I just ran across this post by Jason Calacanis from last August on On How To Get PR For Your Startup: Fire Your PR Company. As could be expected, he’s got some great (and unconventional) tips. He talks a lot about his experiences with his early company, Silicon Alley Reporter magazine, which could definitely be described as “Ultra Light”. He later sold Weblogs Inc to AOL for $30 million and founded Mahalo.com, a top-200 internet property. So you might be able to say he’s a master of Ultra Light PR. His tips include:
- Be the brand
- Be everywhere
- Always pick up the check–always.
- Be a human being
- How to bond with a journalist
- How a CEO should e-mail a journalist
- How a CEO should speak to a journalist
- Invite people to “swing by” your office
- Attach your brand to a movement
- Embrace small media outlets
Seems like great advice, right?
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I'm not sure if Jason also prepared his corporate tax returns and legal filings on his own. By devoting a tremendous amount of dedicated time and effort over many years, he was able to use his strong personal promotional talents to successfully market his venture. However, for those entrepreneurs who do not have the time or natural communications skills required to publicize themselves, engaging outside PR expertise can jump start a start up's visibility and accelerate biz dev goals during the crucial launch phase.
Great point. I think one of the most important skills of an entrepreneur is knowing what to focus on and what to seek expert help on. I'm looking forward to your take on this question wrt PR on Thursday's panel!
Thanks, Graham. As a business owner, I'm a big fan of DIY, but with regards to building a brand, many start-ups think that simply spamming out press releases are enough to generate credibility. PR is not an acronym for “press release,” it's much more than just writing and sending out releases. Releases are an important publicity tool, but press releases alone do not a PR campaign make. The vast majority of releases sent out never garner any legitimate earned media coverage, which is what really matters. Most of the best PR results delivered do not involve a release but instead are achieved from a precise combination of actual news, relationships, skill and, most importantly, sound strategy. An ongoing process of extensive new, mainstream and social media outreach and follow-ups over several weeks and months is usually required to launch a brand. Most media outlets and bloggers don't respond to a queries from unknown start-ups, due to tight deadlines and the time it takes to wade through the daily avalanche of pitches and Tweets. However, their interest will increase as they are re-introduced to the pitch and are gently pinged over the course of several weeks/months. As in any selling process, most reporters/bloggers/producers – just like VC's and others, don’t respond at the first point of contact. So yes, this is something that entrepreneurs need to be mindful of, as time is the enemy!
Excellent comment, thanks so much Lloyd. I can assure you from experience that you are correct that “time is the enemy” for tech entrepreneurs and that simply spraying out press releases is not a valuable use of that time. I'm looking forward to hearing you share this wisdom tomorrow evening at the PR, Branding and Buzz panel!
Graham.
Thanks, Graham. As a business owner, I'm a big fan of DIY, but with regards to building a brand, many start-ups think that simply spamming out press releases are enough to generate credibility. PR is not an acronym for “press release,” it's much more than just writing and sending out releases. Releases are an important publicity tool, but press releases alone do not a PR campaign make. The vast majority of releases sent out never garner any legitimate earned media coverage, which is what really matters. Most of the best PR results delivered do not involve a release but instead are achieved from a precise combination of actual news, relationships, skill and, most importantly, sound strategy. An ongoing process of extensive new, mainstream and social media outreach and follow-ups over several weeks and months is usually required to launch a brand. Most media outlets and bloggers don't respond to a queries from unknown start-ups, due to tight deadlines and the time it takes to wade through the daily avalanche of pitches and Tweets. However, their interest will increase as they are re-introduced to the pitch and are gently pinged over the course of several weeks/months. As in any selling process, most reporters/bloggers/producers – just like VC's and others, don’t respond at the first point of contact. So yes, this is something that entrepreneurs need to be mindful of, as time is the enemy!
Excellent comment, thanks so much Lloyd. I can assure you from experience that you are correct that “time is the enemy” for tech entrepreneurs and that simply spraying out press releases is not a valuable use of that time. I'm looking forward to hearing you share this wisdom tomorrow evening at the PR, Branding and Buzz panel!
Graham.
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