Media For Start-ups: (Understanding Media Relations) Having made the bold move of launching a start-up business, it is likely that you are faced with the challenge of spreading the word about your products or services to potential customers. Most start-ups look enviously at the big brands, wishing they could emulate their marketing activities. Of course, they are never able to do so due to an acute lack of funds to invest in marketing, especially in the early stages. The goal of media relations is to get positive coverage in the mass media without paying for it directly as by advertising. Media relations involves working with media for the purpose of informing your potential customers about how your offering will benefit them, and doing so in a credible positive and consistent manner. Typically, this means coordinating directly with the people who influence, generate and distribute news and features in the mass media. One of the most cost-effective ways to build buzz around your start-up is to get it covered by the media, either local or national. But how does one go about doing that on a shoe-string budget?

1. COMMUNICATION CONSULTING • PUBLIC RELATIONS • ADVERTISING • INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
www.aimhighindia.com | www.tenetadvertising.com
Media for Start-ups – Cases and FAQs
N. Ravi Shankar
CEO, Aim High Consulting
01-06-2013, NSRCEL@IIMB

2. Why should you listen to me?

3. Our Clients

4. "The history of PR is… a history of a battle
for what is reality and how people will see
and understand reality."
- Stuart Ewen

6. www.aimhighindia.com
FAQs
followed-by
Cases.

7. What is a good time to start PR?

8. If you have a reasonable answer to
this, then, it is a good time to start
engaging with the media.

9. Why is PR better than
Advertising / Social Media?

10. PR Vs Ad / Social Media
• Credibility.
• Third party endorsement.
• Pull Vs Push.
• Less cluttered.
• Lower cost.

11. How long should the ‘campaign’ be?

12. Length of the ‘campaign’
• What ‘campaign’?
• PR is about ‘advocacy’.
• PR needs to be seen as a ‘business
function’.
• If you have not created anything that
has ‘sustained PR value’, do not waste
your money on PR.

13. How much will it cost?

14. That is what Advertising costs!
"If I was down to my last
dollar, I'd spend it on public
relations."
- Bill Gates
PR is highly cost effective.

15. Should it be just online, or offline as well?
My audience is online, you know!

16. Be where your TG is!
Horses for courses.
Media learns and buys from
media!

17. Why does PR fail?

18. What you are saying is
not new!
What you are saying is
not believable!
What you are saying
does not make any
difference.

19. Why can’t we do it in-house?

20. Well, PR is not ‘rocket
science’!
But then, it is not ‘child
play’ either!

21. How do I measure PR success?

22. ‘PR metrics’
• Output
• Outcome
• Key messages
• Media Value

23. Does PR help me in a crisis?
Will it help in ‘silencing’ the media?

24. NO!
PR is not about fixing! You
cannot silence anyone with
money or influence.
But, concerted and
longstanding PR effort
might earn you a chance
for ‘fair-play’, during a
crisis.

25. www.aimhighindia.com
There is good news for start-ups!
There are a lot of ‘start-up spaces.

26. Today’s start-ups lend themselves to PR
• Media eco-system getting built around
start-ups
• Start-ups are ‘reformist’ in their DNA
• Start-ups are involved in nation building

27. Media opportunity grid - Startups
Media
Opportunities
for Startups
Company /
Entrepreneur
Profiling
Investment
Product
modification /
extension
HR policies
Technology

28. Profiling Opportunities
Company /
Entrepreneur
Profiling
Business Dailies
– special startup
pages in all major
business
publications
Business
magazines – Most
business
magazines have
special sections
for startups
Mainlines –
Mainline
newspapers
provide good
profiling spaces to
startups
TV – Startup
shows on all
business
channels

29. Business Dailies
The Economic Times Power of Ideas
A special weekly page covering start-ups and SME's that
appears on Friday apart from regular features
Mint Enterprise
A special weekly page covering start-ups and SME's apart
from regular stories
Business Standard Start-up Corner
Full page on startups with a special half-page feature every
Monday that takes a look at one startup. The paper also
covers start-ups regularly in other sections.
The Hindu Business
Line
Emerging Entrepreneurs
A special page on start-ups and SME's that appears every
Monday
Financial Chronicle
Regular stories on start-ups
Financial Express

