Editor’s Note: At a time when anyone can broadcast their opinions about your startup to the world, public relations requires a new level of engagement on the part of companies and entrepreneurs. But what are the new rules of PR? Guest author Brian Solis, who earlier this month wrote a post for us on the evolution of the press release, explains how public relations has changed and offers up 12 secrets of PR for startups. Warning: This a lengthy post. Its intent is to help companies navigate through the rough seas of traditional PR as it struggles, forcibly, to evolve and adapt to the new rules set forth by the Web (regardless of version number) .
Solis is the Principal of FutureWorks, a PR and New Media agency in Silicon Valley and also blogs at PR 2.0. Along with Geoff Livingston, Solis recently co-authored Now is Gone, a book that helps businesses learn how to leverage new and social media.
I’ve been overwhelmed with requests from executives and PR professionals to explain how this new media (r)evolution applies to them specifically and how they can make PR more effective and personal during these interesting times. I recently discussed it here and have been doing so for a long, long time. But since conversations and attention is discontinuous and distributed, I asked if I could bring this discussion to a more prominent online epicenter to help reach a wider array of those looking for answers.
The Long Road Back to Public Relations
Public Relations is experiencing a long overdue renaissance and its forcing PR stereotypes out from behind the curtain where they operated comfortably for far too many decades. It didn’t begin this transformation because of Web 2.0 or the latest Social Media wave, but instead in the 90’s when the Web gained mass adoption. Yes, it’s taken that long and it will continue to evolve over the next decade as communications professionals struggle with putting the public back in public relations.
Regardless of what we think we know about PR and the New Media or Social Media revolution, the truth is that we actually may know less about everything than we care to believe. These are times where we can lead and learn in order to improve an industry long plagued by misconceptions and the lack of PR for itself.
PR is now more than ever, something more capable and influential than simply writing and sending press releases to contacts generated by media databases. The media landscape has been completely blown open to not only include traditional media, but also bloggers and most importantly the very people we want to reach, our customers.
PR 1.0
About 100 years ago, Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays created and defined the art and science of modern-day PR. Believe it or not, their philosophies and contributions can still be used to further evolve PR today – especially when it comes to Social Sciences.
Over the years, the PR 1.0 publicity machine lost its way and its spark. We got caught up in hype, spin, buzzwords, and spam, and forgot that PR was supposed to be about Public Relations. But, its still how many companies continue to approach PR today.
Enter Social Media and the democratization of the Web and content. Now media and content producers are pushing back, demanding a more targeted and relevant form of outreach. For those who confuse Social Media with online marketing, Social Media is anything that uses the Internet to facilitate conversations between people – it is not the practice of social marketing. I say people, because it humanizes the process of communications when you think about conversations instead of companies marketing at audiences.
PR 2.0 = Conversational PR
The Web changed everything and this ongoing reinvention of PR has been dubbed PR 2.0 or New PR.
PR 2.0, as I defined it many years ago, is the realization that the Web changed everything, inserting people equally into the process of traditional influence. Suddenly we were presented with the opportunity to not only reach our audiences through media gatekeepers, but also use the online channels where they publish and share information to communicate more directly and genuinely.
At the very least, PR 2.0 is going back to the roots of PR to bring back relating to the public back into the process.
Now it’s about listening and, in turn, engaging influencers and stakeholders on their level. It forces PR to stop broadcasting and start connecting.
It is a chance to not only work with traditional journalists, but also engage directly with a new set of accidental influencers, and, it is also our ability to talk with customers directly.
No BS. No hype. It’s an understanding of markets, the needs of people, and how to reach them at the street level—without insulting everyone along the way. Conversational PR is becoming a hybrid of communications, customer service, evangelism, and Web marketing.
The evolution from PR 1.0 to PR 2.0 will result in more informed, effective, and meaningful Public Relations, without a version number. It’ll just be good PR.
So what does this mean for you?
It means you have to start thinking about things more intelligently, differently, and personally.
The Secrets
Maybe you’re an entrepreneur with a recently funded company in need of users, or perhaps you’re bootstrapped and actively seeking financing and you need a little something that will land you a more attractive term sheet.
Every VC, as well as every successful entrepreneur, will tell you that great PR can make you, whereas bad or mediocre PR can stifle your growth and possibly damage existing and prospective relationships. And, they all have ideas on how you should proceed.
