Commentary
Do Startups Need Professional PR Help?
10 Things High-Tech Founders Should Consider
At the risk of alienating all of my remaining friends in the public relations industry, I thought I might share some of my running commentary during today's For Immediate Release broadcast on Blog Talk Radio. The subject was startup PR and the jumping off point was Jason Calacanis' blog post from a few months ago in which he argued essentially that the startup CEO should head PR, not an outside agency.
1. The Startup CEO Should Be an Evangelist. This goes well beyond public relations and media. The startup CEO needs to be an ambassador and advocate with disparate audiences, including investors, clients, prospects, employees, journalists, commentators, potential business partners and more.
2. You Cannot Outsource Evangelism. A tech startup needs an evangelist, preferably the CEO. Other employees may also fill that role (business development and marketing people often come to mind here), but it is not wise or effective to pass that role off to a consultant or agency. To be an effective evangelist, one must be identified with a company as a founder or employee. Hired guns don't have the credibility, nor can they craft the requisite personal brand to be successful. It is hard to evangelize for more than one company at a time -- precisely what outsiders must do to be successful in their own right.
3. Startup Public Relations is First and Foremost Networking. Most people (including many agency types) view public relations as media relations. Whether or not that's accurate, it isn't what most startups need when defined that narrowly. Hits in newspapers or on TV may be great, but not likely what a startup needs most. Instead, it is vital to get out and get in front of the people that the company needs relationships with. That means lots of networking at conferences, dinners, one-on-one meetings, and more. And very little of that should be with members of the working press.
4. Not Every Startup CEO Should Be a Startup CEO. The old mantra of "lead, follow, or get out of the way" applies quite clearly to startup founders. Many are not suited to leading a company. Just because you started the company with your own sweat and tears doesn't mean you should be CEO. If you would rather stare at code than talk to strangers, step aside. Find a partner to serve as your co-founder. If all else fails, hire a CEO. But don't put yourself at the top of the org chart just because you started the place.
5. Companies Can Get PR Too Early. It is tired but true to say that "you only get one chance to make a first impression." Many startups grow too quickly for their own good and get crushed by their own inertia. If you are not ready for media attention, then pulling in all sorts of users or prospects may be a mistake. Your systems need to be ready to handle the influx -- everything from keeping servers up and running to having enough people to deliver quality customer care.
6. A Startup Needs a PR Agency When It Can't Meet Goals on Its Own. There's no cut-and-dried formula for when a startup should engage public relations counsel. A company ought to set its goals and attempt to meet them internally. At some point, this may no longer be possible. That's when it is time to find an outside firm to help.
7. Everything in a Startup is a Trade-Off. Startups have finite resources in terms of money, time, and employees. When weighing the "PR Decision," a startup must evaluate its needs in all areas and determine if dollars spent on PR make more sense than directing those resources to an additional customer service representative, engineer, or salesperson. That may mean that there are fewer dollars to spend on a PR solution, leading to a cheaper outside firm, fewer hours contracted, or passing on PR duties part-time to an individual within the company. These can all be rational outcomes.
8. You Must Measure PR ROI. Don't be snookered into thinking that all media is good media. As someone said on the FIR broadcast, you may get a great mention in the Wall Street Journal, but if none of your customers read it, it may as well have not happened. You need to work with whoever handles your PR -- internally or externally -- to establish clear measures of success that are individual to your business.
9. Not All Companies Need PR Agencies. I'll probably get kicked out of the Public Relations Society of America for saying this, but there are some startups that will do just fine without professional PR help. Some startups seek to interface with just a handful of business partners rather than with large numbers of customers. If a company is focused on behind-the-scenes white label arrangements or has technology that they are grooming for use by a small but lucrative market, they may not need PR. In some cases even if they need to appeal to a larger audience, there may not be many -- if any -- attractive media targets to reach out to. In those cases, direct mail, salespeople, or other non-public approaches may serve best.
10. Many Agencies Tell You They Do More Than Media, But Few Really Do. Really good agencies do more for you than simply get media hits for your company. They can help you with internal communications, presentation training, perfecting your elevator pitch, improving investor relations, and more. Many claim this, but few do it well. And, of course, you get what you pay for. The more that a PR agency becomes a "strategic partner," the more it will likely cost. With everyone from your lawyer to your accountant wanting to be strategic partners also, it is important for startups to avoid getting bogged down with too much professional advice and remain nimble and responsive.
I'm not by any means arguing against startups employing public relations firms. They can provide truly useful service for many, but it is vital that every startup evaluate the question individually and with a critical view to ensure that the right firm is being hired for the right reasons.
1. The Startup CEO Should Be an Evangelist. This goes well beyond public relations and media. The startup CEO needs to be an ambassador and advocate with disparate audiences, including investors, clients, prospects, employees, journalists, commentators, potential business partners and more.
2. You Cannot Outsource Evangelism. A tech startup needs an evangelist, preferably the CEO. Other employees may also fill that role (business development and marketing people often come to mind here), but it is not wise or effective to pass that role off to a consultant or agency. To be an effective evangelist, one must be identified with a company as a founder or employee. Hired guns don't have the credibility, nor can they craft the requisite personal brand to be successful. It is hard to evangelize for more than one company at a time -- precisely what outsiders must do to be successful in their own right.
