Public relations strategies for success in the US market focus on building professional networks through media relations, social media, speaking opportunities, awards, and differentiating one's company. Effective PR can be less expensive than advertising but with less control. Relationships are important in the US, and capturing media attention requires going big with out-of-the-box tactics, launch parties, or philanthropic causes. Proper pitching involves tailoring messages to specific publications and understanding reporter schedules. Key tools for PR include Google Alerts, Customscoop for clipping, and social media management platforms.

1. PUBLIC RELATIONS IN THE U.S. MARKET
Strategies for Success

2. WHAT IS PR?
Good PR is about building and maintaining
professional networks.
This means not only working with traditional and non-
traditional media to obtain positive coverage: it
means working with influencers, your customers,
potential customers, and even your competitors to
get the good word-of-mouth that drives sales and
increases valuation. We enable our clients to connect
with their audiences on a deeper, more meaningful
level.

3. AND PR INCLUDES
Media relations
Analyst relations
Social media
Speaking opportunities/attendance at conferences – it is vital that
you have a clear plan for speaking opportunities at the beginning of
the calendar year. Many conferences require at least a six month
lead on speaking opportunities, and event sponsorship requires
months of preparation to maximize your exposure. Look to decide
on events early to minimize your costs.
Awards/competitions --apply early and often, and avoid any
applications that have up front costs or that require sponsorship. Do
your research and leverage your online fans to gain placement!

4. PR VERSUS ADVERTISING
Public relations differs greatly from advertising, yet is often
confused with it (especially in the US).
Effective PR can be less expensive and much more powerful than
advertising. However, you also have less control.

5. THOSE CRAZY AMERICANS
• Americans value straight talking and 'getting to the point.’
• Americans are not afraid of failure.
• New is good. Change is ever-present in American corporate life
and therefore so is the easy acceptance of new ideas, new
models etc.
• Many Americans have never left the US. Be prepared for a
parochial, American view of the world.
• Most professionals have a Blackberry, iPhone or smartphone
enabling them to check emails and reply outside of work –
something which is encouraged and expected
• US working hours are 24/7, 365 days a year. Americans are
‘always on’ – expect to receive emails from Americans on
weekends, vacations and holidays.

6. AMERICA – VAST AND VARIED
• Language, accent and behavior varies greatly
throughout the US
• Often people jump right into business – do not
take offense
• Email structure follows local oral traditions
• Suburbia & Middle America
• Local holidays/festivals/events (not all national)
• Dress and formalities are in flux (especially with
younger generations)

7. WHY RELATIONSHIPS MATTER
• Like in other aspects of business, who you
know can be just as important as what you
know
• A thoughtful introduction is extremely
valuable
• Speed, turnaround and tone of response
• Introductions are key but well thought out,
intelligent follow-through is paramount
• Finding the right contact at the organization
• StyleLikeU and Huffington Post Story

8. GO BIG OR GO HOME
Capturing the Media’s Attention in the US
• 62.6 million in France vs. 307 million in the US – your spend
must be relatively proportional
• Out-of-the-box conference/trade show tactics
• Launch parties
• Stunts and guerilla marketing (not just girls in bikinis)
• The ‘celebrity’ factor
• Philanthropy – what’s your cause?
*If done correctly, these activities lead to WOM buzz
• Myth of the viral video campaign

9. ATTENDING CONFERENCES
• It's not hard to build a community of supporters and a
reputation for yourself and the company from afar and then
to solidify the relationships with a few well-timed trips.
• Look to attend intimate and large-scale events alike such as
TechCrunch Disrupt in NYC or SF, attend meetups like the
North Brooklyn Breakfast Club, and the local NYC, SV/SF
events listed in Startup Digest.
• Finally, network with key American investors and influencers
when they are in Europe at conferences like LeWeb, The Next
Web, F.ounders and DLD.

10. THINGS TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE SEEKING
MEDIA ATTENTION IN THE US
Differentiation: Has it been done before, is your technology disruptive or a
refinement? Know thy competition.
Timeliness: Is it part of the news agenda in the US currently?
Impact: How does the story effect your industry, your competition –will it change
things in any way?
Proximity and education: How is it relevant to the publication you want to write
about it?
Controversy: Will it divide opinion, will it get people talking? Sex sells – is it
scandalous in anyway?
Prominence: Is there a well known person attached to the news? Who is quoted in
the release/any third party endorsement (market analyst or key influencer)?

11. HOW TO: KEY MESSAGES & A PRESS KIT
Key messages: the who what were when why and how of your company
•Limited to three to five sentences maximum
•Supportable with factual data or proof points
•Concise, clear, understandable
Company boilerplate: a concise overview reflecting the key messaging and features of your
company
Bios of key management: quick bios of your founding members, senior team, and investors
Testimonials: what do others have to say about your product?
Company fact sheet: a quick one page document describing your product, features, and
audience
For Internal Use: press Q&A: Answer all the tough questions ahead of time

12. BOLIERPLATE EXAMPLE – FACEBOOK & GROUPON
About Facebook
Founded in February 2004, Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to
share and make the world more open and connected. Anyone can sign up for
Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment.
Facebook is a privately held company and is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.
About Groupon
Groupon, launched in November 2008 in Chicago, features a daily deal on the best
stuff to do, eat, see and buy in more than 500 markets around the world. Groupon
uses collective buying power to offer unbeatable prices and provide a win-win for
businesses and consumers, delivering more than 650 daily deals globally. For more
information, visit http://www.groupon.com.

13. HOW TO: PITCHING TO US MEDIA
Pre-pitch:
• Get involved in social communities: Look for industry friends on Twitter, Quora,
and blogs.
• Get familiar with your writers: Use RSS feeds to track news in your industry. Read
and comment often.
• Get the press involved (provide specific high level outlets with exclusives and early
beta access. Get feedback before you launch).
• Watch your competitors: Google alerts works great for this.
• Use Klout, PeerIndex, LinkedIn, Twitter to research

14. HOW TO: PITCHING TO US MEDIA
The Actual Pitch:
• Email and Twitter are your best channels of communication.
• Tailor your pitch for each publication. Have they recently written about your
industry?
• Be friendly, concise and honest. Stay away from terms like “revolutionary”, and
don’t be afraid to mention competitors.
• Understand timing: do not pitch during industry shows.
• Begin pitching early in the week. No reporters open email at 5:00 PM on a Friday.
• Provide visual assets and video
• Confirm meeting times asap. Reporter schedules are often busy

15. PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOLS
Google Alerts
Google Alerts allows you to set up keyword searches for the name of your company or competitors,
for example, and receive updates in your email inbox or through an RSS feed.
Customscoop
A handy news clipping and tracking service, with the ability to easily generate reports and excel
docs on the fly.
Social Media Management
HootSuite and Seesmic are services that allow you to manage multiple accounts across all the
popular social media outlets.
TweetDeck is used to manage profiles across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Foursquare and
Google Buzz.
Professional Solutions
Scoutlabs has a great clean interface and overall excellent features for volume trending, sentiment-
tracking, learning about key quotes (based on sentiment), and managing workflow for response
management
Radian6 is a powerhouse that gives you integrated workflow, alerts, sentiment, monitoring across
blogs, forums, news, Twitter, and more.

16. ANY QUESTIONS?