how to use growth hacking to attract media coverage
TRANSCRIPT
Using Effective Storytelling
to Hack PR and Media Coverage
www.storytellingforstartups.ca
My new book that gives entrepreneurs strategic and
tactical guidance to embrace the power of story-driven marketing
Four-Step Process
Hunt & Gather
Building Relationships
Pitch
Track
Reporters/Bloggers
• Overworked: articles, blogs, podcasts, video, social media
• Overflowing inboxes
• Inundated with startup pitches
Identifying Your Audience
Creating a Target List
• Reporters
• Bloggers
• Influencers
• Analysts
• Consultants
Creating a Target List
• Name
• Publication
• Website
• Interests
• Articles
• Contact history
Lior Degani
Lior Degani’s List Building RecipeFind niche influencers and put them into a spreadsheet
• Article URL• Who is the writer?• Where was it posted? • Post type (review/list/thought leadership, etc.)• What’s the post about?• How popular was the post/article?• Writer’s email address/Twitter handle
• Reach out (be pro-active)• Include a CTA (try it for free)• Find influencers who already use the app (Intercom)
Leverage Connections
Mike Katchen,WealthSimple
CEO
Contacts
Uses LinkedIn to get intros to reporters.
In e-mail, tells reporters WealthSimple; asks for acoffee meeting to get their advice (aka “TrojanHorse” pitch)
Result: media coverage
Discovering Media, Bloggers
Enter an email address into Gmail; When you get a match, FullContact displays their profile
Create a Media Kit
Social Media
• Follow journalists & bloggers
• Retweet• Favourite• Answer questions• Engage
Create a Twitter List
Tools:- Electoralhq.com- Tweetbe.at- Twitlistmanager.com- Tweetdeck- HootSuite- Twitter.com
The Power of Blogging
Capitalize on Guest Blogging
High-Profile Places to Guest Post
The Pitch
Six Storytelling Themes
Success
Raising Money
Innovative/New
Different/Weird
Hijacking the News
Relationships
Success(and some good luck)
Wave launches on Chrome store thesame day as Angry Birds;
attracts thousands of customers
Hijacking the News(aka Jumping on the Bandwagon)
Weird/Strange
Next Millennium FarmsThe only farm in North America selling insects as food
Off-Beat
Entrepreneur “retires” at 27
Create the News
The Perfect PitchHi [First Name],
I’m [full name], founder of a startup called [name +link to website], and I think you may be interested innew software that turns Gmail into a powerfulCRM.
Since a “soft” launch last month, we’ve attracted15,000 users.
I have attached screenshots of the app, and a link toa video that shows how it works.
We’re going live next week, so happy to providemore information before the launch.
Thanks,
Name Position Telephone number Twitter Handle
Quick snapshot of what your startup does
Provide context/sizzle
Easy way to learn more
Create a sense of urgency/timing
Pitching Tools
pitchpigeon.com
Think Like a Reporter,Not Like a Publisher
Develops first basketball app for
Apple Watch
240K
Startup uses Pinterest to
attract 240,000 followers
Early-Stage Startup Story Arc
Stories about how you started
Stories about your growth
Stories your industry/trends
Stories about your customers
“Low hanging” fruit when your startup has no/low profile or few
customers
100 Story Ideas
See what story ideas are attracting the most
attention, and who’s writing about them
Tracking InterestEmail tracking tools to see who’s openingyour email, how often, location and linksopened
Tracking Interest
Tools to Track the Competition
Coffee: Powerful Analog Media Hacking
Thanks!
www.markevans.ca
@markevans
http://bit.ly/startupscana
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www.storytellingforstartups.ca