Kirsty Goodlett of Ketner Group Communications unpacks how to shape your brand, connect with your audience, and boost visibility.
As the director of Ketner Group Communications’ new Nashville office, Kirsty Goodlett is thrilled to bring her PR savvy to Music City’s booming tech scene.
“The Southeast is a really wonderful hub of innovation right now,” she said. “We serve entirely technology companies, and specifically business-to-business technology companies, and Nashville’s seeing a lot of growth in technology right now.”
In this episode of Disrupt the Continuum, Goodlett discusses how entrepreneurs can catch the market’s attention — and keep it.
Storytelling through data
Building a brand is about storytelling, Goodlett said, and storytelling is about knowing your audience and bringing a new perspective to the table. To craft a company’s story, entrepreneurs need to “get simple.”
“What are the top one or two things that someone needs to know about you that’s different from everyone else?” she asked. “How do you tell your story differently to different publications, to different media?”
For many businesses, hard numbers can be a crucial storytelling tool. “We see a lot of business-to-business companies using data … to tell a story of what’s happening within the market,” Goodlett said. Those companies connect the dots between the market data and their business.
“The data captures the journalist’s attention,” she said, “but then once you have that attention … what’s your company’s story to respond to that data?”
Joining a larger conversation
Even with a great story, it can be difficult to build an audience. To gain visibility, Goodlett explained, startups must be on the lookout for ways their brand can speak to current events.
“We often recommend that our clients look at ways to jump their story onto other trends,” she shared. “If something newsy happens, you can send out a quote from your company responding to that news item.”
Goodlett emphasized that a company’s voice is also more likely to be heard if it’s clear and concise. “Succinctly state the things that you want [publications] to quote … provide bullet points … whatever you can do,” she said. “Reporters are busy, and they want to write about you, but if you make their job easier, they might be a little bit more likely to do so.”
To hear these stories and more, subscribe to Disrupt the Continuum wherever you get your podcasts. This season of Disrupt the Continuum is powered by Pinnacle Financial Partners. To learn more about LaunchTN programming and events, visit launchtn.org.
