It's All About Communications

1. COMMUNICATIONS
TOM WALKER
Featured in The Metropreneur, June 2014
Capital Access Series #5
IT’S ALL ABOUT

2. If the first time potential investors hear about
your company is when you are ready to raise
capital, you are
ready to raise capital.
NOT
While you are busy building your prototype and
choosing the best employees, advisors and
business partners to be on your team, building
awareness about your company belongs on your
A-priorities list.

3. PROTOTYPE PLAYERS PR
All three are critical to every successful Seed Stage game.
So if you are one of Ohio’s hundreds of bootstrapping
entrepreneurs, working 15-plus hours a day without 10 minutes
or $10 to spare, here are some ideas for carving out the time
and resources to build and execute an effective
business communications plan.

4. Change your mindset.
Promoting your company via editorial
coverage (“free media”), such as
newspaper and magazine articles,
blogs, websites or TV programs isn’t
for later, it’s for now. This should be
an important aspect of your business
plan from day one. Read about how
Updox CEO Michael Morgan handles
his startup’s communications strategy.

5. Create the perfect elevator pitch.
The “elevator pitch” is so named because
it describes your company
in the time it takes to ride between
floors in an elevator. Writing one
concise sentence to provide a
quick understanding of your
business is hard to do, but it’s a
great way to get your feet wet.
When you realize how challenging
it is to nail down the right 20 words
to describe your company, you will
have some appreciation of why
companies pay for PR and
communications expertise.

6. Get some help.
Your company’s image begins with
the company name, logo and the
words you put on your website. Your
message begins with your vision and
strategy for the company you are
building. There may be entrepreneurs
who are also excellent at messaging,
branding and graphic design, but
there aren’t many. Unless you are a
design or branding pro, seek advice.

7. Bootstrap, bootstrap, bootstrap.
Because branding and PR are
so specialized, these services can
carry hefty price tags, but not
always. Investigate internship
opportunities or part-time hires from
Ohio’s many excellent college and
university programs for marketing
and design. Network to find
freelancers. Another good place to
start is regional marketing firms,
such as those in TechColumbus’
Expert Network (EN), which may
offer reduced rates for startup
companies.

8. Create a communications plan.
Invest in a few hours of a
marketing consultant’s time to
create a 24-month
communications plan.
Be realistic. Include specific goals,
such as a monthly press release or
a weekly blog, building a relationship
with two or three key writers in
your industry. You won’t have the
time or experience to do as much
as an expert recommends—or
likely as much as you want to do—
the key is to make a start.

9. Once you have a plan,
your personal
engagement in
talking about
your
STEP
UP

10. Expand your elevator speech.
Practice talking succinctly about the
company’s key accomplishments.
Include relevant data or factoids from
the industry. Learn how to describe
your technology at different levels for
different audiences. Ask for feedback.
Resist becoming mechanical or diving
too deep.

11. Make it easy for reporters and
bloggers to write about you
and your company.
Always, always, always promptly
return their calls. Reporters work on
tight deadlines, adapt your schedule to
work with theirs. Have data and
sources readily available.

12. Get customers to help tell
your story.
Ask customers to tell you what
they like about doing business with you.
Write up a few quotes from the
conversation. Ask for permission to
use the quotes in your communications
plan. It’s surprising to us how often
entrepreneurs are reluctant to try
this—yet most happy customers
are pleased to help
out.

13. Become recognized in the industry as
a go-to source for information.
Participate in your industry’s
trade association. Volunteer to
speak at business school
classes or at business
organization events. You don’t
have to talk specifically about
your company—although that’s
great if the opportunity comes. There
are always lots of opportunities to talk
about what it’s like to become an
entrepreneur and start a company
or to talk about technology
or markets.

14. Metrics matter.
Metrics tell you whether what you
are saying is reaching the eyes and
ears you want to reach with the
message you intend to share. Start
with measuring search engine, blog
and website activity. Set some goals.
After a few months, you’ll get a feel
for what’s working and what’s not.
Don’t be afraid to change
things up and experiment.

15. You don’t have to
hire a professional
for everything. As
founder and CEO
in the early months
you will carry a lot
of the water yourself.
As Yogi Berra says,
everybody is talking.
Some of that talk
needs to be about
your company.