In this piece, SaaS PR expert Jasmin Hyde breaks down the three biggest PR mistakes she sees SaaS businesses making.
As a PR strategist working with SaaS companies at various stages of growth, I’ve noticed the same visibility traps catch even the smartest founders, especially once their business starts gaining traction.
These aren’t rookie errors. They’re the kinds of strategic missteps that seem minor but compound over time, especially when you’re preparing to raise capital, expand into new markets, or build partner trust.
Here are the three most common PR mistakes holding back SaaS founders… and how to fix them.
Trap #1 is confusing press with proof
Media coverage (in the right, strategic places) is great, but it’s not a substitute for credibility.
Founders often assume that landing a media feature is the same as building trust, but without the right narrative, it’s just noise.
A standalone article that isn’t aligned with your brand’s positioning, customer proof points, or market strategy will vanish from memory as quickly as it appeared. Worse, it can dilute your message.
Instead, treat press as amplification rather than validation. Use it to reinforce the credibility you’re already building through customer results, partnerships and thought leadership.
Trap #2 is treating media as a one-time goal
“Getting in the media” is not a strategy.
The most successful SaaS businesses build a communications rhythm: founder point-of-view content, strategic announcements, industry commentary, and values-led storytelling that supports hiring, sales and brand reputation. One big splash won’t get you there. A drumbeat of aligned visibility will.
Founders who take the time to define what they want to be known for, and show up consistently, are the ones who stay top-of-mind when opportunities land.
I’ve seen the impact of this firsthand. For example, one early-stage SaaS founder I worked with secured a national business profile before they had solid customer traction. While it looked impressive, investors later questioned why the article made big claims without showing evidence, which undermined their next raise.
We reworked their messaging to focus on real case studies and aligned follow-up pieces with measurable impact.
Trap #3 is waiting until after funding to tell your story
This may come across as biased, but it needs to be said.
PR often gets looped in post-raise, once the story’s already happened. But strategic storytelling shouldn’t trail the moment. It should lead it.
If you’re planning to raise soon, you need to shape your narrative before someone else does it for you.
Tight, impactful messaging isn’t just useful for media moments. It should form the foundation of your investor pitches, off-the-cuff conversations, internal briefings – absolutely everything you communicate about your brand should be in line with a smart, expert-led communications strategy.
Having this in your toolkit early on will make launching into the PR phase a (relative!) walk in the park.
Once that’s smoothed out, a few simple places to start: write a founder op-ed that reflects your vision, pitch a story tied to customer impact, or build credibility by commenting on emerging trends in your sector.
PR isn’t just for after you’ve made it. It’s part of how you get there
For SaaS businesses ready to scale, visibility is a growth asset, not just a marketing checkbox. Getting it right means treating PR as a long-term investment in brand equity, not a last-minute tactic.
Start early, stay strategic and build the kind of credibility that compounds.
