DISQUS

glhoffman · 1 year ago

Nice post, I will be back.

christiananderson · 1 year ago

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the read. You are 100% right. When it comes to media outreach, start with product. Get your product right, know your users/customers and know the equation you are solving for. Only when your product is solid and improving should you start to think about media (this is true in virtually all cases).

Interesting too you mention Oprah. I was reading the Seattle PI today (Yes, I love to read the newspaper -- the actual big dirty physical paper) and there was piece on entrepreneurs and using PR firms. The writer's gist was basically, "don't target just Oprah." (http://tinyurl.com/5gmc92) The writer is right.

It accrues nicely to your point that entrepreneurs should focus outreach on singles and doubles -- especially early on. No need to swing for the fences right away and definitely don't pin the success of your business to just ONE big piece of coverage or ad campaign. Focus instead on your product and doing your business well. Let your users / customers do your crowing.

But, make sure you have your story tight for when Oprah does call.

All that said, there is room for PR / marketing counsel in early stage start ups, but often a little effort in the right places can go a long way.

webwright · 1 year ago

"All that said, there is room for PR / marketing counsel in early stage start ups, but often a little effort in the right places can go a long way."

Man, I totally agree with that. Had you asked the Tony Wright of 6 months ago, I would've been a bit skeptical... But messaging is HARD, and the "curse of knowledge" that comes with the intimate relationship that builders have with their product is a hard thing to get over. It's very easy to get to the point where you literally can't empathize with a 1st time user/viewer, and that can be deadly.

It stands to reason that the GOOD kind of PR/Marketing folks (the kind that focus on messaging and product rather than just spamming lists of email addresses) will simply be better at empathizing with an "average joe" user than hackers/designers... Of course, the tragic thing is that good PR/Marketing folks are hard to find and identify!

christiananderson · 1 year ago

Knowing the "GOOD kind of PR/Marketing folks (the kind that focus on messaging and product rather than just spamming lists of email addresses)" can be tough -- especially when there are only a few precious dollars to allocate." I have a post partially drafted that attempts to address the challenge in a useful way, without painting with too broad brush.

Chris Sacca · 1 year ago

Nothing is more fun than emailing Arrington a link to a company that I really think kicks ass. In that case the "pitch" really just becomes a "pointer."

mattsurfs · 1 year ago

Focus on product, and the calvary will come.

I agree with you with exception to #4; the traction.

I believe a start up can be newsworthy without traction, just look at Powerset.

Jared Goralnick · 1 year ago

Really great ideas here, Tony, and thanks for the reference to the discussion about pitching the big boys. Also, you also have my vote for the material by the brothers Heath (Made to Stick).

It's easier said than done trying to build that product, fan base, and social proof...but it's worthwhile. And in this world of so much noise and people saying the same thing, that's really the only way to differentiate.

Needless to say, I won't be holding my breath for a call from Oprah.

DanMCF · 1 year ago

I think getting the traction is easier said than done. If you are not in the "inner circle of startups" or have a name already, it is very difficult to get that initial jump off the starting gate.

It's not to blame the industry giants just the many wantreprenuers out there that are constantly bombarding the startup sites with junk! Most sites and well respected industry insiders get thousands of emails a day where it is simpler to hit delete than to read.

Who knows, maybe my startup falls into that junk pile!lol

chelpixie · 1 year ago

I think Seth has it. Talking about what you do with people is one thing, promoting it heavily after you have fans is the other.

The thing that most people have difficulties with is figuring out what people want. To some people this comes easy and effortlessly.

To others, the mesh between what their strengths are and what other people takes a bit of time to figure out.

I think you have something marvelous in RescueTime. I'm definitely going to check it out.