PUBLIC RELATIONS IN THE U.S. MARKETStrategies for Success

Good PR is about building and maintaining professional networks.

This means not only working with traditional and non-traditional media to obtain positive coverage: it means working with influencers, your customers, potential customers, and even your competitors to get the good word-of-mouth that drives sales and increases valuation. We enable our clients to connect with their audiences on a deeper, more meaningful level.

WHAT IS PR?

Media relationsAnalyst relationsSocial mediaSpeaking opportunities/attendance at conferences – it is vital that you have a clear plan for speaking opportunities at the beginning of the calendar year. Many conferences require at least a six month lead on speaking opportunities, and event sponsorship requires months of preparation to maximize your exposure. Look to decide on events early to minimize your costs.Awards/competitions --apply early and often, and avoid any applications that have up front costs or that require sponsorship. Do your research and leverage your online fans to gain placement!

AND PR INCLUDES

Public relations differs greatly from advertising, yet is often confused with it (especially in the US).

Effective PR can be less expensive and much more powerful than advertising. However, you also have less control.

PR VERSUS ADVERTISING

• Americans value straight talking and 'getting to the point.’• Americans are not afraid of failure.• New is good. Change is ever-present in American corporate life

and therefore so is the easy acceptance of new ideas, new models etc.

• Many Americans have never left the US. Be prepared for a parochial, American view of the world.

• Most professionals have a Blackberry, iPhone or smartphone enabling them to check emails and reply outside of work – something which is encouraged and expected

• US working hours are 24/7, 365 days a year. Americans are ‘always on’ – expect to receive emails from Americans on weekends, vacations and holidays.

THOSE CRAZY AMERICANS

AMERICA – VAST AND VARIED• Language, accent and behavior varies greatly

throughout the US• Often people jump right into business – do not take

offense• Email structure follows local oral traditions• Suburbia & Middle America • Local holidays/festivals/events (not all national)• Dress and formalities are in flux (especially with

younger generations)

WHY RELATIONSHIPS MATTER• Like in other aspects of business, who you know can be just as

important as what you know• A thoughtful introduction is extremely valuable• Speed, turnaround and tone of response• Introductions are key but well thought out, intelligent follow-through

is paramount• Finding the right contact at the organization• StyleLikeU and Huffington Post Story

• XX

• 62.6 million in France vs. 307 million in the US – your spend must be relatively proportional

• Out-of-the-box conference/trade show tactics• Launch parties • Stunts and guerilla marketing (not just girls in bikinis)• The ‘celebrity’ factor• Philanthropy – what’s your cause?*If done correctly, these activities lead to WOM buzz

• Myth of the viral video campaign

GO BIG OR GO HOMECapturing the Media’s Attention in the US

ATTENDING CONFERENCES• It's not hard to build a community of supporters and a

reputation for yourself and the company from afar and then to solidify the relationships with a few well-timed trips.

• Look to attend intimate and large-scale events alike such as TechCrunch Disrupt in NYC or SF, attend meetups like the North Brooklyn Breakfast Club, and the local NYC, SV/SF events listed in Startup Digest.

• Finally, network with key American investors and influencers when they are in Europe at conferences like LeWeb, The Next Web, F.ounders and DLD.

Differentiation: Has it been done before, is your technology disruptive or a refinement? Know thy competition.Timeliness: Is it part of the news agenda in the US currently?Impact: How does the story effect your industry, your competition –will it change things in any way?Proximity and education: How is it relevant to the publication you want to write about it?Controversy: Will it divide opinion, will it get people talking? Sex sells – is it scandalous in anyway?Prominence: Is there a well known person attached to the news? Who is quoted in the release/any third party endorsement (market analyst or key influencer)?

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE SEEKING MEDIA ATTENTION IN THE US

HOW TO: KEY MESSAGES & A PRESS KIT

Key messages: the who what were when why and how of your company•Limited to three to five sentences maximum•Supportable with factual data or proof points•Concise, clear, understandable

Company boilerplate: a concise overview reflecting the key messaging and features of your company

Bios of key management: quick bios of your founding members, senior team, and investors

Testimonials: what do others have to say about your product?

Company fact sheet: a quick one page document describing your product, features, and audience

For Internal Use: press Q&A: Answer all the tough questions ahead of time

BOLIERPLATE EXAMPLE – FACEBOOK & GROUPON About Facebook

Founded in February 2004, Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment. Facebook is a privately held company and is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.

About Groupon

Groupon, launched in November 2008 in Chicago, features a daily deal on the best stuff to do, eat, see and buy in more than 500 markets around the world. Groupon uses collective buying power to offer unbeatable prices and provide a win-win for businesses and consumers, delivering more than 650 daily deals globally. For more information, visit http://www.groupon.com.

HOW TO: PITCHING TO US MEDIA

Pre-pitch:• Get involved in social communities: Look for industry friends on Twitter, Quora,

and blogs.• Get familiar with your writers: Use RSS feeds to track news in your industry. Read

and comment often.• Get the press involved (provide specific high level outlets with exclusives and

early beta access. Get feedback before you launch).• Watch your competitors: Google alerts works great for this.• Use Klout, PeerIndex, LinkedIn, Twitter to research

HOW TO: PITCHING TO US MEDIA

The Actual Pitch:• Email and Twitter are your best channels of communication.• Tailor your pitch for each publication. Have they recently written about your

industry?• Be friendly, concise and honest. Stay away from terms like “revolutionary”, and

don’t be afraid to mention competitors.• Understand timing: do not pitch during industry shows.• Begin pitching early in the week. No reporters open email at 5:00 PM on a Friday.• Provide visual assets and video• Confirm meeting times asap. Reporter schedules are often busy

Google Alerts Google Alerts allows you to set up keyword searches for the name of your company or competitors, for example, and receive updates in your email inbox or through an RSS feed.

CustomscoopA handy news clipping and tracking service, with the ability to easily generate reports and excel docs on the fly.

Social Media ManagementHootSuite and Seesmic are services that allow you to manage multiple accounts across all the popular social media outlets.

TweetDeck is used to manage profiles across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Foursquare and Google Buzz.

Professional SolutionsScoutlabs has a great clean interface and overall excellent features for volume trending, sentiment-tracking, learning about key quotes (based on sentiment), and managing workflow for response management

Radian6 is a powerhouse that gives you integrated workflow, alerts, sentiment, monitoring across blogs, forums, news, Twitter, and more.

PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOLS

ANY QUESTIONS?