Learn Why Most People Are Wrong Doing Their Press Relations

Learn Why Most People Are
Wrong Doing Their
PRESS RELATIONS

#journalistsarehumans
Don’t be fooled
it’s fuck*** personal

But first, a quick story

When you look for a job, a
resume is the best way to…

working in a pretty place like this

with outstanding missions like that one
(which lead you to wear this kind of tie)

Generic Press Release,
is a bit like a resume.
you send them blindly to masses & get nothing in return

To get press coverage,
you need to do exactly what you would do to find a job

To get press coverage,
you need to do exactly what you would do to find a job
you build human connexions
& understand others’ needs
eg: deadline, issues, goals, pure passion…

once you know them & understand their needs
help them !
eg: intro, off-the-record, reactivity, etc.

Good PR =
making journalists’ lives as easy as possible

Modus Operandi
to build human connexions
you first need to know
the people you want to know

Goal:
creating a list of journalists
covering your topic
Tool:
Spreadsheets
Prerequisite :
identify your topic
Todo :
1. Google News
2. Buzzsumo
3. Google

Goal:
creating a list of journalists
covering your topic
Tool:
Spreadsheets
Prerequisite :
identify biggest media
in your field
Todo :
find the relevant journalists

Jedi Trick
if you know a very effective competitor in PR (or anyone who share your target
market), use its campaign to map the relevant media
1. Use Google Search with quotation marks in a specific extract in an article(key figure, quote, etc.)
2. Use Google Images when you ID images of his (product picture, users in situ, etc.)

#becomingaStoryteller
Even if you get close with the journalist
you need fuck*** great content
“Give me something I care of and that my readers will love.“— The Journalist
“Please. Tell me good stories. Make me smarter. Make me laugh. Challenge my beliefs.“ — The reader

Pre-requisite
One-sentence pitch*
My company <name> is developing <offering>
to help <audience> to solve <problem> with <secret sauce>.
http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/03/madlibs-pitch-adeo-ressi-founder-institute/
* yes, this is what marketers call positioning

“End of Software.“ “Create, deploy, and manage online
campaigns that increase revenue in SaaS“
https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action
You need to select the right level of details
depending on the situation:
mission actions

The RIBS Test
Caryn Marooney, head of tech communication Facebook
Relevant (Mark Benioff launched Salesforce as the “End of Software“)
Do you really improve someone’s life? Do you deserve his/her attention?
!
Inevitable (Facebook: connecting the world with technology)
Whatever you’re developing is inevitable.
http://firstround.com/article/The-Best-PR-Advice-Youve-Never-Heard-from-Facebooks-Head-of-Tech-Communications

The RIBS Test
Caryn Marooney, head of tech communication Facebook
Believable (Benioff comes from Oracle and knew software & all its issues)
It will happen and you will be the ones to carry the ball over the line
!
Simple (“End of Software“)
Take your messaging and edit it down. Get it to its essence.
http://firstround.com/article/The-Best-PR-Advice-Youve-Never-Heard-from-Facebooks-Head-of-Tech-Communications

Happy Journalist
= Good Content
= Viral Content

The Secret Formula
for Virality is…
http://fr.slideshare.net/Upworthy/engineering-virality-dc-week-2012

clicks
views
definition
=
share
views
x
clicks
share
Jedi Trick
Virality =
1. clickability 2. sharability

clicks
share
1. clickability = = headlines
let’s see how to write very efficient headlines

Good Headlines = Information Gap
Information-gap theory: “The curious individual is motivated to obtain the missing information to
reduce or eliminate the feeling of deprivation.“ Loewenstein (source)
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3028193/evidence/upworthys-headlines-are-insufferable-heres-why-you-click-anyway

Information Gap
too vague, don’t want to click
“This is an amazing video!“
too specific, don’t need to click
“This monkey sniffs own armpit, passes out from doing so.“
just right, compelled to click
“Adorable chimpanzee does something rather unexpected.“

Information Gap
junk information only? (1/3)
Robert Cialdini, a social psychologist set out to improve the way he talk about science.
For inspiration he went to the library. He found something he had not expected: the most
successful author all began with a mystery story. The authors described a state of affairs
that seemed to make no sense and then invited the reader into the material as a way of
solving the mystery.
One exemple that stuck in his mind was written by an astronomer, who began with the
following puzzle:

Information Gap

Information Gap
from Made To Stick, Chip Heath & Dan Heath p80-81
Information gap =
giving people the urge to know more, aka “closing the gap“

share emotional
2. shareability = =
views
arousal

Relaxation
Joy
EMOTIONAL
AROUSAL No influence on shareability
Fear
Sadness
POSITIVE EMOTION
NEGATIVE EMOTION
What truly matters

Finding the underlying emotion:
“The 3Ys technique“
If you don’t know whether your info has the potential to create an
emotion arousal or not, ask yourself: “Why does it matter?“.*
If you do it 3 times, you’ll find the underlying emotion.