But right now, the main thing that stands between you and success is getting those customers – and good press (traditional and new media) builds the bridge between you and them.
In order to get to the next level, you need to know the secrets of effective PR, especially in today’s competitive Web 2.0 world.
These are critical times for your business and you can’t simply entrust the future of your brand to anyone who knows how to write a press release, place it on the wire, and send it via email.
Secret #1
Understand You’re Not the Only Story in Town
Bloggers and reporters are some of the busiest people you could possibly hope to meet. They’re actively looking for the most interesting, relevant, and linkable stories out there, preferably before anyone else can run with it. But truthfully, they spend most of their time hacking through the weeds of generic or over-the-top inbound emails, press releases, Facebook messages, Skypes, SMSes, Tweets, and IMs. It’s almost a small miracle that anyone can ever get their story told.
At the end of the day, you’re not the only company with a great story. Just because your story is new doesn’t make it newsworthy.
Bloggers and journalists are interested in good stories and the more time you spend developing that story up front, for each person you’re trying to reach, the more you can help them help you.
Secret #2
Pick the Right Person or Team to Lead PR.
Your investors or advisors will tell you one of two things, usually starting with “you need PR.” From there, they’ll usually recommend that you either bring on an agency or consultant, one that they’ve worked with and can highly recommend. Or, they’ll suggest that you need to do it yourself (DIY) in order to build relationships with those who are highly respected in your target markets while conserving cash.
While DIY PR sounds good, you’ll quickly learn however, that it takes more time than you think to reach those people. Besides, you have other things to focus on and any good PR program will place you in a position to build relationships with the influencers that matter to your business.
Anyone can write a press release and blast it to a bunch of people. Remember, sometimes you get what you pay for and other times you just get ripped off. So, it’s important that you find the right solution that you can afford, but at the same time, offer your PR team the ability to deliver on the results that are realistic to what you need now.
When you do meet with PR people, evaluate them based on their ability to tell you succinctly who they have represented and pay attention to how well they summarize each company and what they do. Having existing relationships and the ability to show previous results is not optional.
Also quiz them on whether or not they understand the market, tech, benefits and the challenge as it relates to you specifically. If they can’t sell you on your product, how do you expect them to sell it to skeptical bloggers and journalists.
The two most important things to ask a potential PR consultant or agency are 1) do you have the bandwidth required to help us achieve these defined objectives and – if it’s an agency – 2) who’s going to work on my account and if it’s not you, can I meet the others on the team as well.
Secret #3
Participation is Marketing
You are equally important to the PR process. It doesn’t hurt to introduce yourself to bloggers or reporters offline and online to start building relationships with influencers who will help craft and guide your company across the market adoption bell curve.
Read and comment on their work. Send a brief intro email before you need anything. Attend one of the many tech networking events in your area to build your social capital, meet those who can help you, and those who you, in turn, can help as well.
Participation is marketing and by actively participating in both the online and real worlds, you forge relationships that will help your brand and social capital grow.
Keep in mind, how you participate, both online and in the real world, also contributes to your brand – especially in the realm of social media. Comments, social network profiles, blog posts, pictures you share, etc., are all discoverable in traditional search engines and new media search tools.
Secret #4
Identify The Target Audience For Every Step Of Your Growth
Observe and document where you are in the state of the technology and market adoption and determine realistic goals and objectives that will help your business get to the next step. This is an especially important part as it will reveal who your customers are and where they go for information.
Now more than ever, it’s important to realize that there is no “one” audience for your story. Influence is usually a left-to-right process that picks up momentum and mass attention along the way. It fans out in the process.
This step allows you to identify which voices, blogs or media outlets reach your target audiences right now and at every step of your growth (you’ll see that your audience evolves along with your company).
Secret #5
Don’t Launch on Mondays
Pick a news or launch date, say Thursday at 11:30 a.m. PST, and build in a cushion to start talking to the right people under embargo before you roll out. Mondays and early mornings are usually the most congested. Releasing it later will most likely earn greater attention.
A quick note on embargoes and exclusives. Embargoes are a form of sharing news with media where they agree to not publish the news before an agreed upon date/time. Whereas exclusives require that you give your story to one person, and one person only. Choose carefully, as once someone runs with the story; chances are that other newsmakers will pass.
Embargoes and exclusives are not to be manipulated or taken advantage of. You should respect them and the people you’re working with.
