PR for STARTUPS

BENJAMIN JOFFE PARTNER HAX / SOSVBEN@HAX.CO

1,477,753 views

Media coverage

Guest posts Presentations Reports (Robotics / Trends / Etc.)

Today’s Menu

1. What is PR and why it helps

2. The mindset of getting noticed

3. Three easy things you can do right away to get started

What is PR?

What people say about you

Google Yourself

• Company name

• Category

• Search terms

• Competitors

Why do you care?

Why do you care?

• Customers

• Partners

• Investors

• Staff

• No “cold call”

Getting PR

Getting PR

• Start with positioning

• Define uniqueness

• Messaging

• Stories

What’s a Story?

Story can…

• Entertain

• Inform

• Inspire

Interest

• Inform: You, 10x Technology, Pilot / customers

• Inspire: Giant enemy, Grand vision

• Entertain: Metaphors / Pop culture references

Stories Structures

Stories (via Mike Butcher @ TC)• Competition/Drama “X will Kill Z”

• Gossip “CEO/Company rumor…”

• Insight “Trend X will change the world”

• Evolution “Startup Y is like the X for Z”

• Success “Awesome Y created!”

• Failure “Company X dying/screwed up”

• You “Kid creates FB”

• Celebrity “Ashton Kutcher invests!”

• Event “Krakow startup hacks Facebook!”

• News cycle Relate to current affairs

Let’s try!• Competition/Drama “X will Kill Z”

• Gossip “CEO/Company rumor…”

• Insight “Trend X will change the world”

• Evolution “Startup Y is like the X for Z”

• Success “Awesome Y created!”

• Failure “Company X dying/screwed up”

• You “Kid creates FB”

• Celebrity “Ashton Kutcher invests!”

• Event “Krakow startup hacks Facebook!”

• News cycle Relate to current affairs

Nura's headphones custom fit music

to match your hearing

$1,000 tea infuser startup Teforia shuts downPosted Oct 27, 2017 by Matthew Lynley (@mattlynley)

Border-Wall Bidders Plead for Trump's Help to Fend Off OpponentsBy Mark Niquette November 1, 2017, 9:22 AM PDT

Messaging

Testing Stories

• Conversations

• Reverse-engineering

• FB ads

Example: Orenda Coffee Maker

• Vision: “Coffee science”?

• Technology: “Vacuum brewing”, “Turbo-brewing”

• Metaphor: Barista at home?

Your message?

Reaching out to Media

3 Ways

• Friend

• Warm intro

• Cold intro

Cold Intros

• Sniper: Very specific influential editors for your category

• Grenade: Covered your category

• Carpet bomb: General editors

Finding relevant editors

• UpWork

• Past 12 months coverage

• Find Email, twitter with Rapportive, etc.

• $0.5/contact?

Hi @ben, we are making smart helmets for contractors - safety, tag team, etc.

Launching Nov 1st. Interested?

Twitter works best

Adjust message, remind gently

Don’t give up yet

Don’t forget visuals!

Communities

Makers

Parents

Insomniacs

MusiciansPhotographers

Arduino/Pi

Influencers

Make it easy

Material• Clean / clear website

• Twitter account

• Web-ready photos of product & team

• Logo

• Videos for viral

• Be “on brand”

Long Term Starts NOW

“Be interesting and they will come”

Become a Source

• Follow, RT, Comment on Twitter

• Send emails

• Offer insights / connections

Publish Your Own

• Your blog

• Guest posts

• Slideshare

To do NOW

1. Find the 5 top editors in your category.Follow, RT, Email about a recent piece.

2. Write 3 Insights and 10 Trends/Tech/Startups that matter in your category

3. Publish a slideshareand share the link with above editors

ben@hax.co