On August 29th, Sarah Rice (Head of Communications, MXit) gave a talk entitled "Media Training for Startups" for the Silicon Cape. This was followed by a Q&A with Sarah and Michelle Atagana of Memeburn. Below are my notes from Michelle's session. Additional items from Sarah are marked SR. (My notes from Sarah's talk)
- Venture Burn receives a lot of Press Releases and submissions to their Startup Questionnaire.
- if you submit the questionnaire, you must be ready now!
- answer the questions correctly, clearly, and simply.
- There are three core questions for startups:
- What's your business model?
- What do you do, in one sentence? (SR: can be short. Four words is okay.).
- Who are your competition?
- Saying there is none is kidding yourself.
- SR: alternative way to frame the question is: who's taking my money if I'm not getting it?
- If your business is similar to another, what is your unique spin?
Press Releases
- The first paragraph of your Press Release must grab the reader.
- Ditch the buzzwords.
- How are you making money? It's all about making money! Keep it simple.
- SR: understand that, as a startup, you're low status. No need to grovel, but be open, honest, and humble.
- Sarah's point of "Don't be an asshole": very important! Always ask nicely.
- Journalists are stressed, they have too much work to do.
- Don't expect them to remember you: they meet a lot of people!
- Give journalists time to read, think, and write about your story. Don't pressure them, and do not go behind their back to their boss.
- SR: if you follow up, be nice. Ask for feedback.
- SR: Have a small list of people to send a Press Release to.
- When they receive a Press Release, they'll re-angle it for their audience, find back up info, and make it into a story.
- Memeburn is a tech web site: they want tech news.
- Keep the tech as simple as possible. Let the journalist "tech it up" for their audience as they see appropriate.
- Keep it under 400 words.