Comments on: PR for Startups

By: Todd Defren

Todd Defren — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:03:47 +0000

@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’.

By: Paula Cassin

Paula Cassin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:58:15 +0000

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

By: Roger Darnell

Roger Darnell — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:13:41 +0000

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.

By: Jeffrey Henderson

Jeffrey Henderson — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:37:24 +0000

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.