DISQUS

Raza Imam · 1 year ago

There was an article in one of the WSJ blogs about small business and startup PR. It profiled a small, 5-person chocolate company. It showed that a majority of press came from the CEO's own PR efforts (she did have a PR firm as well)

Guy Kawasaki has a good post on why DIY PR is better than working with an agency on his blog. Definitely work checking out.

Raza Imam
http://SoftwareSweatshop.com

etavitom · 1 year ago

Great post! I find creating buzz is the most important aspect to focus on for start-ups, assuming you have a great concept. All the best, "Wizard of Buzz"

James Shaffer · 1 year ago

Yes, creating buzz is a must for new startups. A good way to get PR in the non-traditional sense of the word is to do something controversial. Many sites will link to you and you will enjoy "web PR."

Matt Hulett · 1 year ago

Really good post. I am a proponent of DIY PR. I didn't mention in my post that its important to be consistent with your PR efforts. Its really a marathon with PR; building the right contacts and constantly staying in-tune with the editorial of your PR targets is really important.

Andrew Huff · 1 year ago

Thanks for the excellent tips.

Having just started a small company, I have to say determining the PR and marketing strategies has been the most challenging part of the process so far. I'm glad there are so many resources out there to help those of us without much experience.

Graham · 1 year ago

Brilliant post, thanks for the insight into a succesful Press Release, I am going to implement some steps for my new product launch in September 2008.

Chris Mancini · 1 year ago

Great article. Being a co-founder on a startup, I am learning all I can about pr, marketing and organic growth while my partner works on the nitty gritty code and product development. You confirmed my efforts though of a company blog as I have started writing on it and we do not even have a product yet.

Chris

http://www.stampedeblog.com

Jigme Phuntsho · 1 year ago

Great post. I also liked the "how to create the perfect company blog" post.
Thanks for the tips.

Jigme Phuntsho

Ben Yoskovitz · 1 year ago

@Raza: I agree that a lot of PR can and should be generated by the CEO and other top folks at a company, especially a startup. Much of a startup's success can be built on the reputation of the founders. But, if the founders aren't experienced at PR having a helping hand to guide them is important.

@James: I'm not opposed to stirring controversy. It is a good way of generating buzz, and we see from the regular "web sh@t storms" that A-listers launch out there - mostly for fun I think - that controversy is a good way of staying top of mind.

@Matt: I agree. It's definitely a marathon. PR isn't like an email marketing campaign where you hope to close a percentage of business. You have to put down the building blocks of good PR, build relationships, and go from there.

Terra Andersen · 1 year ago

Great write-up on PR! I especially liked the part about telling a good story. This is SO true. With my own clients, they often gain free media attention and free PR when they tell a story.

Great work!

Green · 1 year ago

I think what most of us have to realize is the percentage of press releases picked up is infinitely small. The PR release firms will never tell us the real numbers but it has to be really low as there are thousands of PRs issued each day and only so much room mainstream. As the author says tell a good story, write it in language the readers can understand and relate to and have reasonable expectations. Start with the free services before dropping a bundle on the paid services.

Joe · 1 year ago

This was a great article on PR. Lord knows I need help with it. I just tend to ignore PR, and that's not very smart is it?

Writing a good story that pulls people in is huge. We all love a good story. I think that's what the best PR does.

Joe

MrPositioning.com (Stanley Bro · 1 year ago

I've often found that we are our own best PR agents.

Unfortunately, many people have no clue how to do PR properly, so they must get help from outside.

My one suggestion (based upon my own personal experiences) is to choose your PR person carefully. Only hire someone through a referral and after you've checked them out. Don't make any long-term commitments in the beginning.

Otherwise, you may wind up spending a lot of money and getting little in return.

Mr. Positioning
Stanley F. Bronstein
Attorney, CPA, Author & Professional Speaker

Rick · 1 year ago

Hey great article with some very useful information. The company blog info is espescially good. Will put to good use. Thanks a million.

Andrew Fowler · 1 year ago

I was in PR before I launched my own startup. I agree, PR can be a cost-effective way to generate interest in your activities. I want to reiterate the importance of sending "quality" stories to the media. Reporters/bloggers are inundated with press releases/pitches each day most which end up being ignored or deleted due to irrelevance or poor quality. If you're not a recognized brand you'll need an especially good story to cut through the noise.

I'm also a proponent of DIY PR. In that spirit, I've created a simple news vetting process (see web site above) designed to help people build high quality stories for the media. Feel free to test it out.

Sarah · 1 year ago

I have recently started the marketing for a new online property business - and one of the directors has started a blog hhttp://repossession-diaries.blogspot.com/ but as they want this just to feature case studies / feedback etc I was going to set up a 2nd blog as I am a firm believer that good PR can not be over done.

Erik · 1 year ago

Blogs and professional PR should work in tandem, with different goals. Whether we like it or not there is a huge segment of the professional population that doesn't pay attention to blogs. A PR strategy, in-house or outsourced, is a must for any startup. The more important question is who is contacting the leading bloggers in your space? It may make sense to keep those relationships for yourself and have the PR pro focus on traditional media.

Hye Munar · 1 year ago

Hi Ben.

So do I. I don't actually focus so much on PR. As ling as my blog is indexed in search engines, I am happy. Thanks for the post.

Intellionics Seo Services · 1 year ago

Press releases if controlled the right way can make your start up or any organization of yours a success.

It is a cost effective tool and also has an amazing reach with so many websites accepting PR's. I think for start ups this is very useful as they are completely new and press releases need not be fact based it has to be flamboyant.

Tony_Bradley · 1 year ago

Just used a PR for our company and got 5 new customers form it, it was unbelievable. Thanks for a thread that actually delivers.

web hosting nerd · 1 year ago

hey it was a great post.. i didnt knw the time passing..


it was really great thanks a lot..