For over 20 years, we’ve been fortunate to be part of many product and company launches, with many lessons learned.

Earlier this year, we helped our client Glen Canyon Corporation earn over 30 feature articles and 150 news release postings within a span of 60 days, resulting in exceptional lead generation for them. We began pro-active outreach to media and analysts just two weeks prior to the first news release and executed the company’s formal launch at an industry trade show.

While every company is unique, our experience has shown us there are key elements essential to the success of every start-up’s PR launch:

• Establish the company’s core message(s) and positioning.

Who are you, what do you do better than anyone else and for whom?

Every start-up needs to go through this painful but necessary exercise. Many companies believe they are ready to launch without solidifying what their core competencies or value propositions are. Once we developed key messages for Glen Canyon, we took short sound bites from the messaging to create pitches, advertising creative and other marketing materials that will carry the company through any form of communication. If you’re already on the fifth revision of your company’s first news release, key messaging is probably the ingredient you’re missing!

• DRAFT a LIVE launch strategy and plan.

Dynamic and flexible – every start-up’s motto.

Note that ‘draft’ and ‘live’ are key words. At every start-up launch, variables always arise. Dates are the most notorious moving target and so is the actual availability of core offerings. Creating a strategy, goals and objectives, and an aggressive tactical plan puts the entire team marching towards the same result. Our PR team looked at the industry calendar, seeking the best time and place to first announce the company and present itself to the market. We found DistribuTECH 2012 where key media and analyst targets will be in attendance. To create buzz and excitement, we staggered the release of news announcements leading up to the event.  We raised awareness and interest levels even before they hit the event.

• Understand that launching a company has hard costs.

Be wise where you pinch your pennies.

We know that every start-up watches its checkbook like a hawk. You can spend millions of dollars getting your word out but you can also spend as low as $25,000 to $60,000 for a professionally driven 3 to 6 -month launch program. It all depends on what elements you wish to include in your launch.  With our clients, we not only agree on a budget, we also set goals we want to reach and suggest ways to measure the effectiveness of the program at the end.  That way, you’ll really know if your campaign succeeded and that you got what you paid for.

• Know what your competitors are up to.

They’ll actually help you do your job better.

Even if they are not ‘direct’ competitors, there are always competitors that exist on various levels.  Do some online research and see what they are up to!  By researching Glen Canyon’s competitors, it not only helped our positioning, we also gained insight on the key events in their industry, which publications we should be pitching and advertising in and which editors and reporters we should pitch our story to.

When doing your competitive research, think along the lines of reverse engineering.

• If you’re new and no one has heard of you, pro-active PR is a MUST.

Don’t be a wall flower. Ask someone to dance with you.

While we knew having an impactful first news announcement is helpful, we also knew we were coming in from the cold and no one will be waiting for our news. So, we used the ‘newbie factor’ to get our foot into the doors of targeted media and analysts looking for new material, innovative ideas and angles – a story that will shake up the competitive landscape.

It may sound old-fashioned but the time-tested PR tactic of making pre-announcement or briefing pitches via email, followed up by a telephone call is still very effective.  We were prepared with our pitch and supporting material when we made those phone calls – and offered up the company executives for briefings and press presentations. More than two months later, we are still getting requests for briefings from that initial outreach!

• A press release is not a term paper or a product data sheet.

A press release is an appetizer to your company’s yummy main course and dessert menu.

Don’t jam everything in there and drown the core messages. A press release is a hook with a call to action: To get them to want to know more about you. It only takes a few seconds for a reporter or analyst to make the decision whether to pick up what you have to say, so make the most of your headline, subhead and first paragraph.

We were careful not to cross the line of appearing trivial, so we learned the aches and pains of the industry in order to craft a substantial news announcement that grabs immediate attention.

• The buck does not stop after the launch.

You can’t have a baby and just let it raise itself.

Finally, don’t stop your PR program right after a successful launch. If you do, after a few months you will wonder, “Why did they stop writing about us even though we haven’t stopped sending news releases?” If no one is maintaining the relationships, keeping the stream of news and communications alive between your target media/analyst and your company, seeking out opportunities for coverage – you simply fall off the radar.

Sending news releases out on passive mode doesn’t work. To remain at the top of everyone’s radar, you must maintain some kind of constant visibility after the launch and continue your outreach programs, even at the most basic level.

What lessons have you learned from your own PR launches? Care to share some of those lessons with us?

Leave a comment below, or let us know on Twitter or Facebook.

