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Getting Good PR for A Small Company?
"Before I go any further, here's the short version of our story: We provide enterprise level database backends for web sites at one fifth of cost of our competititors, (those that are still around) and with a fast rollout. We use the ArsDigita Community System to help corporations roll out next generation integrated application community sites in very short timeframes -- under two or three months, usually, and sometimes in as little as two weeks.
I think we have a great story, and a good product, so how do I tell the rest of the world? I'm sure there are some post-IPO types who know all about the press, managing them, whipping them into a frenzy, etc. This must be a question that every small software firm struggles with, and I hope the community finds it of interest. Thanks in advance for any and all advice offered."
And above all else, avoid "clueless suit" quotes in press releases. No corporate officer in a computer or Internet company with more than a few dozen employees ever has anything to say about a product that a journalist wants to hear. You're better off quoting some of the people who actually made the product -- and making sure tech reporters can get hold of that person easily for more info.
But you won't be allowed to follow these rules. Most PR material is put out to make execs feel studly, not to get stories written.
- Robin
- Robin
Posted by polar_bear:
Here are a few tips - they're not sure-fire, and they won't guarantee coverage for crappy products - but they might help.
1. Leave no stone unturned - try to touch base with the right person at any publication - Web or print - that might cover your product.
2. Be open to collaborating on any kind of coverage, not just reviews or getting press releases covered. Sometimes a product just isn't review material - but it might make a good feature or "how to" story.
3. Don't be stingy with review products. I've had a few software companies that have told me "just download the demo" instead of sending me a review copy. Guess what? If it's my decision, I instantly drop it. Not because I'm hunting for a freebie - I get plenty - but because that is a poor attitude and communicates a total lack of interest in working with me.
4. Be polite, and know when to drop it. I've had a few overly persistant PR folks who practically demand that I cover their product. Sometimes large companies can get away with this - but don't press your luck.
5. Talk to the right person and once you've established who the right person is, keep in contact. Ask what you can do for them.
6. Don't send Microsoft Word docs to Linux press. Not a good idea. (Okay, this is of pretty limited interest to companies doing business outside the Linux market, but I've run into it a lot and I'm always stunned that someone in a PR job will send a Word doc to me.)
7. Don't ask "can I see the review before it goes to print?" The answer from any serious journalist is NO.
8. Write a decent press release - I get SO many press releases that are so full of jargon, or are completely content-free! Assume that a journalist may write a blurb about your company and product straight from the release without ever talking to you. Can they get all the relevant information and does the release read well?
9. Don't count on press releases.
10. Never, ever, fail to respond to a journalist. Ever. And don't try to force them to call you for more information. Put it all out there.
Anyway, I hope that helps. Also, you have to realize that there are infinitely more products and companies trying to get coverage than there is available space in the press - be sure to make good use of your Web site. I took a look at your site and it could use a little more content, and a bit less cutesy graphics. Also, a press section would be a Very Good Idea.
Take care,
Zonker
One way that my company has used to get PR is to write technical articles in the appropriate journals to illustrate our expertise. (We do chip design consulting.)
Another is to appear at trade shows in discussion panels.
This gets the name of the company out there in subtle ways, and hopefully provides a good impression at the same time.
Have you compiled your kernel today??
I don't think so - By the time I was done reading the question, I totally forgot who the company was - the tone was very different from the "This is the greatest thing since sliced bread, everyone should have one in their grage, and the people who are bringing it to you are Blah, Inc." type of spam that we've seen here on /. before.
I think this is totally relevant to /. - what we have here is a small, open source reliant company made up of a bunch of geeks that want to know how to get better press. My intuition tells me that there are lots of other geeks around here on /. that are facing the same problem. What's more, this is one of those types of problems that other readers can provide real insight and experience to - I think it's much better than the usual Ask /. fare that can usually be categorized into either:
- I need a lawyer - what do I do? or
- I know I could figure this out if I just RTFM, but I'm too lazy to do that, can you tell me?
I see that RobLimo's already posted something useful - I think given-"Zow"
First, you stay out of my face.
I don't want to see any e-mails, pop-up ads, commercials on TV, billboards, or wacky contests. I dislike marketing because the purpose of it is to subvert my reasoning process in order to get me to buy your product.
Next, you need to simply take care of the customers you already have. If you always do what you promise to do, when you promise to have it done, then your customers will become your marketing department.
That's all there is to it. Now, take a hike.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
making sure that journalists know how to
use your web site: www.useit.com.
