4 ms·

Small tips i learned when doing interviews (as journalist and as tech founder): Ask the journalist what kind of story s/he wants to do and what role you play i

Small tips i learned when doing interviews (as journalist and as tech founder): Ask the journalist what kind of story s/he wants to do and what role you play in this story. It doesnt matter if it's about you or a general topic - understand what kind of basic arc/message/pov s/he wants to do. In 99% of the cases their job is not to be "investigators" but tell entertaining stories and they are usually happy to share their idea of the article. - Help getting to the content s/he needs. Share the right infos, the right contacts, industry insights. Essentially help as much as you can creating the ideal article. - Also make sure to create soundbites that work as quotes. Quotes tend to be highlighted in articles. - Make sure to connect the journalist with more useful contacts and help finding new ideas for articles. - Last but too often forgotten. Have good press images ready of you and your product. Some that work portrait, some that work in landscape. Some that show a business look, some that show a more personal look (depending on the story the journalist goes for) hth - good luck!

vonnik 10y ago
This is one of the best roundups of PR advice I've seen. (andreasklinger's points are also spot on.) Couple things to add: 1) Remember that embargoes need a journalist's opt in. You can't give them the news and order them not to publish until a given day and time. If you give them information without their agreement on an embargo, they can publish any time they want. So you need to keep some major details back when you ask for the embargo: e.g. "Our startup has some funding news to announce -- would you be interested in the embargoed press release?" 2) Just like with BD, building a relationship means helping reporters out even when you don't need them for a pending announcement. 5-minute favors, intros, explanations about the tech in your sector. That's how you can help... 3) Quotes: Many reporters have to adopt a relatively neutral voice in their writing. They face constraints on what they can say. They use quotes to spice up their stories. So try to make your soundbites more exciting than the surrounding newsprint, not less. They'll have a better chance of getting published. 4) Aunt Agatha: Journalists are professional explainers. If they write for a general readership, they're really writing for intelligent outsiders who do not have great familiarity with what you do. So avoid jargon. You words that a normal, intelligent person would understand. Reporters sometimes call that reader Aunt Agatha. 5) Exclusives. I disagree with Michael in some situations. If you have big news, and you give a reporter an exclusive, you cannot give it to any one else. Which is a huge missed opportunity. Instead of blowing your chance for coverage every else, try to find ways to tailor stories to specific outlets; i.e. "We can't give you an exclusive, but we can work on this angle exclusively and I'll only put you in touch with certain members of the team for interviews..." I was a journalist for 10 years, full time PR for 2, and now I devote my 5%, like Michael, to maintaining relationships. I used to give talks on PR. Some of this material might be useful: Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAWZBdLVj24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAWZBdLVj24 Slides https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzcEIIxKcYncOHd4VTBrU29ObFE/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzcEIIxKcYncOHd4VTBrU29ObFE... PR Handbook (2013) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzcEIIxKcYncbUk2ZjRHS1hmQUk/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzcEIIxKcYncbUk2ZjRHS1hmQUk...
- asimuvPR 10y ago
  This was very helpful, thank you.
- VonGuard 10y ago
  One more thing I will add (journalist here) to these excellent tips is this: Find your niche reporter. There is some reporter out there at some publication you've never heard of, and they are likely your perfect target for all of your news. You just have to find them and cultivate them. If you are a photo app, get to know an old world photography journalist, someone who writes for camera magazines. If you're a real estate application, find the regional real estate publications. A home shopping app, find local magazines, like (some local Bay Area examples) Oakland Magazine, Alameda Magazine, Diablo, 7X7 (or whatever fashionable SF and decorating focused mag still exists there.) Stop pitching Tech Crunch, start pitching the Austin American Statesman or the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Your original hometown newspapers are great places to get "local boy makes good" type stories, and the Valley is super duper myopic about offline, regional media.
  - outdooricon 10y ago
    I'm curious, what value do you gain from something like the Austin American Statesman? I assume the main goal here of the PR is really to get links back to your site, so a higher value site like Tech Crunch would get you a higher value link back. Or, am I wrong, and the real point here is that something just needs to come up when someone Google's your startup.
    - jacques_chester 10y ago
      Larger publications watch smaller publications -- newspapers, local blogs etc -- for story ideas.
      - VonGuard 10y ago
        Indeed, but also, hitting a newspaper read by 1 million people who are semi-technical is far better for a consumer product company than hitting an online audience of 10 million super tech users. The 1 million might just be hearing about you for the first time, while the 10 million online may already know you, seen other articles, moved on to the new hotness.... Those newspaper readers, though, they're wild, fresh and unmolested. Virgin ground for new customers.

