by @abhia90 // newsletter // youtube

Link to Michael Seibel's article here

Summary: Treat PR like biz dev

"Treating PR like business development means developing relationships with reporters as people, getting introduced through warm connections instead of cold emails, and creating a fair value exchange."

• "Before then I’d wasted mental energy thinking there were special rules for talking to the press and getting great stories for my company. I thought I needed cool and catchy subject lines for my emails, or that I should have a list of a hundred reporters that I blast with new story ideas, I should write press releases. Needless to say most of these efforts ended in failure. Sound familiar?

Realistic Expectations for getting press:

• Don’t expect to get every meeting and story —> you should have a 25-50% success rate
• After 6-12 months of keeping up a good cadence and sharing real news, you should be relatively friendly with 2-5 reporters. (ie they’ve written about your company enough that you’ve probably met them in person and certainly they’ll reply to most of your emails)
• When you start to get bigger, you'll likely be able to organic generate attention from the Press— this is when it's a good idea to strategically create distance b/w Founders and the Press via a PR person/department (helps create buffer that gives you more control over strategic announcement)
• Remember, you should be dedicating <5% of your time to PR— All good things come from doing the real work (ie getting product market fit and generating $$$)

4 Steps to follow once you're ready for press:

1. Generate news
   • What is news?
     • Timely information— ie It makes sense to talk about it TODAY rather than tomorrow
   • 4 Categories of News for startups
     1. Product launches and features coming out today
     2. Product/sales milestones— recommends waiting until you’re 25% past the milestone to announce - so that you’re that much closer to announcing the next milestone.
     3. Significant BD deals or Customers
     4. Fundraising
   • Note: these can seem aggressive for early startups, but they're just examples
2. Make your own press contacts
   • As an early stage startup founder you should be building reporter relationships and making pitches. Your success rate will go up and you will actually spend less time and money on PR.
   • Best method = Warm intro
     • Proper etiquette is to ask your friend for an intro to only one reporter.
     • Components of your intro (the reporter should be able to read it and reply in 30 seconds):
       • News. Describe your news in one sentence.
       • For an exclusive: Let the reporter know you’re offering an exclusive.
       • For an embargo: Say when you’re making the announcement. Include the date and time.
       • A request for a 20 minute call. Be courteous. You don’t need to meet in person.
         • "When on the phone, be ready with 3-5 reasons why your news and your company is important —> Make them clear and then, at the end of your call, offer your notes and any relevant collateral (screenshots, graphs, logos, pictures, etc). This will provide you with an opportunity to be courteous and provide reporters with the language you prefer."
   • Me: Read "How to Win Friends and Influence People" (Long-term strategy for social skills development)
3. Pitch those contacts an exclusive— Only offer the exclusive to One tech reporter at a time (ie Don't be a dick)
   • "Getting blanket coverage across a bunch of tech blogs is often not worth the struggle and can piss people off when embargoes are broken." (again, Don't be a dick)
4. Share news at a consistent cadence
   • "I recommend YC startups to maintain a queue of 3-5 pieces of news that you will want to announce in the coming 6 months. It takes the pressure off you if one of those pieces of news doesn’t get picked up, and it helps you keep a regular cadence of positive news about your company in the press."
   • To see real startup PR results you’re better off getting one story every month or every other month versus one huge story every year; It’s like funding basic research in science, you can’t predict the advances but they do happen when you invest consistently over time.