“Cross Border Communications represents a new standard in professional service in connection with the implementation of a PR and marketing program.  Unmatched!  Cross Border implemented a startup full-feature marketing communication, trade show and identity presence in just a few weeks with great success!”

John Heibel, CEO, Glen Canyon Corporation

Liz Estrella-Basilio is PR professional and the managing partner of Elena Verlee at Cross Border Communications. Together with Elena, they work with start-up to multi-million dollar technology companies who want to get their story heard in traditional, digital and social media.

She recently revived her Twitter account and will be out on the prowl to find those who are truly #FollowFriday-worthy on Twitter. Follow her at @lizestrellab.

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Ever wonder what PR metrics really mean?

Gone are the days when the success of PR is measured only by outputs: number of articles published about our company; number of people who were reached by the publications, TV programs and radio shows we appeared in; etc. The problem with these metrics is, we’re never really sure exactly how many people we’ve reached and, more importantly, what effect such exposure has had on consumer behavior.

Even Advertising Value Equivalency or AVE (the cost of editorial coverage if you were to pay for it as advertising space) is far from an accurate measure of exactly what results our PR efforts bring. The only thing you find out with this metric is, you probably spent way less for that exposure through PR than if you had paid for it in advertising.

Pretty impressive, but the next question is, so what?

The integration of social media with traditional media in PR has made measurement much easier. We can now trace exactly how many people clicked on a particular link and, upon getting to our landing page, how many took the action we wanted — whether it’s signing up for an email list or placing an order.

Yet social media measurements aren’t perfect, either. We still can’t capture “more favorable attitudes” or “increased awareness” towards our product or service, for example. That’s because knowledge, awareness, and attitudes don’t always translate into behaviors we can observe and measure objectively.

Given that there is yet no perfect way to measure the impact and effectiveness of PR, we can’t lose sight of the fact that we can at least make PR measurement more meaningful.

That is, we can measure and track those metrics that help us get to know our prospects and customers better, determine what works and what doesn’t, and have a reliable basis to make future PR, marketing and business decisions.

Our Approach to Measuring PR

In my own experience with clients at Cross Border Communication, the key is first understanding the business outcomes you need to produce. Pick that outcome apart into its underlying components.

This exercise can turn something as intangible as “building awareness” into a concrete objective with observable benchmarks, such as increase in social discussions, improvement of search engine ranking, number of downloads of a white paper, proliferation in the use of our hash tag, etc.

Therefore, metrics are meaningful because they support our PR/marketing and business goals. It becomes clear why we’re measuring something, and what the metrics mean in relation to the results or outcomes (vs outputs) we want to accomplish.

Developing some discipline around measuring the metrics that describe our benchmarks and tracking the data over time can give us powerful insights and market intelligence we can use to improve future campaigns. Company executives can also better understand and appreciate the results PR has generated.

How Do You Measure PR?

What have you been doing to measure the effectiveness and success of you company’s PR? How do you feel about the metrics you currently track?

I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below. You can also send me a message via Twitter, or post a comment on our Facebook page.

photo credit: aussiegall

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When we first started working with Dongbu HiTek in 2001, it was a start-up semiconductor manufacturer based in Korea wanting to enter the North American market. Though its parent company was worth $11 billion, Dongbu was going to enter a competitive market mostly buying from strong competitors in Taiwan and China. It was virtually unknown in the semiconductor industry and had no relationships with key media and analyst influencers in the US.

In 10 years we have provided the gamut of technology PR and marketing communications services for Dongbu – writing, media relations, trade show and event management, marketing collateral development, and much more.  We have also done PR projects for them in Europe and Asia.
Although we now work with clients on online strategies, a decade ago there was no Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. No one was blogging, getting inbound links or using SEO to get found. We built relationships with Dongbu’s key influencers the old-fashioned way – one person at a time.

In an increasingly digital world, don’t underestimate the power of building long-term and personal relationships. The lessons below still apply today.

1. Send a regular stream of news.

One of the key things we do with clients is to develop a news release calendar identifying new products, customers, partnerships, milestones, events and anything that communicates the company is growing or executing on its vision. The news is then sent out on a regular basis to media, analysts and other influencers.

Reporters often won’t write about you the first time they hear about you. They want to know that you are creating something their readers want to know about, that your management is sound, that your company is well-funded enough to deliver your product or service. At least once a month, we reached out to inform reporters of what Dongbu was up to. Doing so kept the company top of mind with the reporter and reminded them why they should be covering Dongbu.

