How to use communications to secure investment: four top tips for start-ups and scale-ups

The fact that we are facing a climate crisis will come as news to no-one. Fortunately, the solutions we need already exist and the climate tech ecosystem has increased in value by 4,500% in a decade. These solutions now ‘just’ need funding to scale.

The investors we need are also out there, from incubators and angels to venture capital firms and banks. To rapidly scale their solutions and impact, start-ups and scale-ups now need to effectively engage with funders – to convey their proposition in a way that resonates with their audience.

We have developed a series of pro tips for cutting through the noise and effectively engaging investors based on our work with game-changing businesses, accelerator programmes, and investors across the world – tips we want to share with you.

Use business objectives to develop communications goals

Just as they form the core of any effective corporate strategy, business objectives should also form the basis of your communications goals. Doing so helps ensure your communications efforts stay focused on supporting business growth.

Use the specific business objectives for your start-up or scale-up to develop clear communications goals by asking:

What do you need to achieve your targets?
What do you need communications to achieve?
What does success look like?

Pro tip: ensure your communications objectives are clear and SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Instead of “I need loads of coverage” try “secure 6 pieces of coverage in top-tier investor publications within the next 3 months”, for example.

Identify those you need to engage and clarify your goals for them

Step one: identify your priority target markets and define ‘core’ target audience segments.

Step two: hone in on organisations that can move the needle for you and the decision-makers you need to reach within them.

Step three: clarify your goals for those you need to engage – what you want them to think, feel and do.

Step four: gain insights into what they are motivated by and interested in, as well as their pain points.

Step five: use these insights to find the sweet spot between what you need from them and what they need from you – start getting them to think, feel and act the way you want them to.

Pro tip #1: when mapping and segmenting audiences, consider who is already influencing your decision-makers. For investors, this could be market analysts and financial thought leaders, as well as investor publications.

Pro tip #2: make sure you can always answer the following question: why should your audiences care?

Develop an impactful pitch

Once you have identified the sweet spot between what you and your audiences need, you are well-placed to develop the kinds of impactful, consistent communications that can attract investors.

One way to achieve this is through developing a core proposition. This is effectively a ‘pitch’ that tells investors why they should back you rather than your competitors and makes the benefits of your offering clear from the outset. It should answer the following questions:

What big-picture challenges are you helping solve?
How does your solution help solve these challenges?
What proof do you have of the positive impact that your solution can deliver?

Pro tip: don’t try to write your pitch first – come up with answers to these questions and work backwards.

Tailor messaging to specific audiences

Using your core proposition as a starting point, develop targeted messaging to enable greater cut through with your audiences. This effectively conveys your proposition to specific audience groups by speaking directly to their unique motivations, interests, and pain points.

Pro tip: try to keep your targeted messaging as clear and concise as possible, to ensure it is easy for your team to use, and for customers to understand.

As Carbon Trust’s communications partner for the UK Government-funded Net Zero Innovation Portfolio and Energy Catalyst accelerator programmes, Greenhouse provides training, support and guidance on how to drive investment for a wide range of start-ups and scale-ups globally.

We also provide a wide range of communications services to help game-changing businesses – like CarbonScape, Gridserve and Oxford PV – attract inbound enquiries from investors and effectively engage with investors. These include: