2. INTRODUCTION
‣ Working with Fueled, Makeshift, Transferwise, SecretEscapes + Percolate
‣ Director of Audience Development at General Assembly London
‣ Member of #10’s Tech City Advisory Group
‣ Writer at Wired UK, The Daily Beast & The Next Web
‣ Mentor at BBC WorldWideLabs, Seedcamp, Ignite100
‣ Community Member of Sandbox, Summit Series & ICE
COURTNEY BOYD MYERS (@CBM)
FOUNDER, AUDIENCE.IO & 3460 MILES
3. AGENDA
‣ Setting the Foundation
‣ Marketing 101
‣ Defining PR
‣ Tools of the Trade
‣ Media & PR
‣ Q & A
4. 4
FIRST RULE OF PR:
!
BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
DON’T PROMOTE A SHIT PRODUCT
5. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
‣ Vision: The company’s long-term,
aspirational business goals. What's the
change you want to make in the world?
!
‣ Mission: The company’s purpose and reason
for being. What are the big first steps to
make that change?
!
‣ Values: How will you make those choices,
changes and first steps?
MISSION, VISION + VALUES
6. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
VISION: To become the
world’s largest community for
dreamers.
!
MISSION: To create the
world’s best app that helps
people remember and record
their dreams.
!
VALUES: Curious, Data-
Driven, Exploratory, and
Secure
7. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
“Many companies try to dive into driving
awareness for their product or service
before they figure out who they are, what
they stand for, and what they are driving
for. At Eventbrite, we set out 6 years ago
to democratize the ticketing industry
through innovative products and top
notch support. The great news is that
through all the growth we’ve had – in
customers and in company size – these
are still our primary areas of focus.”
-Julia Hartz, Co-Founder of Eventbrite
8. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
MESSAGING
Text
It’s is the one thing you want to tell people about your
startup.
!
-It needs to be compelling (NO BS!) and different from
your competition.
Source
9. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
MESSAGING
Text
It’s is the one thing you want to tell people about your
startup.
!
-It needs to be compelling (NO BS!) and different from
your competition.
!
!
Text
A fun online world where kids can adopt their very
own monster, go on adventures, play games, solve
puzzles, be creative, and communicate with their
friends.
11. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
MESSAGING FOR A TWO-SIDED MARKET
12. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
PRESS - ARE YOU READY?
!
“Patience is important. Media coverage is easier and
more effective once you have a killer product. If
you’re trying to create buzz too early, you’re doing it
wrong.”
-MICHELLE ZATLYN, CO-FOUNDER OF
CLOUDFLARE
!
13. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
WHY DO YOU NEED PRESS?
1. Users
2. SEO
3. Building Credibility + Trust
4. Raising Money
5. Testing Out a New Idea
6. Recruitment
Source
14. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
I NEED USERS!
‣ Common but often misguided
‣ Entrepreneurs tend to set expectations too high
‣ Viral and WOM marketing are usually more
powerful channels for startups, but press is a
great way to get the loop going.
‣ Target: Whatever your perspective customers
or users read. A tool for small business might
pitch Inc., while a sports app could target
ESPN.
Source
15. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
SEO
‣ Getting wide press coverage across a variety of press outlets w/ PR 5+ scores is a great way
to boost your SEO
Source‣ Target: Low-hanging fruit; smaller blogs, sometimes the ones no one has heard of! And PR newswires.
16. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
BUILDING CREDIBILITY
Source
‣ Target: Go for big names!
17. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
RAISING MONEY
‣ This is repeatedly the number
one benefit of getting press that
startups mention to me
‣ To aim your story at investors
mention impressive usage
metrics or key hires
Source
‣ Target: TechCrunch, The Next Web, GigaOm and the Wall Street Journal.
18. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
TESTING OUT A NEW IDEA
‣ Without more than 100 users, how can
you know if your MVP is right for the
market?
!
‣ It’s very tempting to use press to test
an MVP but if it’s a total flop it will be
burned permanently on the Internet
Source
19. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
RECRUITING
‣ Attract new hires by showing off
your company’s culture or office
space
‣ ZenDesk, GitHub, Evernote, and
Fueled have all done this really
well
Source
‣ Target: Where your potential hires read! e.g. If you’re hiring developers,
try to get posted on Hacker News
20. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
BEFORE PRESS
‣Your product has been thoroughly alpha tested with
not only friends, family but a wide group of users so
you know it works
‣mTurk.com, followerwonk.com, usertesting.com,
betali.st
‣You’re familiar with the media landscape and can
name at least three journalists...
22. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
FINDING THE JOURNALIST
1. Do your homework
!
2. STALK / NETWORK
!
3. Get an introduction!
!