RIAA and MPAA. You can't buy the kind of publicity
that Napster got.
4. Post lots of places with a self-promotional
like: "The author of this piece does not speak for
Emusic, which is
still a cool company, even if it has been bought
by one of the Big 5".
I am *almost* inclined to believe it, however, since it is so poorly directed. I mean sure, /. provides a large reader base for your marketing fluff, but mostly not with people making decisions on where to outsource web-development, especially in the $50,000 range.
These guys really do need help getting their story out, just not for the reasons they say. =)
Submit a story to slashdot!
-Puk
1. Forget the PR firms. Save your money. They don't know, will never know or have any of the enthusiasm that any in your company has. You and your staff are your own best PR engine.
/.), someone else will be there.
There is lot's of places to get PR. Online pubs, print magazines, daily news, local and national TV are news based. But don't forget the grass roots stuff. Speak at trade shows. Talk in front of user groups. Be active in online discussions. Start a column yourself. Write a book.
2. Get to know the press before you need the press. Figure out who writes specific columns and only send news worthy information to them instead of shot gunning to a thousand press people. Sure a PR company is supposed to do this for you but often they don't/won't understand your market/product/angle.
3. Don't 'work' the press. These guys are busy people. Respect them. If you have to call an editor don't do it more than once unless they invite you to do so.
4. Forget powerpoints, market speak, techno babble and speak about your product in very clear simple terms.
5. Assume that most editorial has rules about how much coverage you can get. In the day when it was around, MacWeek had secret policies about how much press a company would get. For example if you ANNOUNCED a new product they'd write an article. If you managed to ship a month later you'd be lucky to get a mention as your product had "already been covered."
This was why it was important to know all the writers. Beat guys covered announcements, ships and revs. Reviews Editors/Writers were a totally different part of editorial. Also knowing the Senior or Chief Editor meant you might get included in or influence a feature story.
6. Trade press isn't just the big 5 or 10. User groups, regional magazines and industry specific journals are likely to generate more "revenue related" business than an article in Wired.
7. Timing is everything. Avoid announcements at trade shows as you'll get written up with all the other noise. Holidays, end of quarters, April 15th, Summer, are just a other times when your 'news' will get less attention than it deserves. Not from the writers perspective but your potential customer might miss it because they've got other things on their collective minds.
8. Don't 'expect anything' from your PR effort. You will only get disappointed if you do.
9. When you finally do make the headlines, it's only for a short time. Next week, next month, tomorrow, five minutes (as is it is on
10. When all else fails rev your product from 2.0 to 3.0.
This is getting off topic, but I couldn't let it go.
I figure you're a junior person at a medium-sized company with very monolothic computer needs. Or for some reason you think like one. Because your rant sure doesn't describe reality in large organizations - or even reality as seen from the top in small ones.
Is MySQL an "enterprise" database? Not on your life. Is it useful to large enterprises? You bet. In a large organization that has hundreds or thousands of projects going on, only a tiny handful need the power and feature bloat of megabucks "enterprise" hardware/software. I'd wager 90% of database projects would be better off in MySQL than in Oracle, just because the maintenance costs are so much lower and the product is so much more accessible to junior staffers.
I spend six figures on Oracle, for use where it's needed. That doesn't mean I'm so stupid that I'm going to spend another six figures on it for projects that don't require it. Likewise I have people doing development in Linux on $500 e-machines servers for projects that deploy on giant rack-sagging monsters running heavy-duty OSen. It just makes good financial sense. And every once in a while we even find something neat that Linux, or MySQL, or what-have-you-open-source-program can do, that all our money can't buy.
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
I don't doubt you're correct here. I worked in journalism long enough ago that the people I knew then have either given up on the business or moved pretty far along. So when I talk to someone about dealing with dot coms (a topic near and dear to my heart), it's going to be a senior reporter or an editor at a major pub, and that's bound to provide a somewhat warped perspective. But I think the core messages are still just as valid:
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
Here's what a reporter wants:
Okay, so keep all those in mind. Now, how can you help? For starters, take this press release and throw it in the trash:
...because the people who receive it are going to do exactly that: throw it away.
A press release that actually gets picked up has to provide the basis for a story, which more or less means it has to relate directly to things that the reporter knows about and would otherwise be writing about. Reporters do not write about marketspeak crap, except to make fun of it.