2. Be a source, not just a bullhorn.

It’s not always about your company. By looking out for the bigger picture and trying to help a reporter, you can position yourself as a true source and expert and have more PR opportunities come your way.

As a way of keeping in touch, we sometimes send competitive or industry news to a reporter with some comments, and in effect saying: “Did you see this?” It opens the lines of communication and sometimes if the reporter wants to write a follow up story, they may ask Dongbu’s spokesperson to comment. It’s not pitching our client directly, but having them comment on an overview or industry piece helps establish thought leadership for the company.

3. Make it personal.

From tweets to emails and phone calls, take it even further and meet your media, blogger or analyst in person. There is nothing like a face-to-face meeting to solidify a relationship – whether over a casual cup of coffee, a visit to your office (or theirs), a more formal dinner or even at a busy trade show booth.

In a niche industry, we chose to cultivate relationships with just a handful of people, some of whom have gone to visit Dongbu’s facilities all the way in Korea.

Ten years later, although many of our contacts have played musical chairs in different publications, they are still easily accessible and engage with us, and are willing to brainstorm with us possible ideas to write about Dongbu, even topics that Dongbu can contribute articles for. One of our key analysts has worked with Dongbu — free of charge — to help them host panel discussions. It’s a two-way and mutually beneficial relationship.

If you’re serious about being in business for the long-term, a little relationship building will go a long way. Just be consistent about it.

Thought leadership doesn’t happen overnight. Neither do relationships in business or with the media. Taking the time to sow good seeds, nurturing them carefully and with patience, will allow you to reap the return of a bountiful harvest — sometimes sooner, sometimes later.
Despite the adverse effects of the economy, Dongbu has continued to maintain its leadership and now holds the position as the sixth largest pure-play semiconductor foundry in the world.

“In the last 10 years, our partnership with Cross Border Communications has been extremely valuable to us. If you seek a PR agency that will be a significant key player in your company’s growth and marketing efforts, Cross Border is definitely the group to work with.”

Aabid Husain, VP Sales & Marketing, Dongbu HiTek

How are you currently building relationships with media or other opinion makers and influencers in your industry?

Share your insights in the comments below. Or send them to me through Twitter or Facebook.

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One of our newest clients, Rapid Electric Vehicles (REV) delivers completely electric fleet vehicles that serve as the first-ever mobile storage system for the electricity grid, in addition to powering on-site equipment for fleet crews.

They have a unique technology, blue-chip customers, a clearly articulated vision and an extremely quotable CEO. At first glance, it seems like they compete in a space that is crowded… until one digs deeper to find their truly compelling story.

The founder and CEO, Jay Giraud, travels and speaks extensively as a passionate advocate for clean technology in Canada and the US. In a single month, we have observed Jay:

• present at the Canadian Financing Forum, be named in Vancouver’s Clean Tech “Ready to Rocket” award list
• speak as a panelist at the California Vehicle to Grid Consortium
• present on “Smart Grids, Smarter Cars” at the Niagara Development Forum on Innovation & New Concepts in Ontario
• participate in a local tech industry reception, and
• most recently, attend a micro-grid military unveiling in Oahu.

So, how does one get media excited about a company, in order to maximize a busy CEO’s activities?

Here’s what we did:

1. Offer an exclusive if possible
In REV’s case, we persistently contacted local TV stations to let them know of REV’s “Ready to Rocket Companies” award nomination. We spoke to the first station – asking if they would like an exclusive to receive the list prior to the official release and obtain camera footage of the event. This creates a sense of urgency and also assures the station unique content, which they love.

2. Create and maximize a photo opportunity
The station agreed and sent the day crew to REV’s engineering lab in the morning and the night crew to capture the CEO’s evening ride with the Mayor of Vancouver in one of REV’s fully electric SUVs. The Mayor was a keynote speaker at the event and is a big advocate of clean tech. In addition to the photo opp at the event, Cross Border reached out to our other media contacts and began telling REV’s story. The photos of the event were then sent to relevant media who specialize in automotive and clean technology.

The night of the event, two different TV segments on REV aired.

Here’s one of them: REV on CTV

3. Reach out to bloggers too
While traditional media can carry a lot of weight, they are often short-staffed and have long lead times. However, don’t forget that traditional media often have an online presence and bloggers writing for their site. Recently, we secured the inclusion of REV in a Forbes blog, which states: “One solution to the electric vehicle adoption continuum comes from Canada’s Rapid Electric Vehicles. Just two years old, REV is focusing on the estimated 68 million gas-powered passenger fleet vehicles in North America.”

