How thought leadership articles could accelerate your fundraising efforts

Getting media attention is not easy.

We at e27 receive tens of press releases daily but only a few good and the most relevant ones get published.

Writing a good article that could attract readers is, however, no easy feat; it requires subject knowledge and a thorough understanding of your target audience.

Our experience is that thought leadership content always gets good traction.

For founders, a good thought leadership article could also be a great way to draw investor attention.

Thought leadership is the simple idea of sharing your views with the wider community via articles, social media posts, speaking engagements, etc. It is the equivalent of answering questions your customers, investors or the general public may have with respect to you product, service, idea or philosophy.

e27’s contribution programme is as a hub where a thought leader can contribute ideas and opinions.

Why you should join it.

Being your own brand ambassador

As an early-stage startup, you don’t always have the luxury to hire a special PR person to build media relations. In that case, the founder or a member of the founding team could share their story with the startup community.

Putting this down in words will make it easier for you to take it to investors and establish greater credibility. The added validation to your ideas from other founders and professionals in the community will serve as a great endorsement to your ideas.

Kevin Nguyen, the CEO of Hanoi-based software company Adamo Digital and a regular e27 contributor says, “I think it has to do a lot with personal branding. It’s all about the content that you write. When I started out, I didn’t really have much to say. But I took the time to read and understand the industries where my clients are and followed the trend. By writing for e27, I think in a way, I’ve branded myself as the expert in the industry, especially if I focus on several topics only.”

Get noticed by investors

Thought leadership distinguishes you and your brand from others. Events, podcasts, and blogs can help you build leads, connect with future investors, and even increase consumer base. It is a slow process but one that surely pays off.

Investors are looking for founders with expertise and your articles are a great way to build and showcase that, especially when you are looking to get their attention. Sharing your ideas and subject matter expertise builds a stronger case for your startup. This also shows how passionate you are about building your startup.

Managing Partner at RHL Ventures, Rachel Lau chose e27 as one of the platforms where she regularly shares her views surrounding the tech ecosystem.

She says: “The visibility has been great. Like, someone from LinkedIn would occasionally say to me ‘Hey I read your article on the Vietnam stuff and I think it’s great”, and it’s nice to get that kind of message. I think the contributor channel has the right exposure from the right target audiences, which also becomes a challenge to me to write to the right target audiences.”

“If you’ve been wanting to contribute, you know, just start writing, you never know where it may take you,” she adds.

Widen your network

Network is your net worth. We have all heard that before. But how does one continue to network whilst being locked down at home? The thought leadership exercise fosters connections and ignites chats with like minded people in a virtual environment.

Through his contributions to e27, investor Maarten Hemmes admits that he added a lot of new relations to his network as people found him and HH through the e27 Contributor platform.

“I think contributing to e27 is a great way for me to broaden my exposure. And it’s a good exposure for HH Investments as well,” he says.

At e27, we are passionate about engaging and bringing together stakeholders from across industries and verticals to build a more informed and inclusive ecosystem.

We have groomed a thriving community of two million readers in the tech and startup industry, making it a great place to reflect upon the interests of the startup economy in Asia. The e27 Contributor Programme is your chance to share your thoughts and opinions with this community.

Connect with us to know more.

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Image credit: Corinne Kutz on Unsplash