PR Advice for Startups

TechCrunch published in May 2008 a very informative article by Brian Solis: PR Secrets for Startups.

Repeating the very valuable tips from the named article one more time for the sake of filling up this page with content is pointless. There are 12 “secrets” Brian writes about, but despite him “revealing” these secrets, many startups still fail to understand the rules and fall from the path.

Some recent events determined me to add some ideas to Brian’s PR Secrets for Startups, and I’ll take it from the start:

Brian Says: Understand You’re Not the Only Story in Town

It already sounds like a PR cliché, but “just because your story is new doesn’t make it newsworthy.” But the cliché is not a cliché – it’s a fact. Journalists already hate us for pitching them with “no news” – for sending them stories that are often not even related to the niches they cover, and so on. The best advice to fortify Brian’s revealed “secret” is: yours is not the only story in town, and although it might seem important to you, this doesn’t make it important for the world.

Don’t fall into the trap of “inventing news” when there’s nothing new going on, as some PRs seem to recommend. You are dealing with journalists and they’ve seen them all: all pathetic attempts to get coverage. If you don’t send the right message the first time, the one time you send something newsworthy you’ll be ignored. Solution? If you are not the only story in town, make sure you are at least the most remarkable!

At Pamil Visions we made it our mission to amend all PRs who advocate pitching journalists with “no news” – on our new PR site you will read analysis like Bad PR Hurts Everyone – How “Not” To Conduct Media Relations. I know these will “disturb” some PRs, but it’s time that both clients and advisors understood the basics of online public relations or PR 2.0 as Brian calls it.

Brian Says: 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.

Brian is right – participation is marketing. But many people misunderstand participation. Recently my partner Phil Butler reported on Sitepoint about a startup that understands “participation” as spamming all possible blogs, social networks and the like.

My advice: be moderate. “Participation” is a natural process: it requires thought and attention. It demands that you “think twice” before you post a comment.

Brian Says: Follow the Conversations and Join In

Very good advice. However, this doesn’t translate as: see what other people are saying about your competitors and start making comments about your company. Examples? On this very site founder of Twittad.com comes to hammer their competitor Magpie. I’ll say again what I told him: NEVER comment on a blog post that promotes/ hammers your competitors. It makes you look desperate for attention, which raises serious questions about your business.

Also, don’t go on twitter or somewhere else doing the same thing. It’s bad karma. If you have a good product just pitch the journalists with the news and let the story follow a natural curse.

Brian doesn’t say, but I will: never, ever, say a lie.

You’ll get caught. Again, I give you this: Bad PR Hurts Everyone – How “Not” To Conduct Media Relations as example. A PR should conduct his/her profession with the highest standards of honesty, accuracy, integrity and truth, and shall not knowingly disseminate false or misleading information.