Allowing journalists and bloggers adequate time to prepare is critical. They’re busy and they need more than an hour to digest and write a story. Once a press release or the news is made public, they no longer pay attention anyway. Their job (in an ideal world) is to break news, not to rewrite press releases.
Determine which reporters and bloggers should be part of the initial news discussions (under embargo). I’m a huge proponent of the “less is more” embargo strategy to try to 1) demonstrate appreciation for those you want to work with—it should be different with each type of announcement you feel is truly “newsworthy,” according to which audiences the news is best suited; and 2) to reduce or eliminate the chance that someone might break the embargo by running the story early (usually by mistake—sometimes you learn the hard way though.)
Secret #6
No Two Bloggers or Journalists are Created Equal
Do your homework. Once you’ve identified those whom you’d like to work with before and after the news date, make sure that the PR team researches individual preferences for contact before they reach out.
This is about relationships and creating a value cycle from PR to bloggers, journalists and ultimately to the people you want to reach with your news. This hopefully isn’t the last time you’ll reach out to these influeners, so work with them, their way, in order to earn the opportunity to collaborate again.
Relationships are cultivated and should be mutually beneficial as dictated by the extra time the PR team takes to personalize and package the story and align it with their workflow.
Perception is everything. Do the legwork and the outreach that contributes to the reputation you wish to earn and maintain. Anything less takes away from it.
Secret #7
Measure Success, Not Traffic
Establishing metrics at the beginning is important for setting expectations on both sides as well as establishing the bar for performance. Coverage is important but no one can ever predict or guarantee whether or not the blogs or news media you target will cover a particular story. However, establishing a quantity (based on quality) of coverage to shoot for is healthy, as long as you take into consideration an attrition factor.
PR can also be measured by conversations sparked online due to initial coverage, referring traffic as well as registrations and/or downloads. Analysis and measurement will reveal a path for prioritizing your targets now and in the future.
Be realistic in the number of visitors you establish as a metric. Also, make sure the site’s registration or download process is simple and that the messages around it are short and powerful. PR can bring traffic all day long, but if visitors aren’t reminded as to why they’re there or if the process is at all too cumbersome, the conversion ratio of visitors to users will quickly diminish.
Secret #8
Customize the News For Each Influencer to Make His Or Her Job Easier
I’ve been privy to an uncountable array of company pitches and it never ceases to amaze me just how few can actually summarize what they do and why it matters.
Focus on the elevator pitch and make it compelling, memorable, and relevant. Brevity is key.
Make sure to summarize each news announcement with a couple of statements and bullets to quickly showcase why anyone should care. Package the story differently for each person you’re hoping to reach, as each will have different needs. Take the time to pull relevant screen shots, create user accounts for each person if necessary, customize video demos and screencasts, and anything else someone may need to write a story instead of having to spend precious time doing your work for you.
Yes, it’s time consuming. But this is about building individual relationships and not about broadcasting spam.
Secret #9
Get a Spokesperson
This one breaks my heart each and every time. As I mentioned before, I’ve witnessed thousands of startup presentations and a majority are too painful to endure. Company founders are naturally enthusiastic and passionate about their product, but unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily make them the best spokesperson.
First impressions are everything, and publicly showcasing your company, on stage, online, in print, or via broadcast media, requires nothing less than a polished, personable, and contagious presentation.
As hard as it is to pass the torch, this is one of those times where you really don’t have much of a choice if you’re not absolutely, 100% the best voice of the company. All hope isn’t lost however. You can embrace media and presentation training, and when tied to a tight elevator pitch and convincing messaging platform, you may indeed emerge as the ideal spokesperson for your brand.
Secret #10
Your Company Blog is More Powerful Than You May Think
I’m sure you’ve all read that having a company blog is critical to maintaining communication with your community.
First, don’t under estimate it. Second, don’t over estimate it. A blog is the voice and the soapbox for thought leadership, vision, solutions, milestones, and advice. At the very least, it contributes to the personality of your corporate brand. The best blogs become a resource and a destination, which helps improve your bottom line. For example, Google’s official blog is number 16 in Technorati’s Top 100 list of popular blogs.
In a world of building relationships with bloggers, reporters, analysts, partners and customers, your strategy simply can’t rely on only contacting everyone when you have news. Relationships require cultivation and nurturing. The company blog can help.
