Startups 101: How To Efficiently Date The Media

If you are a newly minted startup, you’re probably still handling your own PR, possibly even doing it for the first time and making some rookie mistakes. Don’t worry, it gets easier with practice, and chances that you’ve actually had a lot of it- public relations are not that different from personal realtions, after all. So unless you’ve been living the life of a lonely ranger, you have some experience relating to other people. Now let’s try to use that to get you on the right track and teach you how to smooth talk and date the media.

1. If you have to pay for it, you’re doing it wrong

I’m guessing that when you go out and see someone interesting accross the bar, you don’t swoosh over there and whisper in their ear “How much for the night?”.  There will be a lot of time for that when you turn into a boring old corporation with little appeal and lots of money.

Right now, you’re hip, you’re young, you’re hot, your product’s got the looks as well as sbnstance– you can do just fine without swiping your credit card. Work with what you’ve got, find an interesting angle and story that will hook journalists, as well as their readers, and just go for it!

2. You have to get out there

There seems to be a common misconception going around that having a good product is enough to get noticed– let’s burst that bubble straight away. Having a great product and not reaching out to media is about as efficient as dressing up and sitting at home staring at your wall, wondering why no one sees how awesome you are.

There is always a chance that the girl-next-door will magically knock at your door to borrow a cup of sugar and then fall madly in love with you, or that a journalist will use their Charles Xavier powers to mentally pick you out of hundreds of startups that seem to sprout by the hour, but leaving everything to chance is a not a good way to go. Put in a little effort, get out of your head and into the world. Go to a meetup, a conference,  start talking to people.

3. Get personal

Hey, congrats, you got yourself out there and now you’re milling around, not knowing what to say and how to introduce your startup. Well, it simple. For one, avoid the clichés– “Did it hurt when you fell out of heaven?“ never worked on a girl, and overused, generic cheesy startup lines won’t work on the media, either. You’re going to “disrupt” and “change the world”? Cool story, bro, haven’t heard that one yet.

Start off as you would start any conversation, by introducing yourself and saying a little bit about who you are and what you do, ease into what is special about you and don’t make it a brag fest.

Yes, you could have done that over the email from the comfort of your home, and you will drop us a line as a follow-up, just like you would text someone you’ve met last night to let them know you’re still interested. But we get a lot of emails and having met you in person will help yours stand out. It’s pretty much like getting your message straight to our mental Facebook Inbox, rather than the “Other” section. Also note that this was an analogy and do not contact us over Facebook, okay?

4. Get exclusive

Don’t worry, this does not mean that you have to talk to one media and one media only. We are not a scribbling overly attached girlfriend and we know that you want as much press coverage as you can get. Hell, we want to help you with that. However, that does not mean that you don’t have to make us feel special.

Exclusive means that you choose a media who will get to be the first to publish your story, a few hours before anybody else, that you will save an interesting piece of information just for us, or give us a little something extra, like an exclusive interview to go with that dry press release. That’s really not asking for much.

Oh, and while we’re talking about making people feel special: don’t cc us. No one wants to be cc-ed. Do you send out generic group messages to all your Facebook friends saying “Wanna hook up?”. Because that is what cc-ing is.

5. Call back

So we hooked, up, we both got what we were looking for, it’s time to part as friends. Don’t be that douche who never calls back. Drop us a line every now and then, tells us what you’re up to and what’s going on. Hopefully, we’ll see each other and work together again, because you will do great things and we’ll be more than happy to write about them. Now, that was not so hard, wasn’t it?