Journalists, Publicists Provide PR Advice for Tech Startups
Thanks to Carrot Creative’s Kristin Maverick and Rubinstein Communications’ Adam Isserlis, I attended a rather informative discussion regarding public relations (PR) and when it’s right for a startup in Rubinstein’s conference room way up on the 30th floor of their office in Manhattan’s Midtown neighborhood. (Although I have been doing this for more than six years now, it never hurts to see what your peers in the industry think.)
The “panelists” included:
- Mary Kathleen Flynn, The Deal
- Gillian Reagan, The New York Observer
- Rose Gordon, PR Week
- Sabrina Horn, The Horn Group
- Peter Himler, Flatiron Communications LLC
- Jay Kolbe, Weber Shandwick
- Adam Isserlis, Rubenstein Communications
- Chantelle Karl, Yelp
(Before anyone thinks I’m trying to be snarky, I’m only using “panelists” in quotes because it was more like a roundtable in front of the conference room rather than a panel.)
The discussion did focus on a lot of things which I already know such as always doing your research before you call a reporter, be aware of the reporter’s needs which may or may not always be in line with your own, recognize that building a relationship takes time, stop cold calling and spamming every contact on a list which you make with Cision, etc.
Some of what I heard though was quite different. For instance, one of the attending agencies charges startups a minimum of $10,000 per month. That makes sense if you’re a startup with loads of venture capital to burn, but what about those of you with far, far less than that? Then, there was the suggestion that a startup should hire an in-house person. Really? Isn’t having an external PR team enough? In my experience, I just need someone on staff who can route my requests for information to the right person depending on a reporter’s deadline and make sure any materials that need approval get reviewed in a timely fashion, i.e. no timid assistants afraid to ask their boss to review a document. And, best of all, many of these experienced practitioners were all about advising startups that couldn’t do these things to not start working with an agency. I don’t think that’s necessarily true. You can’t always build buzz based on your company’s product no matter how great it is. Sometimes, you need that extra push.
My recommendation: PR is an art, not a science. There is no magic bullet that’s going to guarantee you the cover of The New York Times in three months. There is a lot you can do with a PR firm to get yourself on the way though. And I’m always happy to share my two cents. You can e-mail me here.
Missed out on the afterparty at Faces & Names and sadly, since I didn’t ask any of my trademarked semi-snarky questions, I’m not in Allen Stern’s video over here on CenterNetworks. Maybe next time?