Prior to and in between announcements, make sure you’re out there actively commenting on relevant blog posts. But don’t leave short, irrelevant, kiss-ass, or angry comments. Contribute to the value of the conversation and make sure it links back to your blog. Also host relevant conversations on your blog and link out to your most valuable contacts wherever possible. They do pay attention.
Maybe this goes without saying, but I’m going to mention it anyway. Don’t break your news on your own blog!
Like press releases crossing the wire, breaking news on your blog makes the news less valuable if others haven’t yet had an opportunity to break it for you first. It’s like the new car analogy. The value of the car drops the minute you drive it off the lot. Time your post for after when the news breaks and link to everyone who helped cover the story. (Unless, of course, you are Google, in which case you can do whatever you want)
Secret #11
Blogger Relations Extends from the “A-List” to the Magic Middle
Online conversations are distributed and it now requires PR to identify the relevant silos that reach valuable niche markets.
The best communications strategies will envelop not only authorities in new and traditional media, but also those voices in the “Magic Middle” of the attention curve. The Magic Middle, as David Sifry defined it, are the bloggers who have from 20-1000 other people linking to them. It is this group that enables PR people to reach The Long Tail and they help carry information and discussions among your customers directly in a true peer-to-peer approach. And, in many cases, these bloggers are your prospective customers. Their effects on the bottom line are constant and measurable over time.
Secret #12
Follow the Conversations and Join In
As much as media and blogger relations drive traffic and increase your user base, we can’t overlook the importance of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Diigo, FriendFeed, Ning, Mixx, Bebo, Get Satisfaction, Google and Yahoo Groups (among many, many others). When executed and managed correctly, and genuinely, the referring numbers can outperform the best articles and posts and the relationships that you create within these networks will prove incredibly valuable throughout the life of your company.
This isn’t about promotion or social network spam. This is about dialog driven by the insight you garner from listening to and reading the people who are talking about your company – with or without your direct participation.
Try searching for your company, product, or competitor’s name in any of the above networks or any other social network, to see how they’re being discussed. By researching individual conversations, threads, and/or groups, you’ll find strategic points of entry across the board. This does take time, and may prove too overwhelming for you to run individually. Hiring a community manager or empowering your PR team to do so is a great place to start, that way they can point you to the conversations that require your attention or handle them directly.
Listening is as important as publishing. The best listeners make the best conversationalists. Make sure to keep a Google Alert for your company, spokespersons, and products. Reading and responding is critical to managing perceptions, sharing expertise, and building loyalty.
There’s no question, you have to compete for attention and in order to do so effectively and genuinely, you need someone who can help tell your story, the right way, through the people who reach your customers. It’s not an overnight process and it’s not something to “be gamed.” It’s a process of investing in, building and leveraging relationships now and in the long term. And yes, if you do things right, bloggers, reporters, and analysts will want to talk to you about your company and vision along the way.
Thanks for reading this far. If you would like to continue this conversation, connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.
(Photo by Lexie).
Nice.. but gotta be more secrets than revealed here?!!
I once led a DIY PR campaign (my first) for a tiny (6-person) startup which landed coverage on the front of the business section of the San Jose Mercury News, in Fortune magazine, and on 3 local TV stations — all without spending a dime on consultants (I’m an engineer). I wrote my secrets here:
http://www.successzen.com/2008.....inutes-too
The takeaway from this article, Mr. Solis sure knows how to promote himself!
If he does half as good of a work for your business, he’ll earn his 10k+ retainer
I think the point:
>> Listening is as important as publishing. The best listeners make the best conversationalists. Make sure to keep a Google Alert for your company, spokespersons, and products. Reading and responding is critical to managing perceptions, sharing expertise, and building loyalty. <<
is one of the highlights of this article. Zappos is one company that does this really well.
Excellent post and very useful and a must recommendations!
Transparency and willingness to listen is detrimental for survival not just for a start up company but for an established 800 lbs Goriala.
The Bigger they are the Harder they Fall.
Bloggers united is impenetrable force!
I think these lessons are relevant for more than just tech startups. The democratization of media means blogs and social media only cover what they understand and find completely relevant to their readers and/or friends. The idea of conversational PR enables PR professionals to truly share a concept rather than a headline.
Sure, it requires more work, but the depth of the coverage after a successful campaign can be far more effective than a simple repackaged press release.
Secret #1
Understand You Probably Have Nothing
Your startup is probably a whole lot less special than you think and will probably fail. This is obvious to most journalists and bloggers.