So find a trend that's popular but not overplayed, and figure out how you relate to that. Or find an angle the reporter can work with toward a story about how to do something, how to avoid something, how to make something, and build on that. Don't be afraid to mention your competition - having the story appear in print with you as one of three is better than not having it at all. And if your contact info is on the release, your spokesperson is going to be the one who has a quote in the story.
Approaches like this have you doing half the reporter's work for them, without it looking like he just licked up whatever you fed him. That meets his needs and yours too.
And nurture personal relationships with reporters. Get them drunk at conventions (they're the poorly-dressed ones, so they're easy to spot). Find the bar near the local paper where they hang out. Donate some equipment to your local college newspaper.
One last tip - if you don't know how to write, find someone who does. Go outside your office, find someone in grad school, or someone who writes accessible materials for a living. Do not under any circumstances use your neighbor or your mom or your brother-in-law unless this person is actually gainfully employed for his/her writing ability (next week's lesson: Do not use these people for graphic design either, just because they happen to own a copy of Pagemaker and once did their church newsletter). Everyone knows at least one person in such a capacity. Someone who is laughing at your typos or overuse of the thesaurus or weird grammar is not going to be writing a story about your product.
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
Here are a few things I've learned the hard way:
1. Do not seek press if you are not ready for dealing with lots of inquiries or if your company is a "consumer advocate" story waiting to happen!
2. Execute press releases for hires, promotions and deal wins. They are the easiest to get published and people do read the business section. Releases that try to educate the press rarely work.
3. Avoid referring to technology. Point out benefits your customers experience and the business results that occur!
4. Have a full press kit ready to email to interested parties. Doing so allows editors and writers to do their job better.
5. Do not evaluate the success of PR in the number of leads it generates. PR does one thing well things: it creates brand awareness for your company.
I've never used a PR firm, for one reason, I believe most of them don't get the job done well.
-- $G
After reading the above post on "advertising to geeks" I'll just add this. Its /.'s site, their bandwidth, and as I learned, don't like it, don't visit its that simple. Your not the one paying the bandwidth bill so ... håll kaft
On to the subject now. I think word of mouth is one of the better routes to go until the company has enough to pursue advertising since it does come out rather expensive.
Bartering a banner with a similar venture, or partner or friend is another method that comes in handy many times. It sucks to be sucked dry by PR firms, but I strongly feel companies should do their own marketing concepts before seeking a PR firm anyway. An idea is created, the concept laid down for the PR firm beforehand, so money is saved.
Getting attention is not that difficult there are plenty of websites that'll do a write up if they find the product useful. Visit some of the more known sites, jot an address down its not that hard.
p.s. don't bother flaming I won't rsvp. Is our soldiers homecoming?
360 degrees of Karma
You have to appreciate the fact that there are literally hundreds of new products, services and companies launched every week -- and if journalists were to publish a story on every PR they received then the newswires would become flooded with the stuff and readers would complain.
The secret to getting a PR turned into a story is to wait until you've got something truly newsworthy before you issue a PR.
There are some companies whose PRs automatically get fined in /deve/null because they send out two or three a day announcing the most mundane and trivial things: "Our website is now listed in Yahoo's dierctory", "Our new sales manager is wearing a brown tie today", etc, etc.
Unfortunately for them, even if they come up with the answer to life, the universe and everything, I doubt anyone will be listening.
The secret to good PR is to figure out ways to become newsworthy. When you do something that is truly of interest to the wider industry (or world) the the journos will beat your door down trying to get a story.
Also -- pick your timing carefully. Every editor and reporter knows (and hates) slow-news days. There are some days when absolutely nothing is happening out there and those are the days when we tend to reluctantly start paying more attention to the PRs that come across our screens.
What's not newsworthy on a day when Yahoo buys the NY Times and Dell files for Chapter 13 might well be a lead-story on another day when yours is the only story happening.
Of course achieving this eye-catching status is not easy - or everyone would be doing it -- right?
As far as PR companies go -- it's been my experience that they're really good at spending your money but don't gain you a lot of ground. Let's face it, if you're not newsworthy then no amount of PR-spend is going to get your stories run in a reputable publication.
And as for the format of a PR -- keep it very, very short. If you haven't convinced the editor/reporter that you're newsworthy within the first paragraph they'll never read the rest anyway.
If you've sparked their interest -- they'll contact you for more information anyway. Best to leave them a little curious than drop a weighty tombe on their desk that tells them the whole story.
I hope this helps!