30. Mainlines
The Times of India Spirit of Entrepreneurship
A space that features emerging entrepreneurs every
week
Hindustan Times
Startups are covered on business pages, also profiling opportunities present for
sizeable startups
Deccan Chronicle Technomics
Deccan Chronicle covers startups regularly on their
Technomics page
Deccan Herald Startups are covered on business pages and supplements

31. Magazines
Businessworld Startup A space in every edition where one startup is featured
Business Today Regular coverage of startups in every edition
Business India
Businessmen in the news, Cyber
News, Business Notes etc.
Several spaces where startups are featured in every edition
apart from regular stories
Outlook Business
Just Started, The Big Idea,
Emerging Business
Multiple spaces where startups are featured
Forbes Enterprise Fast growing startups and SME's featured here
Fortune Venture Fast growing startups and SME's featured here
Entrepreneur As the name suggests, multiple spaces for start-ups to get featured and tell their story
INC India As the name suggests, multiple spaces for start-ups to get featured and tell their story
India Today Apart from regular sector-specific stories, special editions that feature startups
Outlook Apart from regular sector-specific stories, special editions that feature startups
The Week
In their leisure and technology sections, there is an opportunity for startups to get covered apart
from regular stories on sectors.

32. Online Media
India
• NextBigWhat.com
• Yourstory.in
• India Digital Review
• Medianama
• Startup Central
• VC Circle
• Techcircle
• Iamwire
• Trak.in
• Watblog
International
• Techcrunch
• TNW
• GigaOM
• Venture Beat
• Techinasia
• Techwire Asia
• Pando Daily

33. Investment
• High media interest in investment in startups
• VC/PE has become a separate beat and most investments are
noted by top business and mainline media like The Economic
Times, Mint, The Hindu Business Line and The Times of India
• Regular coverage of investment related news on business TV
channels like CNBC TV18, ET NOW, NDTV Profit etc.
• Also specific VC / PE shows like India’s Angels etc.

34. HR / Recruitment
• Startups are important job creators today with higher growth opportunities
and high level talent requirement
• Workplace dynamics captured by various publications today through
special features and trend stories with startups playing a major role in them
• Special HR and career pages in business publications regularly capture
workplace trends at startups. Features like People@work in HBL focus on
work culture at a single startup every week.
• Opportunities across business magazines like Business Today,
Businessworld and Outlook Business that regularly speak to startups for
stories around workplace.
• Media also covers big executives joining startups. Regular spaces in
business dailies and magazines like Business Standard, Hindu Business
Line and Business Today for executive movements.

35. Marketing Campaigns
• New marketing campaigns are actively covered by media.
• Leading business dailies like ET, Business Standard, HBL and
Financial Express have special supplements for marketing
campaigns and cover interesting campaigns by startups
• Specialized marketing media like exchange4media, afaqs,
Pitch magazine etc. cover marketing campaigns by startups on
an ongoing basis

36. Technology
• New technology implementation attracts media interest
• New technology on consumer end and back end is reviewed by
media across mainline and business media
• Online media like BGR India, Gizmodo, TNW etc. strongly
focuses on technology developments by startups
• A variety of consumer shows on television today like Cell Guru
etc. focus on technology

37. www.aimhighindia.com
So, is it all rosy for a start-up who wants
to do PR?

38. Challenges
• Clutter. We start from scratch!
• Cynicism about the offering
itself.
• Staying differentiated – from
generic & specific competition.
• Media may not be as
‘specialised’ as your business.
• Geographically dispersed
heterogeneous masses.
• Bad experiences might get
highlighted.

39. What does that mean?
• We cannot afford to be lazy
• Disruptive business ideas will demand
‘disruptive communication’!

40. Spare the details…
• We need to learn to be brief –
– Three short stories!

41. What do we need to do?
– Tell a story, if the media has to write about
your client.
– But, get to the point quickly.
– Relevant and Interesting – that is all that is
there. And, that is all you need to know.

42. Examples of some ‘short stories’ we have created!
• Olacabs
– Cabs at auto prices
• Flipkart
– Cash on delivery
• Skyline
– A wall for the wall
• BCIL
– Bring back the sparrow
• EduSports
– Indian children are becoming unfit

43. www.aimhighindia.com
All the best…

45. Thank You!
You can reach me on –
ravi@aimhighindia.com
+91 98452 13918
www.aimhighindia.com