I’ll be participating in the popular For Immediate Release podcast (FIR) later today with Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson, joined by luminaries like Katie Paine, Sherilynne Starkie, Rob Lane, CEO of Overlay.tv and Michael O’Connor Clarke of ThornleyFallis.
This group of brainiacs be discussing the issues raised by Jason Calacanis a few weeks ago re: the role of PR for startups.
Some of the specific questions we’ll discuss re: startup PR?
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What can a PR professional do for a startup that a CEO can't or shouldn't do?
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What PR activities or outcomes are important to a startup beyond publicity?
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What CAN a startup CEO do to promote his company?
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What are the considerations for selecting a PR agency for a startup? What should they look for in an agency?
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How should a startup measure the ROI of its PR activities?
I’ve defended the PR industry ad nauseum. I readily admit that it often needs defending: the behind-the-scenes nature of PR in the pre-blogging era allowed too many bad practices — and sloppy practitioners — to flourish. It will take a while before these cretins are flushed from the system, and an even longer while before the PR industry’s reputation gains luster.
But the good guys are winning. And will be talking about it today.
Meanwhile, here are some of my first-blush answers to some of those questions re: PR for startups…
What can a PR professional do for a startup that a CEO can't or shouldn't do?
While I applaud CEOs like Jason, Seesmic’s Loic LeMeur and Zappos’s Tony Hsieh, how many OTHER high-profile startup CEOs can you name? Maybe (maybe!) you can think of a handful of others? Now consider that there are hundreds-upon-hundreds of startup companies and you realize that there are very few startup CEOs with the right combination of TIME, SAVVY and CHARISMA to be a CEO and a one-man Marketing Dept. It’s important for the CEO to be Cheerleader-In-Chief but their full-time job is running the company operations, not PR.
A good PR agency can aid in objective messaging; widespread relationships across numerous industries, media outlets and the blogosphere; crisis communications; competitive monitoring; and, content development, among other duties.
What PR activities are important to a startup beyond publicity?
I have come to hate the word “publicity” because it reminds me of celebrity dish in STAR Magazine. Nowadays Public Relations is less about publicity and more about relationships… but, beyond “getting ink” a PR agency can aid in messaging and strategy, relationship building (e.g., with industry analysts) and research. And, again, I think content development and distribution will play a big role in Marketing’s future, and PR can help.
A PR firm is also handy for “mistake avoidance.” This is particularly important as new rules are being written for how-to market in the Social Media era.
What CAN a startup CEO do to promote his company?
Look, I applaud the PR-savvy CEOs mentioned above and in a perfect world, they would serve as a model for others. I’ve met thousands of startup CEOs in the past 15 years; the best of them “know what they don’t know” and are glad to act as a true partner with their PR agencies and marketing executives.
What are the considerations for selecting a PR agency for a startup?
Credentials. Chemistry. Commitment.
Does the PR agency know the market? Do you like your entire team? Is your account truly valuable or will it play 2nd fiddle behind much larger agency-of-record clients?
At SHIFT, for example, despite having some big-name clients like Akamai, Jim Beam Worldwide, BearingPoint, etc. we insist that no single client represent more than 15% of revenue. So no client is too important, and no client is not important. Your chosen firm should be able to offer similar assurances.
How should a startup measure the ROI of its PR activities?
Cop-out answer? It depends. The important measurements vary from company to company. Sales leads? Buzz? New user sign-ups?
Tell your firm how you want to measure success so they can plan their program accordingly. But be prepared to help them measure, i.e., the client needs to be willing and able to enable and monitor their own systems to see if the PR results are working as-hoped. You want new users? Great – but watch your web traffic and CRM systems to see if spikes correspond to great hits in the media, etc.
Oh, shoot. Now you have less reason to listen in today! Well, I am just one of many smart folks participating in today’s FIR podcast, and I look forward to learning a few things, myself!
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Comments
I've always been a big fan of the come out swinging strategy where you do something completely crazy, get sued, counter-sue, and in general get tons of free press without needing a PR professional at all.
Just look at Psystar. They come out with a controversial product knowing full well they're going to get sued and embrace it to the max. Now they've got 5 million+ results when you Google them and tons of orders to boot.
Posted by: Jeffrey Henderson | November 7, 2008 03:37 PM
Hi there Todd:
Lots of great thoughts and info here, as usual. Thanks for sharing.
One note regarding ROI, for what it's worth -- another practice is to evaluate value of press coverage in terms of comparable ad placement in the same venue.
Cheers -- Roger D.
Posted by: Roger Darnell | November 7, 2008 04:13 PM
Hi Todd,
I listened in to the FIR Panel this morning, which was great!
I'm the CEO of one of those startups you've never heard of and am deciding what we do now to get noticed.
One thing that didn't come up much in terms of 'what can a PR professional do for a startup that a CEO can't or shouldn't do?'
WHERE TO FOCUS - there are so many media channels now, you need PR people to analyze the possibilities and recommend which ones to actually target to reach your intended audience.
The other three I totally agree with are Strategy, Mistake Avoidance, and New angles and/or stories.
Cheers
Posted by: Paula Cassin | November 7, 2008 04:58 PM
@Jeffrey - That is a wildly risky strategy. Not recommended. It's a lot cheaper to hire a great PR firm than a great law firm, anyway.
@Roger - Everyone I know (myself included) *HATES* the ad-value equivalency model. The formatting is all screwed up, but I did write about this issue specifically: http://is.gd/6Efk
@Paula - Good points! Also, as to "what you should do now to get noticed," you should probably just hire me. Just sayin'. ;)
Posted by: Todd Defren | November 7, 2008 05:03 PM