3. Startup Public Relations is First and Foremost Networking. Most people (including many agency types) view public relations as media relations. Whether or not that's accurate, it isn't what most startups need when defined that narrowly. Hits in newspapers or on TV may be great, but not likely what a startup needs most. Instead, it is vital to get out and get in front of the people that the company needs relationships with. That means lots of networking at conferences, dinners, one-on-one meetings, and more. And very little of that should be with members of the working press.
4. Not Every Startup CEO Should Be a Startup CEO. The old mantra of "lead, follow, or get out of the way" applies quite clearly to startup founders. Many are not suited to leading a company. Just because you started the company with your own sweat and tears doesn't mean you should be CEO. If you would rather stare at code than talk to strangers, step aside. Find a partner to serve as your co-founder. If all else fails, hire a CEO. But don't put yourself at the top of the org chart just because you started the place.
5. Companies Can Get PR Too Early. It is tired but true to say that "you only get one chance to make a first impression." Many startups grow too quickly for their own good and get crushed by their own inertia. If you are not ready for media attention, then pulling in all sorts of users or prospects may be a mistake. Your systems need to be ready to handle the influx -- everything from keeping servers up and running to having enough people to deliver quality customer care.
6. A Startup Needs a PR Agency When It Can't Meet Goals on Its Own. There's no cut-and-dried formula for when a startup should engage public relations counsel. A company ought to set its goals and attempt to meet them internally. At some point, this may no longer be possible. That's when it is time to find an outside firm to help.
7. Everything in a Startup is a Trade-Off. Startups have finite resources in terms of money, time, and employees. When weighing the "PR Decision," a startup must evaluate its needs in all areas and determine if dollars spent on PR make more sense than directing those resources to an additional customer service representative, engineer, or salesperson. That may mean that there are fewer dollars to spend on a PR solution, leading to a cheaper outside firm, fewer hours contracted, or passing on PR duties part-time to an individual within the company. These can all be rational outcomes.
8. You Must Measure PR ROI. Don't be snookered into thinking that all media is good media. As someone said on the FIR broadcast, you may get a great mention in the Wall Street Journal, but if none of your customers read it, it may as well have not happened. You need to work with whoever handles your PR -- internally or externally -- to establish clear measures of success that are individual to your business.
9. Not All Companies Need PR Agencies. I'll probably get kicked out of the Public Relations Society of America for saying this, but there are some startups that will do just fine without professional PR help. Some startups seek to interface with just a handful of business partners rather than with large numbers of customers. If a company is focused on behind-the-scenes white label arrangements or has technology that they are grooming for use by a small but lucrative market, they may not need PR. In some cases even if they need to appeal to a larger audience, there may not be many -- if any -- attractive media targets to reach out to. In those cases, direct mail, salespeople, or other non-public approaches may serve best.
10. Many Agencies Tell You They Do More Than Media, But Few Really Do. Really good agencies do more for you than simply get media hits for your company. They can help you with internal communications, presentation training, perfecting your elevator pitch, improving investor relations, and more. Many claim this, but few do it well. And, of course, you get what you pay for. The more that a PR agency becomes a "strategic partner," the more it will likely cost. With everyone from your lawyer to your accountant wanting to be strategic partners also, it is important for startups to avoid getting bogged down with too much professional advice and remain nimble and responsive.
I'm not by any means arguing against startups employing public relations firms. They can provide truly useful service for many, but it is vital that every startup evaluate the question individually and with a critical view to ensure that the right firm is being hired for the right reasons.
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Commentary / Public Relations / StartupsComments [13]
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Hi Chip, I saw this mentioned on Twitter and came by to check out your post. Frankly, (and as a long-time PR professional both in house and agency) I have to agree with your points. It really depends on what stage you're in and what is most important for a start up - validating the business model and securing customers/partners.
I know some will argue - how can you get customers without the awareness. The question is not about doing PR for PR sake. Rather, it's how a start up needs to conserve their resources and generate the appropriate awareness based on current needs.
A CEO who can network and be seen can provide this value in the early stages of a company. Once initial customers are secured and a robust solution/product is available, then PR can be brought in to kick up the appropriate noise.
Great Article Chip. As a first time reader of your material this is definitely get my seal of approval. Keep up the good work. I'll be looking forward to reading your work more often! Good job!
VERY well said Chip. I especially agree with you about getting PR to early. It is a fine balance of when you want to pull that trigger and get all the attention. Sometimes you can not control it, but when you can it is something you must think about.
As someone who just went through my first year starting up a company I can relate to this list!
Chip, as a principal for a marketing services (including PR) firm for start ups, it might be counter-intuitive, but I also agree with many of your assertions, especially the "PR done too early" point. Try following the first agency that was either there too early or misfired on their strategies or tactics, thereby blowing that first impresssion or giving executives a reason for having a viral reaction to anything related to marketing and PR.
