The competition for the space economy is heating up like never before. In a capital-intensive ecosystem, companies are also managing multi-year development cycles, launch and partnership milestones, as well as significant regulatory oversight. A strategic and effective communications function is non-negotiable in this environment.
This space PR agency provides senior expertise for media relations, content and social media programs to space startups, commercial satellite operators and orbital service providers.
The space economy is booming, thanks to surging investment and innovation from commercial companies, taking over from the traditional leadership role that government programs held. Reusable launch rockets, data centers in space, in-atmosphere manufacturing capabilities, and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) networks are no longer far-fetched dreams. Generational change is at hand across all aspects of the industry, including commercial launches, orbital services, space data infrastructure and earth observation.
Yet despite such a boom, commercial companies in the sector operate under incredible burn rate pressures, years of development cycles, rigorous testing phases and high regulatory oversight. Investor, partner and government awareness and confidence are what will fuel the future winners in this industry.
In this situation, where such heavy capital expenditure is required, PR needs to be a mission-critical part of a space company’s strategy. It should encompass everything from narrative development to amplifying milestones and breakthroughs to founder profiling.
We offer a team of former journalists who are all senior-level PR experts who support your space brand across media relations, content and social media.
Get in touch with us and let’s discuss your space industry positioning.
The race for investment in the space economy is at unprecedented and historic levels. PR is an essential approach to not just orbiting but landing a brand’s reputation across a very large industry group of stakeholders.
Space is a high-hazard industry. This means corporate communications has to be at the heart of a business in the sector. It isn’t passive management of brand reputation; instead, it encompasses both proactive and reactive activities that go across channels from social media platforms to media outlets to public forums, like events.
If a space company struggles to articulate its unique value or what benefits it provides to the industry or its customers, this can not only hamper awareness but also, ultimately, growth. Brand positioning creates defining messaging that opens up a competitive gap between a company and its rivals and humanizes a brand beyond subsystems and payloads.
Given the requirements of space companies to invest significant amounts of capital expenditure in their operations, having little to no brand presence amongst reputable media outlets is a strategic problem. By installing a media relations function, it acts as a growth lever for brands by strategically placing spokespeople, product and corporate press releases in high-visibility media publications, reaching and influencing a wide audience of stakeholders.
Space companies fail without a strategy, given how capital-intensive the industry is and the extremely long R&D cycles. The exact same principle applies to a PR strategy. It integrates commercial imperatives that reach to key stakeholders and then defines how these crucial decision makers will be reached, by what channel, what messaging and what communications activities.
The space economy is home to many valuable events, including the likes of Satellite (SatShow), GEO Week, Space Tech Expo, and Space Symposium. What makes such events important is that they bring together Directors Of Programs, partners, investors, customers and also media outlets. Communications work, such as corporate news, needs to be timed exactly with events to ensure key audiences are engaged with.
The content playbook has changed completely thanks to large language models (LLMs) and changes in buyer search behavior. Authoritative, deep and relevant content pillars are what win now, not keyword stuffing or random topic blog posts. Content strategy accounts for this new reality and is focused on putting a deliberate structure and plan in place for all brand content that adheres to best practices like Google’s E-E-A-T.
Experience is earned and a junior-led team handling a space company’s communications will likely lead to problems. Instead, we’re an exclusively senior-only team of PR experts who are involved in every phase of a brand’s campaign, from strategic planning right down to the tactical execution, like pitching a story to media. This experience helps brands to navigate any communications challenges.
Ex-journalists know how to write compelling content, as well as understand the best manner in which to pitch stories to media outlets effectively. Our team is nearly exclusively made up of PR professionals who have a background in journalism. The benefits of this to our clients are that content reaches an editorial-grade level and real insight and understanding of media informs PR campaigns.
Customized PR services and strategies work best for space companies because no brief is ever the exact same, meaning a structured, multi-tactic approach is needed. We’re an agency that provides highly customized scopes of work to our clients that often span across content creation, media relations and social media, all guided by overarching campaign goals.
No space company wants to churn through different PR agencies every few months. It isn’t a good use of resources or time. When deciding on a PR agency, reviewing how long and stable client agreements have been is a smart way to understand if the agency is the right choice. We have constantly secured long-term client relationships by delivering on the brief and achieving client objectives.
The space sector is reaching for the stars. It is high-risk and capital-intensive, meaning credibility must be earned amongst investors, governments and partners. Good PR agencies take deeply technical work and turn it into a mission-critical narrative that cuts through. Our streamlined process enables onboarding in just 5–7 working days.
Good PR campaigns start from what organizations in the space sector have, and move on from there. Whether that is blogs, social media content or a spec sheet for equipment, a kick-off call will highlight the most important information to drive the program forward. This starts with existing content that can be audited and spokespeople who can communicate with media.
What needs to happen first? For many firms in the space sector, there will be immediate communications needs to be addressed, from funding rounds to important news around new hardware or software. After the kick-off call, creation of a priority list to lock in strategies takes place, putting shape and action to the most important parts of the program.
