The First Five Content Pieces Every Tech Start-Up Needs

You've innovated a game-changing solution. You've assembled a great team. And you're now ready to tell the world.

Coming out of stealth mode is an exciting moment for any early-stage business but, to create the right impression, you'll need to have all your ducks in a row. That means having exactly the right content locked and ready.

Your first marketing content needs to work particularly hard - sparking initial interest, boosting credibility, and generating early momentum. Your launch materials are the start of your story and set the scene for everything that follows. As with any good story, you need to grab the audience's attention from the outset, give them a reason to care, and keep your audience hooked as they turn the pages on your unfolding narrative. From closing VC investment to securing Tier 1 customers, your ability to tell a unique story will be instrumental in building value into your brand and driving long-term success.

For almost two decades, EvokedSet has been helping early-stage companies craft pitch-perfect communications that land with investors, prospects, customers, and the media. If you’re just getting started on your marketing, we're sharing the five essential content pieces every tech start-up should have in place. But first:

* A Message About Messaging *

Before you decide on your messaging and select your communication channels, you first need to establish clear answers to the following questions: why you're communicating, what success looks like, who needs to hear the message - and what will convince them. Aligning your team on external messaging can be a complex and time-consuming process, and one that many start-ups struggle with, or simply file in the "too hard" box.

We use our proprietary Outcome-Up Messaging Framework™ to help spin-outs and start-ups build compelling narratives that focus on outcomes, not just outputs.

This crystal-clear, strategy-led framework gets everyone on the same page and becomes the foundation for everything else you create - ensuring momentum-building messaging impact every time you communicate. We've just launched a new offer to deliver an expertly-facilitated Messaging Workshop + 12-Month Content plan. Get in touch to request pricing and explore further.

Now, here are our five must-have content pieces:

Content piece 1. World-Class Website Copy
Your website is the natural place of fulfilment for interest generated by your PR and communications programme - including your social media channels - and it should offer a polished, consistent and high-quality experience. It's the first thing you should get right and working well. Why? We've seen too many underwhelming, rinky-dink and out-of-date websites that fail to match the expectations set up by otherwise impressive comms activities.

Equipped with your Outcome-Up Messaging Framework™, you'll know exactly the audience you're trying to attract, what they care about, and what messages and tone will resonate with them. So, the next step is create a site map and structure that will serve each expected visitor journey and deliver the right breadth and depth of content. Your website copy should be externally-focused and benefit-driven, and clearly signpost towards your site's primary goals - whether that's lead capture or demo sign-ups. Once your core website copy is tightened up and fully honed for SEO, you can start to build up a fresh bank of high-value, lead-generating content that highlights your credibility and leadership. Your content hub could include customer case studies and advocacy, whitepapers, technology backgrounders, solution briefs, blogs, podcasts, videos and more.

Content piece 2. A Slick Slidedeck
Even early-stage company slidedecks can grow like topsy - created by committee and evolving with each iteration until they become (frankly) a vast, meandering and unsightly mess. It happens. We've seen it.

A specialist marketing agency brings professional design and storytelling expertise - which is very often a skills gap in small teams. A trusted consultancy team can provide a valuable external view and fresh eyes perspective to sharpen your focus, optimise your story flow, and enhance your presentation outcomes with strong calls to action. What's more, a slick, well-structured foundational slidedeck can be readily tweaked for each audience who needs to understand your offer in their own language - from investors to sales prospects, industry analysts and the press.

Talk to us if you'd like to elevate your slidedeck into a high-impact showcase.

Content piece 3. A One-Pager To Rule Them All

Your key stakeholders will often want a quick overview of your company - informing them, at a glance, who you are, what you're innovating, what markets you're targeting and how to engage with you. Whether it's a potential new hire, strategic partner or a prospective investor, busy people will appreciate capsule content that sets out your stall clearly and concisely.

A well-designed one-page brochure can be permanently available on your website for download, easily adapted and printed as a quality handout for events, and proactively sent to your prospects via email outreach. Never understimate the power of brevity: even in deep tech, clarity wins.

Content piece 4. First Public Announcement

When the time is right, you'll want to issue your very first press release. Depending on your market area and company maturity, this could be to announce a funding round, key management or board appointments, regulatory approval, or full commerical availability of your solution. Your debut news release is a major stake in the ground and is your opportunity to get your strategic message and company vision out to a global audience. Leaning on your messaging framework, this first official announcement should explicitly state the context of your mission - what inspired you to create your solution, what problem you are solving, where you are positioned within the innovation ecosystem, and what the leadership's ambitions are for the business.

This announcement will have longevity in natural search, and it will sit on your website as a referenceable launch communication with SEO impact, so work with an experienced PR agency to ensure that it's as well-written, compelling and impactful as it can possibly be.

Content piece 5. Versatile Expert Insight

Publishing expert commentary bylined to your founders or key individuals in your senior team builds credibility and trust in the business, and also provides a human face and authentic voice for your company. Crucially, it also serves an important internal function, helping to unify the wider team around your agreed messaging and talking points.

Topics for an initial commentary piece could include:

Analysis of recent industry moves or regulatory developments
Highlighting industry areas for change
Debunking common myths about your market area
Making a bold prediction about the future of your field

This long-form content can be very efficiently repurposed and republished, including on your own website and blog, company LinkedIn page, and in email newsletters. An original article can be pitched to industry publications as an authoritative opinion piece or as capsule commentary, and quotable sections can be pulled out and developed into eye-catching social cards or carousel posts. Finally, your commentary piece would be voiced up and put out as a special podcast episode, or even recorded as a straight-to-camera video or filmed interview. The possibilities are (almost) endless!

Ready to create your content engine?

At EvokedSet, we specialise in devising and delivering strategic content that drives growth for innovation-led companies and tech start-ups. From momentum-generating messaging to media-ready materials, we’re here to help you tell a great story - creative, compelling and credible.

Want help creating your first five pieces of content?

Book a free discovery call and let’s get started.