4. Invite them to a party!
!
5. Cocktail party rules apply
!
6. Give them a scoop!
23. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
NOTHING BEATS NETWORKING
“The single most effective way to get an
article on any publication is to know
someone at the publication.”
- @DavidSpinks
24. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
HARO: “Help a Reporter Out”
Help A Reporter connects news
sources with journalists looking for
their expertise.
!
MuckRack: Track Journalists and
key words on Twitter, Facebook
and Linkedin
!
Twitter
25. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
READ!
Blogs
‣Fred Wilson (A VC) — http://avc.com
‣Chris Dixon — http://cdixon.org
‣Paul Graham’s Essays — http://paulgraham.com
‣Hacker News — http://news.ycombinator.com
‣The Full Start - http://fullstart.com
!
!Newsletters
‣The Fetch http://thefetch.com
‣3460 Miles http://3460miles.com
‣Startup Digest http://startupdigest.com
26. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
PR AGENCY COSTS
‣ $3K - $30K per month
‣ Try negotiating a "success-based" PR package that gives
you the security of knowing that you will only pay for PR
if certain pre-determined goals for coverage are met.
‣ If those goals are not met, you wont have to pay. If the
goals are reached, you will be happy to pay, because
you’re paying for actual results.
27. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
STORY ANGLES
‣ Tell your story in different ways to
different outlets that will appeal
to the difference readerships.
‣ Audiences vary widely across
different brands, websites, and
blogs
28. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
WHAT’S THE STORY?
•“We’ve launched”
•Funding
•Trend Stories
•We’ve hit X # of users
•New features
•Acquiring
•Big, new hire
•Future plans
29. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
PRESS GETS YOU MORE PRESS
‣ Journalists read other publications to find
ideas for articles
!
‣ Getting a good article on the right
publications will lead to more press. For
example, Feast, a SF based startup, landed
an article in Greatist, which led to articles
in Men’s Fitness and The Bold Italic.
30. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
WRITING THE PITCH
1. Be brief.
2. Craft an eye-catching subject line.
3. Don’t copy paste! Oh Hey Caroline at The Next Crunch..
!
4. Give a reasonable time frame.
5. Say why it's DIFFERENT
6. Avoid jargon like DISRUPTIVE, CURATED, HYBRID,
INNOVATIVE, GAME-CHANGING etc.
!
7. Give an offer if you can: Beta invites. App Codes. Exclusive
details, etc.
33. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
Courtney B of the deep blue sea,
Would you could you should you if
you please
When you’ve got a moment so free
Let known when you could lend
your ear to me?
34. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
Subject: Exclusive for TC: Launching XXX- make any blog look like a sexy iPad app
!
Hey Mike,
!
I’m George, the founder of XXX.
!
Launching XXX next week, on Thursday at noon EST and TC gets free reign on an exclusive before then. XXX makes any blog look and
behave like a native iPad app. We’re talking accelerometer aware column resizing, swipe to advance articles, touch navigation, home screen
icon support, and more. We’ve built somecool tech to make this happen smoothly, and it works with your existing layout...
!
PS- Would also be happy to do giveaways to TC readers. Thanks again and feel free to reach out if you have anymore questions
(skype,phone,etc. listed below).
!
Video Demo: http://vimeo.com/13487300
Live demo site (if you’re on an iPad): jasonlbaptiste.com
Feature overviews: http://padpressed.com/features
My contact info: George@xxx.com , Phone:xxx.xxx.xxxx, Twitter: @xxx, Skype: xxx
!
-George
#xxx.xxx.xxxx
You Should Check Out xxx.com
35. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
GIVE WRITERS EVERYTHING THEY NEED
Provide external links (not
attachments) to:
•Awesome Videos
•Beautiful, High-Res Photos
•Company Facts: Founded Date,
Funding Details, # of employees,
Founder’s Names, etc.
Be Available!
!
36. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
AFTER THE PITCH
1. Follow up! - Appropriate time on this?
One week? 3-4 days?
!
2. Handling multiple outlets. Tell Multiple
Stories. And Don't be misleading.
!
3. Don't break your own embargo.
!
37. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
TIPS FOR YOU
-Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Is this on or off the record? What’s the story angle?
Do they require exclusivity?
!
-Don’t say “we have no competitors” -- choose your competitors are or the media will
choose for you.
!
- Put yourself in the mindset of the journalist. How will this story get them on
Techmeme or featured by their editors? Is it like stories the journalist has
written before?
!
-Be good to the journalist. Don’t just hit them up when you need them. They want
your scoops, tips, etc. since you’re on the ground in the midst of it all.
39. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
WAKEFIELD’S PAPER NAPKIN PITCH
‣ The Paper Napkin Pitch started because TechCrunch said they’d
write about one of Wakefield’s events but needed a new angle other
than just an event cover.
