How the Right P.R. Gets Startups Off the Ground.

Despite all the hype about Internet start-ups and dot-com companies in the media, launching a start-up company to the news media today presents a number of tough public relations challenges. The noise level has never been higher. The fact that there are thousands of start-ups vying for media attention does not make the job easier--it makes it significantly harder. Unknown companies with unproven products or services in new market niches are still viewed with skepticism by the trade and business press, industry analyst community and even the online media. Whether your company's long-term goal is to IPO, be acquired or simply take the lead in your marketplace, to succeed in PR, you have to know how to play the launch game.

The Launch Game

In the beginning, start-up companies have no credibility with the media. No one has heard of you, no one knows what business you are in, or even knows your name. In fact, maybe you changed your name, and no one knows the old one OR the new one! Launch PR is about one thing: building credibility and positive awareness where there previously was none. The only way to build a start-up's credibility is to convince third parties to let you borrow some of theirs. For most companies, there are four critical sectors of influence: the press, the industry analysts, business partners and reference customers. Only by building all four into your campaign can you effectively launch your company with a successful public relations campaign. This means soliciting quotes for press releases, issuing partner releases, developing customer testimonials, pre-briefing analysts prior to your announcement and a host of other tactics-all designed to show that others think your company is credible, important and newsworthy.

Breaking Through the Noise: the Need to Differentiate

Regardless of what you're selling -- products, services, Web content, or just a new way of doing things on the Web -- the effectiveness of your public relations campaign depends on your ability to get your messages across clearly and crisply to the media and other important influencers. This requires that you successfully articulate your company's unique value proposition -- exactly what it is that makes you different from the competition. To succeed, you not only need the right positioning and messages, but often you also need to develop some strong, relevant metaphors as well, that will help people to understand your story. Dead-on key messages that resonate with your target audiences are the basis for the kinds of campaigns that get companies noticed, put them on the map and keep them there.

Focus on the Fundamentals

Entrepreneurs and their agencies must stay focused on the fundamentals if they want to achieve their PR goals. Successfully launching a start-up company to the news media and industry influencers requires your best creative thinking (strategy) and aggressive, effective execution (tactics). Anything less will give you disappointing results. When formulating your strategy, remember that today's media are oversaturated with hype. Rather than worrying about how to "generate buzz," think about how to build and enhance your company's reputation. The first rule is to put the emphasis on substance in your news announcements. Give the media more "steak" and less "sizzle," and in the long run, you will generate more coverage.

Regardless of what business you're in, as a start-up, your campaign must address these additional launch PR fundamentals:

1. What is your product category? Are you addressing a brand new market niche that must be defined, or are you trying to enter and take over an existing one? In the latter case, you must emphasize a "gee-whiz" benefit that will enable you to topple the market leader. In the former, you need to establish first-mover advantage in this new niche, which you will need to define for the media (and you will bear most of the burden and some of the cost of educating them about it).

2. What are the third party relationships that you can leverage? Will your early customers serve as references not only for sales, but also for trade press and industry consultants? How about your business or channel partners? Are there any other "friends of the family," you can tap for third-party endorsements? All of these are important and help lend credibility to your story in the beginning.

3. What are the industry trends affecting your market? Is there any way you can take advantage of them? Do they help you or hinder you? If you're introducing a new, improved umbrella, be sure to include background in your press kit on the forecasts of a heavier than normal rainy season.

4. What are your key messages? How will you determine that they're the right ones to get your story across to the market via the influencers? What metaphors will help? When you reduce your story to a 30-second "elevator pitch," do people get it? In crafting your messages, remember to focus on the problem your product or service solves, and not just your solution. Most PR activity involves framing the problems in a market properly so that the right context is set for understanding the value of the solution.

5. What is the right launch venue? What is the best way to present your company to the media for the first time? Among the choices are press tours, press conferences, trade show events, audio teleconferences and Webcasts. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages, in terms of timing, cost and effectiveness. Press tours let you meet and establish relationships one-on-one, which is important, but if you have a great reference customer willing to talk to the media but who's very busy, a teleconference will allow him or her to take questions from a dozen reporters in just one hour or two.

6. What is the best timing? Is there a deadline by which date you must launch? Are you in control of the timing, or are other, external factors driving the decision? The readiness of your customer and other references, as well as your product or service availability, are the most important factors in determining the best time to launch.

PR for Sales: More Than Just Lead Generation

Most marketers think of PR as a tool for generating sales leads. But for a start-up company, a well planned and executed PR campaign can not only to help generate positive awareness and sales leads, but also help move along existing prospects in the sales pipeline to the close. This is because both marketing and PR are driven by the dynamics of the social science of opinion influence. It's no accident that the expression "perception is reality" has worked its way into the realm of every day conversation. PR plays such a strategic role for start-ups, then, because it is an integral part of the selling process. Start-ups in the launch phase must establish their awareness, reputation and credibility in the marketplace before anyone will dare to buy.

Measuring Your Results

Whether you use the Web or Business Wire or old-fashioned snail mail, good launch PR doesn't result from just issuing a press release. Good launch PR is the beginning of a business communication process that is a dynamic, on-going twoway dialogue between a company, its principals and its various publics. It is part art and part science. By focusing on the process of building relationships with key press and industry analysts, start-ups make their programs more effective and increase their chances of gaining visibility in the news media. Your launch, the first news you distribute, lays the foundation for what will follow. What you say to the media, how you say it, when you say it and who says it with you determine your credibility as a news source, and eventually your reputation with the media.

Since you get just one chance to make a good first impression, focus on getting not just a lot of ink, but the right kind of ink. That means, when evaluating the results of your launch PR, examine whether your key messages come through in the coverage, how many of your target media you hit, and whether the media reached your target audiences. PR campaigns that deliver the right messages to the right audiences effectively are the ones that truly help boost marketing and sales efforts, and that is the ultimate PR return-on-investment.

Derek Lane is Western Regional Manager of The Launch Company, a nationwide public relations and marketing firm that offers PR and marketing services for Internet, new media, telecommunications, networking, and software companies.