I'd counter and combine your first and fourth points by saying that not every startup CEO can be the evangelist, so he/she better work their internal or agency team to identify and train their evangelist(s).
Also, re: measurement of PR. It is the holy grail and if it is not happening, fire the internal or external resource. Same holds true if your sales team is not merchandising those great results with prospects and customers.
Finally, in the current environment, cash might be king, but so are qualified sales leads. Many firms claim to be able to do so, but even fewer can produce leads than can help w/speaker training, internal comms, etc.
Very nicely put Chip! Those of us who have been in business for awhile know these points but to have them laid out so well really leaves an impression. I thank Chris Brogan's tweet for sending me along and hope to have time to read more of your writing.
While I agree with all of your points, number 10 is where start-ups should focus. I think you need to go further with this point and I would have been in complete agreement with the post. You and I have a greater appreciation for politics than most and one of the political communicators’ maxims applies here – Don’t believe your own press clippings.
To paraphrase for the purposes of your post, evangelization is a quality a CEO needs, but it’s not something that all audiences of a start-up CEO will buy. (this spoken as a New Yorker, journalism and political hack, a bigger cynic you can find)
A traditional PR firm is not the right one for a start up, too staid not enough wild ideas to truly zero in on the perfect story, nor is a large one because after all, what start up with little money wants to be a pimple on an elephant’s ear?
I therefore submit this amendment to your work.
Start ups need to identify a communications agency that isn’t afraid to tell them they have a dumb idea, or story line if that is their belief, albeit politely.
They need a firm or consultant that can dig down deep into the organization, its culture, its founders, its product or service, its markets, its (many other aspects) to extract the remarkable (OK go ahead say I’m stealing a word from Godin). This firm has to be able to walk away if there is not buy-in to the packaging of the CEO’s energy, product or service.
A start-up CEO needs a reality-check partner, just like a President does. This partner will help the CEO be disciplined and on message, help channel the energy in the right way and to pull it back when candor rather than unbridled enthusiasm is appropriate for the audience.
Now with this comment, maybe you can get a Christmas card from PRSA.
Your opening line sums up why I enjoy reading your stuff. You have a perspective that's far smarter than it is kumbaya-ish. :)
Let me rattle off some feedback as I read:
As for your first point about the CEO being an evangelist, I see little difference between that and PR. As too many people are forced to say too often, public relations does not equal media relations. So your first point strikes me as redundant (but the idea is still important).
More so than saying, simply, "you can't outsource evangelism," I'd say it's just really, really easy to screw up "outsourced evangelism." It takes a willing and able hirer and a talented hiree, but I believe it can work.
No. 4 is a brilliant point.
You're right when you say that PR should be hired when the startup can't meet goals on its own. But that's only one indicator. There could very well be goals the startup doesn't even know it should have. That doesn't mean PR help must be hired, but they should know enough to find out what they don't know about (or something like that).
And if you get kicked out of PRSA for saying that not all companies need or can PR help, they don't deserve to have you anyway!
It's a matter of when and to what degree a startup faces up to it's PR needs; be it refining your image/message so your customers can best evangelize for you, getting a complete picture of the full media universe for the sales channels in which you exist, or just making sure you have the awareness of what PR will mean to your company, a responsible CEO should not delay finding someone outside of themselves to begin the conversation as it's an organic process that's best done over time, with a vision of the forest, and not in a heated rush when it suddenly becomes clear you don't have the resources, skills or talent on hand to communicate outside your direct and controlled environment.
Do Startups Need Professional PR Help?
Of course they do. They also need legal, financial, marketing, accounting and management support. The operative question, as Chip stresses, is why and when? And that depends on the particular situation. Regrettably, too many startups -- too many companies in general -- get involved with PR before they know what it is, what it costs, what it can do, how much time and attention in takes, etc. Before taking on PR, enterpreneurs at all levels should read Chip's 10 pieces of advice if they want to find the right answer for themselves. They're aimed at minimizing the potential damage of precipitous involvement while maximizing the probable advantage of thoughtful engagement.
Thanks for the candid post - I am a co-founder for a startup of my own so it's good to get some clear messages about when a PR firm is useful - and when it isn't. You've confirmed many of my suspicions about PR.
I still don't have a clue when I'd start to see a better ROI on PR than SEO - my current focus is completely on SEO but perhaps PR and SEO could dovetail somehow by generating some incoming links from blogs.
I suppose at some point we might reach a point where our web site is as optimized as it can be, at which point PR might look like the next place to put marketing dollars.
Great post. I agree strongly with point 1 and 2. A CEO or founder doing PR is very effective early on. The new and interesting factor is high and early PR is about great selling which should be from the CEO or founder.
I couldn't agree more that Companies Can Get PR Too Early. I experienced this with my own startup.
I'm saving this in my "to share with potential clients file". I particularly liked #8, having run across this situation a number of times recently where clients want print PR when they should be focusing on getting visibility on e-zines and blogs and Facebook. Interesting that so many people are "stuck" in how it used to be, ie. get us in the Times and WSJ and on Oprah. I spend a lot of time getting potential clients up to date on social media and marketing, where their potential clients are hanging out.