Secret #2
Pick a Friend to Lead PR
If you have funding and have a friend that works at a PR agency, retain their firm. Spreading your funding around to friends and family is a crucial part of getting the most out of the startup process.
Secret #3
Don’t Participate
Most technology journalists and bloggers are idiots who wouldn’t know an interesting story even if it hit them in the face. Therefore, don’t waste your time trying to befriend them. Not only are they likely to ignore you anyway, but you’ll have to put up with their egos and stupidity.
Secret #4
The Blogosphere Is Not Your Audience
Bloggers and first adopters are not mainstream and if you want to achieve success, don’t believe the hype - appeal to mainstream journalists and most importantly, mainstream users.
Secret #5
Launch Anytime You Want
If you have something truly interesting, people will notice. If you have something that isn’t interesting, it doesn’t matter what time you launch - nobody will care.
Secret #6
Most Bloggers are Not Journalists
Focus on real journalists, not bloggers.
Secret #7
Don’t Measure
If you actually get any coverage, it will probably be short-lived so don’t place too much weight on any measurements you take after your PR launches. Instead, come back a couple of months later and see if the people who found you through your PR are still around and still talking about you.
Secret #8
You Don’t Need to Customize the News
If you’ve written a good pitch, it will appeal to people. Period. Customizing a PR is about as useful as customizing your toilet seat.
Secret #9
Don’t Get a Spokesperson, or Do
You probably won’t need one and if you can’t be a good representative for your company, you’re probably not going anywhere.
If you have lots of money, on the other hand, consider hiring a highly-attractive female who is willing to wear skimpy outfits. This probably won’t do much but you’ll get the satisfaction of having an attractive woman talk to you for once in your life.
Secret #10
Your Company Blog is Less Powerful Than You May Think
Unless you’re a high-profile Fortune 500 company, the number of people who will read your company blog is so small as to be meaningless to your company’s prospects for success.
Secret #11
Blogger Relations Are Worthless
Even a review on TechCrunch is unlikely to give you lasting results, so don’t give yourself a hernia trying to reach bloggers.
Secret #12
Follow the Conversations But Don’t Join In
If people like your product, they’ll talk nicely about it. If they don’t, try to take their feedback into consideration but recognize that you usually only get one chance to make a good first impression and if the response to your startup is poor, you’re probably doomed and trying to talk to people to convince them otherwise will be useless.
I am available for PR consulting. $5,000 per month retainer.
This is a very valuable post.. thanks TC.
@Francis Potter .. also very nice blog post.
—–
Brian is scheduled to be a speaker at an upcoming San Francisco meetup called “StartUp SF” (http://www.startupsf.com) in June. The topic will be “Conversational PR for Startups.” If you are local to San Francisco, be sure to check it out!
@Richard Hertz
You should stop sucking lemons for breakfast…
I’m not seeing many secrets here; in fact most of this stuff is well known procedure for any PR firm. Actually this post is an excellent PR tactic. The real secret I’d like to know is how you managed to get Arrington to let you promote your services on TechCrunch. Nice work!
#1 pr secret from a dropout is to steal other idea and claim it as your own
Amy: thanks for the advice. I’m open to suggestions. What do you suck on for breakfast?
ImageCo: it’s simple. Get friendly with Arrington. Attend lots of TC parties. Take photos. Schmooze. Bring treats for Laguna.
Great info Brian…taking time to figure out the news peg, customizing the news to each person, and ensuring you have the right spokesperson who can deliver the story are so important. And though listening is a critical skill, what you do as a result is just as, if not more, critical. What you end up hearing should be baked back into the message and delivery of your story. Really listening means knowing how to dial up or down where, when and how you reference your product/company or client - it will be different with each reporter and blogger. Great media spokespeople are experts in their fields - not just on their products.
Breaking news on one’s own blog does not necessarily make it less valuable - it is HOW the news is broken and the style that it is communicated!
This is a well thought-out, well articulated primer on the basics of external PR in a Media 2.0 world.
I’ve always believed that there are two essential forms of PR - internal and external. Internal relates to quality control. Too many focus on PR only as external, and after a brief flurry of attention realize that the press or traffic has backfired because the reputation of your company from not having a superior (or competitive) product or service offering is damaged to the consumer/user who responded due to not meeting your external PR. This is a problem of credibility, and of consumers and end users not appreciating having their time or money wasted (e.g. being sold a bill of goods).
