I’m starting a new category in my site called #KublersCuriosity
Or you can think of them as Michael’s Media Recommendations
This is where I’ve listened to a Podcast episode or come across something I think is useful and I’ll want to remember the advice later on.
Or would like to recommend it to someone else and give enough info for them to know if it’ll be useful to them.
Most likely it’s in an Entrepreneurship setting and I might directly mention how it affects Drivible or something else I’m working on.
How to get press for your product – Jason Feifer
Podcast page: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-get-press-for-your-product-jason-feifer-editor-in-chief-of-entrepreneur-magazine/
YouTube:
Podcast Episode Overview:
- High-level steps to securing press coverage for your product
- Why it’s critical to understand the mission of the publication
- Why freelance writers are more likely to write about you
- When it’s worth investing in PR
- When and how to hire a great PR agency
- Insider tips for writing the perfect pitch
- Why you should optimize for “Opportunity Set B”
The main points I found interesting:
- Media coverage can be great, useful or useless.
- There’s no point getting coverage if you don’t have a use for the attention. e.g If you haven’t got a decent product and onboarding setup (Drivible is working on this soonish, but no, we aren’t ready for any major attention right now)
- Press Releases are rarely read and not really worth much at all
How to get an article written about you
Media people, esp journalists, get pitched to a LOT. They’ll have hundreds of emails a day with press releases, etc.. Usually put on various lists.
There is a LOT of noise.
You have to rise above that with good quality signal.
Only a small number of those emails or contact attempts are tailored to the person. e.g the Writer / editor of the tech blog site or a magazine, in this case Entrepreneur magazine, but used to be Fast Company.
If you as a Startup founder want press then you should:
- Do some prep work.
- Who is the Target Audience? e.g Where do your competitors or similar market category get such discussion / traction?
- What is the story to be told? This will also depend on where it’s going to be shown
- Find the publications interested in such a story and the specific writers who write about that.
- Contact the publications with a smallish, tailored message
Note that the steps can feedback on each other.
The Story to be told is likely different depending on the media outlet.
An example is that if you want to be featured in Entrepreneur magazine then you’ll need a story that’s about your journey, like getting feedback from potential users by going to an Airport and asking people waiting around to fill in a survey.
They usually have plenty of time. But a story about butter trays or some food product launch isn’t that enticing.
However the product might be more suitable to Cosmo magazine.
So you spend a few minutes, check the Cosmo website, find the food or kitchen section and see what their articles are like.
You see they are all listed as “Top 10 Halloween Treats” or “Top 5 Mother’s Day gifts” and you’ll know that the best option you’ve got is to get listed in one of those.
Look at the person (or people) writing such articles. See if there’s any which are freelancers.
Freelancer Writers are hungry for stories and less likely to be inundated with lots of direct requests.
You should now have a person selected and an idea of a story.
Note that sometimes you aren’t the story itself but a vehicle to tell a broader story through. An example was an eBay <-> Amazon Scam that a cat rug guy got caught up in. The cat rug product wasn’t the story, but was used as the primary way of explaining the larger story.
Another option is to create a report that people can use.
This would be the case for Drivible. We are a fairly niche SaaS platform that wouldn’t be that newsworthy to many journalists or people in the automotive industry. But if we publish a yearly report on the data we collect as a part of our Drivible Network prices and other analysis, then we can position ourselves as an authority in the space.
What to send:
The subject line and first few sentences are all that the journalist are likely to see in their inundated inbox. So make it tailored.
Mention them, how they write, that it’s a story you think they’ll be interested in.
In Drivible’s case we’d briefly introduce what we are and then a story worth writing about.
3 paragraphs is all you need and some contact details. The journalist can contact you for more info if they like the idea.
Some downsides:
- You don’t get control over the story.
- If you aren’t being an authentic person but instead putting on a persona, then you’ll probably have the author write something that’s trashing you instead of promoting you. Or if you gloss over the problems then there might not be enough of a story so they’ll go digging.
The suggested PR resources:
- Jon Bier, Jack Taylor PR: https://www.jacktaylorpr.com/
- Hanna Lee, Hanna Lee Communications: https://www.hannaleecommunications.com/
- Jen Squilla, Max Borges Agency: http://maxborgesagency.com/
- Gregg Delman, G Three Media: https://www.gthreemedia.com/
- Steph Jones, Jonesworks: https://jonesworks.com/
- Jon Hammond, Hammond Strategies: https://hammondstrategies.com/
- Mark Fortier, Fortier PR: https://fortierpr.com/
- Noelle Guerin, Cru of Two: https://www.cruoftwo.com/
