I am in the same exact position. Doing technology PR for startups has taught me quite a few things. My firm (which will remain unmentioned, you media whore) has had quite a few start ups and technology clients . Some of them are great, we have done great work with them, created strong and recognized brand names, and recieved great press. On the other hand, some of these places have had absolutley no clue as to what real PR is about.
Free advice: Proper PR requires knowledge of the product and the ability to put it all in civillian (CEO) English and not tech jargon, such as "enterprise level database backend."
Of course anyone who reads/. *I hope* can ususally understand what the product is, but I even get confused by clients trying to sell their goddamned "integrated blah blah, enterprise blah blah, solutions blah blah, communication, blah blah price-point blah blah paradigm shift(wince), blah blah etc. Wording like this indicates that the company itself has no idea what the hell their product is. Half the time they trick themselves into believing that they will change the way the world will buy blah If you have a real product, dont hide behind buzzwords
Tell people
1. What your product can do
2. Why it is better than other products
3. How it can make the CEO money(B2B) or how it will improve the life of the consumer(retail)
CEO's and people making the big decisions don't care about bits and bytes. You have to translate that into how it will help their end product.
We all know the honey moon is over. If you can not answer these three questions convincingly your company probably should be going out of business and your media-ploy submission sounds just like a death-rattle.
If you can answer these questions without hesitation or buzzwords, a PR firm can do you wonders. While PR is not always discreet or quantifiable by nature, what you are buying is head-space in the collective consiousness of your audience. A PR firm can find you the right audience for your product, help you get on their radar, and then make them want to buy what you are selling.
True, best product does not always win. Timing, image, and strategy are just as important as the product itself (M$), but there still must be a product to build off of. So figure out if you have a viable product, get a good agency who understands your product, and you should be talking to the right people in no time.
Better yet, hire a shop that can handle all of your official communication (advertising, marketing, PR) with the outside, that way your message is clear, consistent, and lazer beamed in on the folks with the $$$.
Slashdot Mirror
I am in the same exact position. Doing technology PR for startups has taught me quite a few things. My firm (which will remain unmentioned, you media whore) has had quite a few start ups and technology clients . Some of them are great, we have done great work with them, created strong and recognized brand names, and recieved great press. On the other hand, some of these places have had absolutley no clue as to what real PR is about.
/. *I hope* can ususally understand what the product is, but I even get confused by clients trying to sell their goddamned "integrated blah blah, enterprise blah blah, solutions blah blah, communication, blah blah price-point blah blah paradigm shift(wince), blah blah etc. Wording like this indicates that the company itself has no idea what the hell their product is. Half the time they trick themselves into believing that they will change the way the world will buy blah
Free advice: Proper PR requires knowledge of the product and the ability to put it all in civillian (CEO) English and not tech jargon, such as "enterprise level database backend."
Of course anyone who reads
If you have a real product, dont hide behind buzzwords
Tell people
1. What your product can do
2. Why it is better than other products
3. How it can make the CEO money(B2B) or how it will improve the life of the consumer(retail)
CEO's and people making the big decisions don't care about bits and bytes. You have to translate that into how it will help their end product.
We all know the honey moon is over. If you can not answer these three questions convincingly your company probably should be going out of business and your media-ploy submission sounds just like a death-rattle.
If you can answer these questions without hesitation or buzzwords, a PR firm can do you wonders. While PR is not always discreet or quantifiable by nature, what you are buying is head-space in the collective consiousness of your audience. A PR firm can find you the right audience for your product, help you get on their radar, and then make them want to buy what you are selling.
True, best product does not always win. Timing, image, and strategy are just as important as the product itself (M$), but there still must be a product to build off of. So figure out if you have a viable product, get a good agency who understands your product, and you should be talking to the right people in no time.
Better yet, hire a shop that can handle all of your official communication (advertising, marketing, PR) with the outside, that way your message is clear, consistent, and lazer beamed in on the folks with the $$$.
fuck, Im goin home
d...