As they say, reputation takes a lifetime to build and five minutes to lose. The fact that one never gets a second chance to make a good first impression, and that the marketplace is so competitive with offerings in most industries, means that it is essential that the external PR claims must match the internal PR results if a company is going to benefit from (as opposed to potentially be damaged by) PR.
With internal PR, you put the processes in place to insure that you are providing, and continue to provide, products and/or services that provide a competitive advantage in regard to meeting market needs for the consumer or user. This is why word of mouth advertising can be the most powerful long term, because people trust the recommendations of others they know, trust or respect who articulate convincingly that they have found superior value in a product. This is why eBay’s feedback system, for one example (and other sites recommendation or review systems when well designed) inspire greater confidence and thus purchases.
Once internal PR has been successful (and of course a great deal of discussion could occur in regard to how this can be tested and known), then external PR, the types of things that Brian details well in this article, can be effectively utilized.
Alex Hammer, Founder and CEO
Media 2.0
RIchard Hertz above (I have no additional knowledge about him) seems to be an example from his comments here of the external over internal PR focus (emphasis on style and flash over company offering of substance) and selling the product as opposed to presenting to others a product that largely sells itself
PS A few tipoffs that you may well be dealing with such an individual: Sarcasm, potentially inappropriate or unprofessional comments (over casual etc.) and large/inflated sense of importance (e.g. salary demands) (in this case, not knowing the individual, cannot really say if salary demands are overstated or not, but they appear so in their manner of presentation (boldness and amount in a post) and emphasis without compelling justification)
@Alex Hammer
Excellent perspective; we have applied the internal/external PR concepts for years, with great success [our company is eleven years old now]
In reality, no matter what you call it, PR 1.0, PR 2.0, plain common sense, etc. –It is basic: “…products and/or services that provide a competitive advantage in regard to meeting market needs for the consumer or user…”
Market needs or “pain” as per Rob Adams’ book “A Good Hard Kick in the Ass: Basic Training for Entrepreneurs.”
Steve C Wilson MBA
MedixNet.info
MBA has some relevancy about secrets?
PR secrets for startups on TechCrunch?
You forgot Brian, ANY publicity is good publicity.
I have grossed no less than 335k these past 3 years off of pure bad publicity.
Unfortunely I had to do it in Canada for some reason and come under their taxes.
Strangely enough when people see bad publicity they tend to want to play amateur inspector gadget via Google then you get business because of the devil you know thing.
Chris Orj-ii LLC
Kissing Michael Ass will not help you!
Michael is not Stupid!
I think most of these aren’t secrets for people who are normally read up about launching websites.
If you can’t afford good PR, then don’t get it. 95% of people can’t afford PR when launching a website and don’t know someone in PR. Odds are if you are selfunded you can’t afford good PR and you will waste your money on cheap PR.
@Richard Hertz
I agree with some of what you said. You have obviously been burned by bloggers but it is much easier to get 50 writeups on the net about your product then it is to get 2 writeups in mainstream media. Even if the bloggers don’t have a lot of readers, getting links from them will make your site much more of an authority site. Plus mainstream media people read blogs (even though they hate them) and the more you are written about online the more mainstream media will think people care about your new website.
@20 was a bad move though Loic. If a CEO has time to come use his own product on a blog where no one else ever does it sends a bad message.
Like Seesmic is a one man band type thing.
That’s my take on it. I think it’s appropriate for me to mention that as this is a thread about PR.
Brad Greenspan hid his identity when he posted here for a reason. Again I don’t care about mine because it’s in the context my existing image.
Chris Orj-ii LLC
Brian -
Excellent post. I’d expect nothing less from you, however.
There is no magic formula for good PR. But if there were two important ingredients, I believe PR boils down to two elements:
1) Relationships
2) Luck
It’s true that relationships cultivated over time render easier access for your story to be heard. But tight relationships are hardly a shoo-in for your story. You can have the best relationships with media and still find your story not being heard.
On the flip side, one may find themselves landing a pitch with someone they don’t yet know all while the people they do have relationships with “ignore” them.
Plenty of times shitty stories get attention because they landed at the right time and place, not necessarily because the story was better than any of the other stories out there.
Onward ho!
Myles
ok, brian solis, but being efficient or slick or smooth or crafty or smart or wise or plugged in to the zeitgeist is STILL not enough, and in fact these are all second-principle tactics…
the most important thing is your personal emotional motivation …
everybody has intuition, can sense whether you or your company are out for yourself, or really have something to offer
even your article ….
