Editors Note: I sat down for lunch with ?Anna Bessonova (@Annasnova), former writer at ArcticStartup, currently working at Finland?s PR Agency of the Year ? Netprofile. We were talking about the value of proper communications and PR, and this is the guest post that resulted.
Amazingly many just love to trash PR. It?s expensive, its value is hard to measure and it?s not always clear how hiring a PR professional would help your startup. Besides, while people like to influence others, they don?t like the idea of being influenced. That is the double-edged sword that makes PR such a hotly discussed subject.
In the startup context the never-ending debate usually comes down to whether or not Public Relations (or any form of Communications activities) are worth paying for. At the end of the day, most of the communication tools are free, you?ve been on Twitter and Facebook for years and you can easily reach out to a tech blogger through a tweet. Besides, who can better know how to talk about your company than you?
Here is what this point of view is missing: building trust and reputation for your company takes more than a Facebook page, a retweet by Scobleizer or an article in a tech blog. All those components are great to have but not enough. PR and Communications are skills that need to be trained, updated and maintained. Keeping up relationships is a full-time job.
If your startup wants to become influential you need a strategic approach to PR and Communications that is integrated with your business strategy. You need to plan in advance, prepare for a potential crisis and most importantly you need to consistently execute. Sending a press release twice a year won?t cut it. You might get that one coverage but what?s next? How would you get second, fourth or tenth article to mention your company in the relevant media? And how do you get people to positively talk about you in social media?
As you can guess, the answer is a PR pro. But what exactly do the Comms and PR professionals do? In the broadest view they add value to your business by creating key messages that help establish your company as an influencer (not ?just another X app or Z clone?) and opening the right communication channels.
The tricky part is that you might not always get the coverage you want when you want it. In some cases everything works out like a charm but often you plan, strategize, give your best execution ever yet no one seems to care. It?s just as frustrating for the PR pro as it is for your startup but that is one of the aspects of the free press: you can?t dictate journalists what to cover.
A situation like this might seem like a waste of time and money from the startup?s perspective. But you know how every success looks like a failure in the middle? That can definitely be applied to Communications and PR work. You could have three interviews with different journalists and none of them get published. But half a year later your startup becomes a media darling. You might think it was all your doing but remember what got you on the radar of those journalists? That?s right ? a PR pro.
Whether you choose to hire a team member or a firm to do your PR, make sure it does not come as an after-thought. Done well, PR can do wonders for your business, done poorly or not at all you can seriously damage your brand and reputation. It takes years to build a solid reputation and only one mistake to ruin it all. Knowing where the risks are requires being PR-smart.
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Source: http://www.arcticstartup.com/2013/03/22/do-not-underestimate-the-power-of-pr
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