How can space tech companies improve media visibility?

Emotion

Find a compelling narrative in your story. Is there a challenge or adversity that was overcome? Can it be framed with a human-interest angle?

Stories which strike a sense of awe, fear, sadness, or joy will get more reads and more clicks, so journalists favour them. You don’t have to be clickbaity, but something as simple as framing your story as a “David vs. Goliath” one about a small startup taking on a big space company is more likely to draw a journalist’s attention.

Wider impact

Think about how you can make your story resonate with people who aren’t technical experts in the space industry. How does your company or solution affect the everyday person on the street, other businesses, or governments? Space companies that link their technology to everyday life have a stronger hook than those focused purely on the mechanics of spaceflight.

‘W’ can also stand for “Weird”. Readers are attracted to strange or backwards stories that challenge everyday common perceptions. This is also known as the “man bites dog” phenomenon – unlike a dog biting a man, a story about a man biting a dog is unusual enough to attract attention.

In B2B space comms, weird doesn’t need to mean wacky – you can focus on surprising stories that challenge industry assumptions (e.g. “why Mars isn’t our best option”), or unusual use cases (e.g. “how space tech is helping grow more strawberries”).

Significance

Lastly, what makes your story significant? Is it a major milestone? Does it tie into a larger trend, like climate change? Or is it relevant to a specific place or community? Show how you do it better and why it matters.

For example, we worked with one UK space tech company, called Gravitilab, that launched a first-of-its-kind commercial microgravity service. Using a UAV, they could mimic the effects of zero gravity on Earth. We secured coverage for this client in the BBC because we linked the story to the relevance of the local Cornwall area and how the company was continuing to build on the region’s reputation for space testing. Targeting a local reporter and curating a story that was relevant to their readers secured us tier-1 coverage and attention for Gravitilab.

Have an opinion

What if you don’t have any immediate news to share? With the right hook and approach, it’s possible to engage media successfully through thought leadership. Not only can this drive brand awareness - it can be a great way to show the world what you do, and why there’s a need for your space tech solution, without requiring hard news.

For example, a lot of space tech is difficult to understand, especially for a broader audience. A wider education piece is often needed to contextualise all the technological innovation occurring. So, finding a way to show how your solution can tackle an existing and topical problem will drive visibility for your brand and educate the market about the need for your offering.

Doing this successfully depends on a few things.

Firstly, journalists want to talk to people with opinions. After all, if you want to be a “thought leader”, you need to have some original thoughts: insight, debate, and real takes on industry issues.

Yet, we regularly hear complaints on LinkedIn from B2B tech editors and reporters that spokespeople from tech companies sit in media interviews and simply parrot their company’s key messages without offering any true thought leadership.

The good news is that this presents a great opportunity for space companies with genuinely witty, charismatic executives who can present a unique opinion and back it up with evidence.

However, managing an executive who strays from key messages can seem a daunting task for PR or marketing professionals. But you can tackle this in a non-risky way. Avoid controversial hot takes and instead focus on issues that genuinely matter to your customers and the industry, which also align with your company’s expertise.

While landing key messages ensures your points don’t get lost, don’t overbrief spokespeople. A 20-page media briefing document does more harm than good – it’s either rehearsed and read like a script, or it’s ignored entirely. Simply provide your executive with some helpful background information about the journalist, a few key points they should emphasise during the interview, and make them aware of any hot news topics that the journalist may want to speak about. 

As specialists in space tech marketing communications, TFD can work with you to clarify key messages and ensure they align with your company's voice and business goals, without losing the authenticity or spark that made them compelling in the first place.

Jump onto trending topics

Keeping an eye on the news cycle and inserting your company’s voice on larger stories has been a common PR tactic for a while. “Newsjacking” is a dependable way for a small company to get media coverage that isn’t big enough to create breaking news by itself.

Decide and agree on which topics you are happy for your spokespeople to comment on. Inserting yourself in a serious or sensitive story can be risky, as it can come across as self-serving or inappropriate, damaging trust with both the media, customers, and investors.

…But be quick

Speed is everything in the media. Even with an interesting opinion, a great pitch, and a perfect breaking news story to hook it to, you won’t get media coverage unless you’re quick. The news cycle stops for nobody.

Journalists and reporters writing about a hot news topic (especially those working at tier-1 media outlets) will tend to publish the first few decent sets of comments they receive before moving on to the next story. This is because their job is to turn stories around fast, often within hours. 

Having a comment bank that can be adapted and edited in response to breaking news can help companies to respond quickly, while ensuring key messages remain consistent. Pre-empting news topics can also speed up response times. Is there a piece of legislation that’s coming into effect, or an investment that’s planned, or an industry milestone that’s on the horizon? By working on a response before a story breaks, you’ll be well-placed to quickly adapt a comment once the news lands, significantly increasing your chance of inclusion in journalists’ stories. 

To conclude, if your space tech company is looking to increase its media visibility, you must craft newsworthy stories that go beyond simply describing your products. A great story should have novelty, emotion, wider impact, and significance. When you don’t have a new announcement, you can still gain media attention by having executives with unique opinions on industry issues. But, as ever with the media, speed is crucial.