Pretty good advice.
The model to follow for PR is Salesforce. Benioff was and continuous to be the master of PR. As usual it takes an “outsider” to change the dynamics of an industry.
—One of the best guys I have seen with some talent that doesn’t realize he has this talent is the guy from the gaza strip, Feldman. He really knows how to ruffle feathers, create controversy, and argue the value/non-value of a product. For example, when Feldman ripped apart Seesmic months ago - that’s the only reason I remember Seeimic to this day and have come to like it.
p.s. Feldman I should be your agent, punk:)
This article should have been called “Common Sense PR” not the secrets. There’s nothing here that any PR consultant or agency hasn’t been doing for years. The only thing missing is realizing that PR is part of an overall marketing process and that no amount of PR will disguise a company that doesn’t have quality and innovative products and services.
There’s only one secret to good PR — be honest (about you, your company, and your expectations). Here’s another piece of advice: be polite. That goes for journalists and PR consultants.
“The only thing missing is realizing that PR is part of an overall marketing process and that no amount of PR will disguise a company that doesn’t have quality and innovative products and services.”
Bingo.
I’m surprised how dumb people here are. Richard “Dick” Hertz doesn’t exist!
Awesome tips, I’ll definitely be using them to help with my sites pr.
I came across this on Digg. You’ll never see this in a PR campaign.
“The reality of Silicon Valley and web 2.0″
http://mrtoledano.com/frame_bankrupt.php
Slide the caret across the bottom to see the pictures.
be positive.
Wow man, r u kidding me.. its a sunday, there is no way i read all that :p
One of Brian’s secrets that I didn’t see him talk about here? Have a strategy for what you do AFTER the big news event. Getting on TechCrunch is fairly easy, tons of PR people have done it, if you have legitimate news and you give Michael and crew equal access to the news (IE, don’t give someone else an exclusive ahead of Michael) you’ll probably get covered here.
But then what?
How do you keep the story going? How do you build on the relationships you made on TechCrunch? How can you make those relationships stronger?
PR is no longer “public relations,” it’s “professional relationships.”
Brian is among the best in the business because he builds relationships even when he doesn’t have anything to pitch.
Look at his photography for his real relationship secrets.
I’ll write more about this on my blog and do a Seesmic video shortly.
Sure, to some of us these are just common sense tips, but you’d be surprised at how many startups either don’t know these tips and tactics or they simply are not doing them. Many sit on the sidelines and don’t participate in the conversation due to lack of time or fear of not being able to control the conversation and fear of negative feedback. My advice on the fear, get over it and get out there! As for the time it takes, sleep less or hire a community manger.
I think Tony of Zappos, Loic of Seesmic, and one of my clients, Aaron Fulkerson of MindTouch are great examples of staying visible in the community by taking the time to participate daily, which cultivates relationships and ultimately attracts more customers/users.
@Myles Weissleder You’re right. Relationships and luck are two big factors in garnering coverage. Let’s face it, the majority of products/services are mediocre. There are very few stand-out products/services that are truly worthy of time and coverage, so that’s where the relationships and luck come in.
Pitching that mediocre or “me-too” product/service at the right time can get you the story that you wouldn’t have secured if the timing (luck) wasn’t in your favor. Outside of having a kick-ass game-changing product/service, which will get coverage regardless of any factors, relationships are an important factor to garnering coverage again and again over time (provided you know when its newsworthy enough for them and when its not. Don’t abuse the relationship with crap announcements that are not news).
@Robert Scoble You are spot-on with this: he builds relationships even when he doesn’t have anything to pitch. That’s probably one of the most important elements in a relationship. Who the hell wants a relationship with someone who only wants to get something from you.
Disclaimer: I work with Brian and my comment is solely my own opinion.
Great post. A lot can be and has been taken away from this post. I believe PR is very under rated compared to other aspects of businesses regarding startup s.
The PR is also useful in BSing the employees into thinking that 16 hour day is really going to pay off
PR is now about creating experiences and being “professional relationship
I completely agree with Richard Hertz. Respect!
Great PR basics, but my company has found the reverse to be true — as noted by Richard Hertz… often times, the time wasted to connect and join conversations yields such little fruit in the grand scheme of things — it becomes a complete waste of time.