The space sector is one in which inspiring stories of human endeavour at the outer limits of our planet are hugely important, and to tell this story, it is vital to rely on the brand’s executives as a source of ready-made expertise. Intake sessions with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) will tap into this understanding of the business to create fitting storylines and content topics.
The information from the initial kick-off call and sessions with subject-matter experts is the material that will drive the development of the strategy. This will be synthesised together into a foundational strategy document; in this, it will outline exactly which audiences the campaign will focus on (be that investors, regulators, customers or others) and details on what tactics are likely to succeed.
It begins. Using the information from the previous steps, the initial PR campaign is set up: the first activities include creating media lists (lists of journalists and content creators who may be interested in covering the story) and crafting initial content from blogs to press releases.
With a close eye on the most pressing activities in the agreed program of action, the program is now activated. With strategic focus agreed on and audiences targeted, the campaign moves on to the first and most pressing activities agreed on, aiming to deliver on the strategic focus.
How can we measure the success of an ongoing campaign? Metrics measuring (including estimated sizes of audiences reached) and a report structure help space organizations keep track of the success of campaigns. This is sustained via conference calls, email updates and reports on media and social impact.
How did it go? Reviewing strategic plans is a key part of the process, allowing organizations in the space sector to focus on what is really delivering. A meeting to audit positive outcomes helps to focus on what parts of the story are really landing - and an assessment of improvement areas is offered, with recommendations on how to adapt and improve going forward.
Our experienced team knows how to help your space brand reach for the stars with content creation, social media support and media relations.
Our Founder discusses how PR should be integrated into a space company’s operations.
David Claxton
Founder of Wise Up PR
Space PR is a communications strategy focused on promoting space organizations’ products and services to groups ranging from investors to partners to governmental institutions, with a view to shaping the messaging around an organization and raising trust levels. The goal is generally to drive awareness of a commercial space company’s offering within the space economy, in order to enhance credibility among a defined target audience. Tactics involved can range from establishing people from the organization as ‘thought leaders’ within the sector to securing media coverage through interviews with journalists.
Space communications agencies can enhance awareness of products and services from organizations in the space sector. Space PR deals with areas as varied as earth observation and orbital services, helping to establish organizations as fearless innovators with sector-leading ideas. Agencies can also help to place spokespeople as thought leaders within their sector, dealing with common space sector challenges such as capital-intensive programs with multi-year development, testing, and launch timelines.
Space PR can help not only to raise awareness of space startups in everything from space manufacturing to space data, but it can also help to deal with some of the key challenges in the sector. Having an expert agency partner in place can help with common challenges such as managing expectations around launch delays, test failures, and schedule slips, and communicating with a very varied set of audiences from government agencies, primes, commercial partners, and investors to consumers.
Top media publications in the space industry include Space News, Payload Space, SatMagazine and Aviation Week and Space Technology. Media interest isn’t confined just to the trade titles either, with Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN and Reuters having dedicated space economy reporters too, meaning relevant news and opinions can break through to mainstream media publications.
Space PR agencies are the perfect partners to announce both funding announcements and acquisitions. A communications strategy can help an announcement that might otherwise go unnoticed to reach broader audiences (even outside of specialist media) and to resonate as part of a company’s journey. Such announcements can be targeted at different media lists across many publications in order for the announcement to resonate effectively with audiences ranging from commercial partners to investors.
The lifeblood of specialist space PR agencies is to communicate clearly the unique selling points of space organizations, establishing a narrative that will win coverage in specialist trade titles and in mainstream media. Having an agency is a way to support an organization navigating export controls, licensing, and regulatory approvals, which create public narratives that balance national-security sensitivities with commercial openness and investor visibility.
The right moment to invest in communications is as early as possible. A brand does not get visibility or credibility overnight. Investment in communications can also be tied to a milestone moment, such as a product or service launch, or for satellite operators and those in orbital services, it can be a physical space launch. It’s worth remembering that it can raise awareness of an organization and its work even ‘in between’ such milestone moments, such as by placing spokespeople as guests on podcasts and other less news-driven opportunities.
A communications campaign’s success can be measured in multiple ways: estimated audience reach, number of placements in different publications and from direct business results such as increased website visits, increased sales leads, or revenue. Whether the organization is in space data or space manufacturing, measurement is discussed with an agency through regular catch-up meetings. Wise Up PR schedules regular calls and updates via email on the results we deliver, so organizations can keep track of campaign performance.
A communication agency can manage brand visibility either for individual territories or globally. Given the global nature of the space industry, it makes sense for a global approach, regardless of the position within the space economy. Communications agencies with a global approach can handle complex challenges such as explaining orbital regimes, ground segment, and in-orbit services without oversimplification, ensuring maximum reach for your announcements. Space PR can also establish company leaders as global thought leaders in the sector.
Typically, a campaign can deliver results within six weeks, with follow-up meetings often scheduled for the three-month or six-month mark to discuss progress. This allows space organizations and an agency partner to assess progress and home in on what is working and what is not working, and refine and improve campaigns for the future.