vonnik 10y ago

This is one of the best roundups of PR advice I've seen. (andreasklinger's points are also spot on.) Couple things to add: 1) Remember that embargoes need a journalist's opt in. You can't give them the news and order them not to publish until a given day and time. If you give them information without their agreement on an embargo, they can publish any time they want. So you need to keep some major details back when you ask for the embargo: e.g. "Our startup has some funding news to announce -- would you be interested in the embargoed press release?" 2) Just like with BD, building a relationship means helping reporters out even when you don't need them for a pending announcement. 5-minute favors, intros, explanations about the tech in your sector. That's how you can help... 3) Quotes: Many reporters have to adopt a relatively neutral voice in their writing. They face constraints on what they can say. They use quotes to spice up their stories. So try to make your soundbites more exciting than the surrounding newsprint, not less. They'll have a better chance of getting published. 4) Aunt Agatha: Journalists are professional explainers. If they write for a general readership, they're really writing for intelligent outsiders who do not have great familiarity with what you do. So avoid jargon. You words that a normal, intelligent person would understand. Reporters sometimes call that reader Aunt Agatha. 5) Exclusives. I disagree with Michael in some situations. If you have big news, and you give a reporter an exclusive, you cannot give it to any one else. Which is a huge missed opportunity. Instead of blowing your chance for coverage every else, try to find ways to tailor stories to specific outlets; i.e. "We can't give you an exclusive, but we can work on this angle exclusively and I'll only put you in touch with certain members of the team for interviews..." I was a journalist for 10 years, full time PR for 2, and now I devote my 5%, like Michael, to maintaining relationships. I used to give talks on PR. Some of this material might be useful: Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAWZBdLVj24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAWZBdLVj24 Slides https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzcEIIxKcYncOHd4VTBrU29ObFE/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzcEIIxKcYncOHd4VTBrU29ObFE... PR Handbook (2013) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzcEIIxKcYncbUk2ZjRHS1hmQUk/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzcEIIxKcYncbUk2ZjRHS1hmQUk...

asimuvPR 10y ago
This was very helpful, thank you.
VonGuard 10y ago
One more thing I will add (journalist here) to these excellent tips is this: Find your niche reporter. There is some reporter out there at some publication you've never heard of, and they are likely your perfect target for all of your news. You just have to find them and cultivate them. If you are a photo app, get to know an old world photography journalist, someone who writes for camera magazines. If you're a real estate application, find the regional real estate publications. A home shopping app, find local magazines, like (some local Bay Area examples) Oakland Magazine, Alameda Magazine, Diablo, 7X7 (or whatever fashionable SF and decorating focused mag still exists there.) Stop pitching Tech Crunch, start pitching the Austin American Statesman or the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Your original hometown newspapers are great places to get "local boy makes good" type stories, and the Valley is super duper myopic about offline, regional media.
- outdooricon 10y ago
  I'm curious, what value do you gain from something like the Austin American Statesman? I assume the main goal here of the PR is really to get links back to your site, so a higher value site like Tech Crunch would get you a higher value link back. Or, am I wrong, and the real point here is that something just needs to come up when someone Google's your startup.
  - jacques_chester 10y ago
    Larger publications watch smaller publications -- newspapers, local blogs etc -- for story ideas.
    - VonGuard 10y ago
      Indeed, but also, hitting a newspaper read by 1 million people who are semi-technical is far better for a consumer product company than hitting an online audience of 10 million super tech users. The 1 million might just be hearing about you for the first time, while the 10 million online may already know you, seen other articles, moved on to the new hotness.... Those newspaper readers, though, they're wild, fresh and unmolested. Virgin ground for new customers.