#dailylife
You are connected and know how to make good content?
time to get your hands dirty

#dailylife
The (good) email template
http://okdork.com/2014/08/12/how-to-do-pr-for-your-startup-without-spending-any-money/
Subject: Re: <Their Story Title>
Hey <First Name>,
!
My name is [first name] from [company name]. After reading your article {{ story.title }} I thought your readers might be
interested to hear more about [topic from their article which relates to what you're pitching] since the subject of [general
topic from the article] has been in the news lately as you’ve probably seen. Looking over your bio and past articles
sounds like you cover [topic from the article] a lot.
!
We developed a technology that… <insert your one sentence pitch here>.
!
We have some <insert your news/study> which relates directly to your interests and I wanted to shoot over info/details for
you to review/check out. Let me know if you’d be interested?
!
Thanks,
!
<Your full name>
<contact info>

#dailylife
in-house vs outsourcing?
In-House
To do: finding the journalists, getting to know them, daily press review, editorial calendar,
incoming requests, writing press releases, follow-up calls, press invitation, etc.
Outsourcing
To do: pitching very precisely your company and its topics to the PR firm/freelance,
editorial calendar, spokesperson ID + training, weekly review of news (any news in the
company, hot topics, etc.)+ reporting of previous campaign, etc.
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/01/23/how-to-use-pr-firms-at-startups/

#dailylife
When to do PR for startups?
By @clementdelangue
Start early and never stop!
You’ll need at least a couple of months to become good at PR.
!
Research the audience of the outlet.
The better the audience, the more customized you can get.
Also use tools like Linktally or Sharedcount to estimate if the articles get shared.
!
Never delay an article more than a few days.
If a journalist is interested, get the article published now, it will increase your
chances of getting even more coverage for your “big launch”.

#dailylife
Going from Small To Big Medias
Local media/
Small blogs
Blogs of
national media/
Big blog
National Media
It’s easier to target the left to reach the right.
Journalists use more and more twitter and blogs as a source of news.
Trust Me I’m Lying, Ryan Holiday

#dailylife
Newsjacking
Use news to promote your own product/company.
eg: when it starts to rain it’s easy to get coverage for your brand new
connected umbrellas ;)
http://fr.slideshare.net/Clementdelangue/newsjacking-101-get-media-coverage-for-startups

DONT
“Wonderful story“
DO
#dailylife
Send email with over-used/too vague subjects
“A Revolutionary Product“
“Press release about us“ “Launch of our last product“
Be specific
“[Infographics + Story]: New scheme of capital gain taxes

#dailylife
DONT
Send the very same email to 200+ medias
DO
Tailor made story to your targeted media
+ generic press release for the others

#dailylife
DONT
Send emails too long / several attachment
DO
Short email = abstract. (1 PDF+ 2 photo max) attached.
Weblink to bios, tagline, company story & description,
logo, last press releases and stock of pictures

#dailylife
DONT
Send purely promotional information
DO
Information + content of added value (study,
barometer, infographics…)

#Behindthescenes
In bloggers’ shoes

1
2
one of the leading blog covering
french startups.. in french
By Louis Carle
By Liam Boogar
one of the leading blog covering
french startups.. in english
#Behindthescenes

What You’ll Never Do
Not-targeted infos
1
2
3
Pictures inside the
body of the mail
Crappy subject
(eg “talk about us“)
by Louis Carle

Best Practices
Information attached.
Good design + hypertexts
1
2
3
Customized email
Media attached (.zip)
4 Private access
5 Direct contact by Louis Carle

Five Ways to get on my shit list
By Liam Boogar
We write in English. N’écris pas en français.
1
2
3
I keep running list of bad startup names.
Don’t make that list.
“Here’s a recent article of us on another blog“.
Bad idea.
4 No good startup was ever pitched to a blogger in 140 characters.
You won’t be the exception.
5 Press release are attachments, not emails. Also I only read them
after I decide to write about you, not in order to decide.

Five Ways to get my Attention
Be ready for Press. If you’re not sure what this
means, you’re not ready.
1
2
3
Short email.
“Hi. We do X. Want to learn more??“
Get an intro from someone we’ve written about. I like all the
people I’ve written about.
4 Ask me to lunch/coffee – I do that every day, so you know I’ll be
free in the next week.
5 Tell me why Rude Baguette should write about you ( “we’re
French” is not a good enough answer)
By Liam Boogar

Should you target tech blogs when you’re a B2C startup?
Only 4 valuable reasons :
Getting early adopters
Getting new employees
Being easily findable for other media
Building your Search Story
1
2
3
4
these are “nice to have“
Target first the media
read/watched/listened by your
targeted market!

#SocialPR
What about
Social Media x Press Relations?

PR x Social Media can:
amplify
your
messages
make it last
longer
create a
movement
build a
community
#SocialPR
level of mastery/force of your messages
Remember the french #geonpi

Recommended readings
affiliate links, a good way to pay me the coffee without paying ;)

I really hope you enjoyed reading this slideshare.
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Willy Braun
GM of France Digitale, alliance of french digital champions
Head of eBusiness Studies @ WebSchoolFactory (Paris)
Happy blogger: www.brocooli.com
willy (a) francedigitale.org
@willybraun
Special thanks to Mathieu Daix (@mathieudaix), Patrick Robin (@robin24h00)
& Clément Delangue (@clementdelangue) for their precious feedbacks

Learn Why Most People Are Wrong Doing Their Press Relations

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Learn Why Most People Are Wrong Doing Their Press Relations