I also agree, unless you’ve got a blog that hits heavily on the traffic side — this is definitely not a short-term component to building company PR.
Maria Reyes-McDavis
Nice video!
I just wrote my follow-up thoughts on this: http://scobleizer.com/2008/05/.....r-secrets/
Thanks for the post - and the lively discussion doesn’t hurt either - all good information. I’ve been doing software for a long time and it never ceases to amaze me how much of it is sold as vaporware - purely driven by the marketing/PR machine. I guess it doesn’t hurt to sell first and see if you have a market before building (why go through all the effort if no one is going to use it anyway?), but how do you handle it when the market responds very positively and you haven’t got what you promised? I guess the question is - is it better to put forth the effort to actually build a product that might never go anywhere OR is it better to try to sell a product you don’t have and risk alienating users because what you said you would deliver doesn’t exist?
I think the key takeaway here is that good PR is important, even critical startups. Brian has done a nice job of laying out – at a high level – what entrepreneurs should be thinking about with regard to PR. Kudos to Mike for running the piece and tip of the cap to Brian for nicely presenting a crash course in next generation PR. I hate to have to put a qualifier on “PR,” but there are so many firms, and startups for that matter, writing a press release and then pulling a list of influentials to email and yes, even fax it to.
Brian’s “secrets” were not intended to be a PR plan in a box, but rather some key considerations for entrepreneurs. Some may already be doing what Brian suggests and that’s great, for so many others, my guess is they are printing out / bookmarking this post to refer to as they embark on their next venture.
Good PR = engagement and Brian lays out some great practices to guide entrepreneurs. It’s not a replacement for a integrated PR program with measurable objectives, sound strategies and tactics that leverage the new social web. It does, however, give startups some great direction.
@Scoble: More text, less video please
I love hearing what you have to say but i hate video.
I suspect that PR, like many other areas of web life, will be heavily invaded by serious maths and datamining online, simply because it is more measurable. Wrote about the view that it will bae about physicists, not publicists here:
http://broadstuff.com/archives.....cists.html
this is all bullshit. at the end of the day - regardless of your product/idea - it’s all about being the first to come up with it, and from there on self-fund innovation.
like an old friend used to say: the first with a boner gets the fvck.
Hi
I guess Hetz is an realistic persion. He is sharing ideas that probably has experienced in person. But why we should assume that what had to go through and experience is going to be the same for others.
On the other hand the main writer of the article is presenting his point of view from rather very academic and optimistic point of view, which again, can be a good
way to think of PR strategizing , however you got to be prepare that somewhere along the way you might have to change your PR based on the different reasons.
So , i guess Amy needs to apolpgize from Hertz and vice versa and done make here a battle ground for your EGOs.
Cheers
I’o
Every tip in this post is common sense to anyone who has picked up a copy of Public Relations for Dummies. However - some of the tips offered can be detrimental to new CEOs. Engaging a qualified PR team or consultant means that you are retaining someone who has established relationships with bloggers in the industry - and someone who hopefully has the training and communication skills to pass along your message in an honest, succinct, and effective manner at a time that is convenient for the blogger/reporter. I have worked with MANY a CEO that - being so excited their first time out of the gate - they corner bloggers like Michael at networking functions, demanding their time to try and pitch their company - - something that can be VERY difficult for a CEO who’s been working endless hours on a project and who is SO married to it that he can’t see that his company ISN’T necessarily the next Google.
For those of you out there seeking quality PR tips for startups, there are a NUMBER of sources on the Web where PR professionals offer quality advice, offer case study examples, and offer resource directories for companies that either lack the budget to hire a PR team or have the desire to reach out and do their own publicity.
What you have here is a thinly-veiled advertisement for the PR services of a friend of Michael Arrington’s, who’s trying to build out his own business by posting a blog with nothing more than the lengthly BS fluff that he and his partner are advocating against with the creation of their Twitpitch method of PR. Brian, perhaps you should take your own advice - when you have nothing of value to offer, limit yourself to 140 characters.
@Courtney Plame: I have to agree. I’d love to know what kind of “pay for play” opportunity was struck here. It’s widely known that Arrington will ignore publicists with quality pitches to cover bs stories pitched to him by buddies or attractive females, but he’s taken it to a new level by so blatantly endorsing one publicist’s services. I wonder how many of Brian’s clients have been covered in TechCrunch, and how many legit companies were passed up for recognition because of it?
Cheers!