‣ So the Founders came up with the idea of having attendees write
ideas on napkins and win prizes: “The Paper Napkin Pitch”.
‣ They submitted it to TechCrunch, but didn't hear a damn thing so
they put it on the back burner.
‣ Then day of their event came around and TechCrunch published the
article so they had to cobble it together with last-minute prizes.
‣ But now the Paper Napkin Pitch is their most desirable sponsorship
picking up brands like American Airlines and SXSW.
40. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
SLIDEBEAN
‣ Scored blog posts on TechCrunch and The Next Web
‣ Took 3 months to plan in advance
‣ Took Time to Develop Relationships
‣ Followed + interacted w/ journalists on social
networks
‣ Took photos personalized for journalist in their
travels around the world
‣ Kept pitch email short + sweet
‣ Submitted through Tips to TechCrunch
Source
41. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
BESPOKY
‣ To showcase their startup’s progress, they developed
an Instagram strategy where each week they collate all
the work they've accomplished into an animated GIF.
‣ While basic, it’s a great way for people to see what
they've been doing
‣ It’s also a weekly reminder to keep the momentum
going and accomplish great new Instagrammable
things!
‣ http://instagram.com/p/oJKdQjhsQq/
44. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
BABELVERSE
‣ In 2012, Babelverse live translated the US
president Barack Obama’s 2012 State of the
Nation address into up to 6,796 languages (ie all
of them)
!
‣ The press releases duly went out and TechCrunch
and CNN were among those to pick the story up.
!
‣ Meanwhile, Dunne, de Bornial and their designer
did an all-nighter to pull it off. “We were like –
‘make it live, make it live!” Dunne recalls.
45. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
SHUTL
‣ Shutl, a venture capital-backed UK startup
that delivers goods purchased online with
haste, has sent a letter to Usain Bolt, whom I
trust does not need an introduction.
!
‣ In it, the company promises the man 1
percent equity in the venture and “all the
McNuggets” he needs. In return, Bolt has to
spare up to 2 hours of time to help Shutl set
the world record for fastest delivery – again.
46. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
USING SOCIAL GOOD AS PR
Your
actions
speak
louder than
words.
48. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
CONTENT MARKETING AS PR
• Write brilliant blog posts
showcasing your expertise
!
• Content marketing can be easily
enhanced with social media
marketing and content
syndication
!
• Your content marketing should
support your company’s SEO
efforts
49. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
WHEN IN
DOUBT, HIT
IT BIG ON
YOUTUBE
!
!
!
•Viewed more than 12.5 million times
•Instantly went viral + jointly conveyed the brand personality and the
benefits of the service deftly.
50. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
AMPLIFY YOUR PR WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
•Improve your inbound
!
•Make more original content
!
•ENGAGE!- Like, Share, RT; Answer questions,
tweets, comments, etc.
!
•Be opinionated
!
•Throw a Party (Get to know people IRL first)
!
•Make your details public + up to date
!
51. 51
SOCIAL MEDIA: TOOLS OF THE TRADE
!
BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
•Facebook
•Twitter/Twitter Ads
•Pinterest
•Tumblr
•LinkedIn
•Foursquare
•YouTube
•Instagram
•Mention
•Hootsuite
•Buffer
52. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
IF ALL ELSE FAILS, GET NAKED
53. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS
Get Involved
54. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS
Get Involved
!
Make Friends with Founders, Investors, Journalists, Startup
Wannabes, Coworking Space Heads, the Cleaning Ladies and
everyone in between
55. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS
Get Involved
!
Make Friends with Founders, Investors, Journalists, Startup
Wannabes, Coworking Space Heads, the Cleaning Ladies and
everyone in between
!
READ, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD READ.
!
56. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS
Get Involved
!
Make Friends with Founders, Investors, Journalists, Startup
Wannabes, Coworking Space Heads, the Cleaning Ladies and
everyone in between
!
READ, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD READ.
!
Tweet.
57. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS
Get Involved
!
Make Friends with Founders, Investors, Journalists, Startup
Wannabes, Coworking Space Heads, the Cleaning Ladies and
everyone in between
!
READ, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD READ.
!
Tweet.
!
Write.
58. BRILLIANT PR ON A STARTUP BUDGET
RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIPS
Get Involved
!
Make Friends with Founders, Investors, Journalists, Startup
Wannabes, Coworking Space Heads, the Cleaning Ladies and
everyone in between
!
READ, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD READ.
!
Tweet.
!
Write.
!
Be happy. But know it’s OK and TOTALLY NORMAL to be sad,
angry, frustrated, disappointed and insanely crazy too.