you talk about conviction, he seeks consistency with his investment strategy, scalability and proof of execution. Therefore reverse the reasoning and ask yourself what information is useful, what data strengthens your case, what signals validate your trajectory.
Position yourself against your competitors
Observing your competitors’ media presence also allows you to adjust your own narrative. Understanding how they are perceived in the press illuminates your blind spots, refines your messages and clarifies your place in the sectoral landscape. The main thing is to develop your uniqueness and avoid repeating codes already assigned.
Build a retroplan: start 18 to 10 months before
This preparatory work must be part of a realistic timetable. A financing round today takes between 8 and 14 months. For a closing in January 2027, communication begins now, it seems distant, but you have to keep it in mind, especially as you know your deadlines.
Before approaching the media, you must work on your personal credibility, the famous personal branding, and this starts with a LinkedIn profile documented without excess, a controlled digital footprint, content published on your own channels (tribunals, expert notes), a targeted presence in specialized podcasts, interventions at events. This base builds authentic visibility, perceived by journalists even before your first contact.
The aim of this priming phase is to prepare the ground for credibility, because when the time comes for the first contacts, your profile must already be sufficiently consistent and, above all, readable.
Enter the media wheel
Once this work is done, you can seek to exist in the public debate. In the start-up phase, you will have to roll up your sleeves, however for subsequent fundraising, collaborating with a PR agency or a consultant is not only a time saver in your schedule, it will above all be an accelerator. Their role is to support you in the strategic definition, refine your messages, avoid already saturated angles, validate the relevant subjects and facilitate access to the editorial staff, not through a press file, but through the quality of the relationship that they will have built over the years and which will offer you a valuable shortcut.
If economic media constitute a first entry point, European media are now an imperative, even if your development is currently limited to France.
Content creators and their vertical podcasts have also become credible relays. At the same time, your own channels must remain active: forums, interviews, studies, non-media interventions
Adjust your angles to media expectations
Each speech must feed a coherent story, even if certain messages must be repeated to be anchored, the angle must adapt to the medium and its readership. Three approaches dominate:
- Product and innovation : the problem addressed, your value proposition,
- Market and expansion : traction, market shares, ambition.
- Team and governance : the founders, the management, the culture.
Each media has its own appetite, understanding its editorial line is essential.
Build a media action plan
Targeting must be precise, each editorial team has its specialist. Identify journalists whose angles, formats and style you know and above all appreciate. Read their latest publications before asking them, this avoids proposing a subject that they have just covered and having an article or two in mind when you meet them.
Also pay attention to calls for witnesses published on LinkedIn or
Prepare clear and actionable messages
Preparing your language elements involves defining the formulations that best reflect your activity. Write thematic sheets, list the words that embody your DNA, identify those to be avoided, keep in mind what is confidential.
The key figures are essential: growth, customers, turnover, retention, staff, you must have them in mind without any hesitation.
Prepare professional iconography (portraits, product visuals, logos). Making the journalist’s job easier increases your chances of being picked up. And if you’re missing something, just say, “I’ll get back to you as soon as I have it.” » rather than making a mistake.
Take care of your press relations
The relationship with a journalist is built in a professional framework, without pernicious flattery. A simple and authentic “I liked your article on…” is enough to initiate a positive exchange, they immediately detect the bluffers. Pay attention to what the journalist is looking for, their schedule, how they will include you or not in their subject. Ask him about the next topics that interest him and don’t hesitate to ask himpbring value: data, contacts, etc.
Media training: an essential step
The media training exercise is essential. I won’t tell you the number of entrepreneurs who miss their interview due to stress, or quite simply who were unable to deliver their message efficiently, not having understood the format.
Media training prepares posture, tone, and the ability to stay focused on your messages. It corrects automatisms, builds confidence and helps manage camera stress.
It is based on three pillars:
- Posture and presence : calm voice, measured gestures, controlled breathing.
- Clarity of message : three essential messages, reformulated according to the questions.
- Control of sensitive points : anticipate difficult questions (delays, business model, governance).
The filmed scenarios allow the content and form to be adjusted, an investment which always proves very profitable.
Prepare your interview: press, podcast, television
Each format has its requirements. The written press requires a structured statement. The podcast imposes a slower pace. The video requires more presence, gaze and breathing.
Reread the media’s productions before intervening: you will identify the codes, the sequences, and the moments where to place your messages.
Prepare your entry points and your exit points: the sentences that frame your point at the beginning, and those that summarize it. Finally, one or two good punchlines always hit the mark as long as you don’t overdo them.
Close the exchange with the journalist
Once the interview is over, don’t leave too quickly. Take a few moments to verify that the journalist has all the necessary information : figures, visuals, contextual elements. Ask him if he wants any additions, or if he plans to cover other angles in his article. This attention makes his work easier and reinforces the quality of the final result.
Even if you work with an agency, always leave your direct contact details. This will allow the journalist to contact you quickly in case of doubt or need for clarification. This direct contact establishes a climate of trust and personal responsibility, which is often appreciated.
If you can ask to reread your quotes (which can avoid truncated versions to sensationalize) don’t ask it on the full article.
Finally, accept the put into perspective, or even if your brand is not expressly mentioned, an article is not a press release and a fortiori an advertisement: it must include nuances, divergent points of view, and comparisons with your competitors. This is the very nature of journalistic work.
And don’t forget to communicate about your fundraising, it’s to make it a success, not just to celebrate it (even if that has an interest and we’ll come back to it in another article.)
You would like to contact the FW.Media editorial staff, just one email: redaction@fw.media
