PR for startups: How to stand out from the crowd
summary
Argues that traditional announcement PR is broken for startups and prescribes PR for growth: tie media work to a clear business goal (raise, hire, acquire users), measure ROI with analytics, and expect only one or two real product announcements a year. Recommends doing housekeeping (working website, blog, Crunchbase), target local niche outlets before TechCrunch, use HARO and events, create narrative hooks (e.g., Medellín as a Silicon Valley story), run experiments like a reporter-in-residence or free product tiers — one case study even doubled downloads.
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chapters (16)
- 0:00Introduction and background
- 1:04Traditional PR is broken for startups
- 4:12PR for growth over brand management
- 6:22Building credibility without TechCrunch
- 9:29Developing a compelling narrative
- 12:39Leveraging your team and culture
- 15:04Social responsibility and transparency
- 16:50Identifying the right influencers
- 17:33Engaging journalists effectively
- 18:56Earning media as a startup
- 21:22Q&A: Influencer marketing transparency
- 21:45Q&A: Startup storytelling strategies
- 23:56Q&A: Content distribution channels
- 25:20Q&A: Time management for PR
- 26:45Q&A: Impact startups and PR
- 28:30Closing remarks and resources
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