The Story Continues…

Most recently, REV was at the TARDEC micro-grid military unveiling in Oahu with Honeywell Aerospace. TARDEC is the Tank, Automotive, Research, Development and Engineering Center, the science division of the US military’s automotive technologies department. The event unveiled the world’s first V2G electric vehicle (REV) that was smart-charging a renewable energy micro-grid (Ft. Wheeler Army Post).

REV’s vision is that thousands of their vehicles will be assisting power grids everywhere by 2020. As we see them solve many pieces of the puzzle in electric vehicle adoption – using sophisticated and creative ways – we’re thrilled to be telling their story.

If you’re a media person or blogger wanting to know more about REV, contact us.

Having received many PR proposals in the past, none had nearly the depth of expertise that Cross Border presented. In just one month their approach and results have delivered on the comprehensive plan that they put forth. I highly recommend this team.

- Jay Giraud, CEO, Rapid Electric Vehicles

Jackie specializes in attracting investor interest to deserving but neglected companies.

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From time to time, we’ll be sharing with you some PR case studies. These case studies will help to identify the key elements to a successful PR campaign. Our hope is they will help you use PR to achieve your business goals. Today’s case study is from my Director of Client Services at Cross Border Communications, Jackie Peterson.

Since jumping into the PR game a few years ago, I have learned plenty about media and delivering messages effectively. I feel fortunate to have met people running businesses from all walks of life in many different realms.

The best part of PR is meeting the entrepreneurs. They are equal parts creative, passionate and life-loving, with a dash of wild and a pinch of crazy.

In other words, we get along swimmingly.

Helping them achieve their vision is most rewarding. Probably one of the most illustrative examples of the power of PR happened in 2010, when I worked with a company looking to raise money for a private fund.

Before PR

This company had an experienced team of engineers who planned to strategically invest the capital they raised, to earn returns on oil and gas drilling projects.

Their first two rounds of financing got them $6 and $8 million dollars, respectively. Not bad, but considering a single project can have a price tag of $5 million, the guys thought it best to ramp up their efforts.

After PR

After working with them to sing their story from the rooftops, they appeared in national press, on business TV and investment magazines. In the next two rounds of funds-raising, this company garnered $27 million and $25 million dollars.

Media coverage happened because their product was unique and their PR campaign targeted a very focused audience through careful research.

“Jackie, We at Cado Bancorp couldn’t be more pleased with all your efforts. You’ve really helped put us and our funds on the map as a solid place for investors to put their money. Our third WCSB fund raised almost four times more than the second, and in a tough summer market. The media attention helped enormously! Our other funds have also benefitted and we value your connections and ideas. We look forward to continuing working with you to build our business.”

- Shane Doyle, Managing Partner CADO Bancorp Ltd.

Your Take-Home Points

In many campaigns, measuring success is not so black and white. But at the end of the day if you want your phone to ring, to sell a product or attract investors, strategic media coverage can help you meet those goals.

If you are looking for the best possible results from media exposure, ask yourself these simple to ask, but sometimes hard to answer questions:

• How can you make your story unique?

• Who wants to hear it?

• Why should they care?

• What does your dream headline look like and where would it appear?

Your Thoughts

What can you change in the way you do PR so you can get a much bigger impact from your efforts? Or have you already experienced remarkable results with PR? Share your experiences, thoughts, and questions by posting a comment below.

Image from Crestock Creative Images

Jackie Peterson works with Elena Verlee as Director of Client Services at Cross Border Communications, a full-service PR agency for technology companies. Jackie specializes in attracting investor interest to deserving but neglected companies.

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I felt a little shock and a lot of awe when I received the news that PR in Your Pajamas was included in PR Web’s 25 Essential Public Relations Blogs You Should Be Reading.

Shock, because I’ve always considered this blog to be in the fledgling stage. I started it just over a year and a half ago and while I always strive to deliver quality information about PR and social media, I haven’t exactly been diligent about it. It was only in the last few months that I’ve been able to publish a new post at least every week.

I also felt awe, because the other bloggers on the list are PR and social media stars: Brian Solis, Peter Shankman of HARO, Danny Brown, and Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer, among others.

They’re certainly the thought leaders I’ve been looking up to.

Being at this stage of my “blogging” career, I wouldn’t have expected to be mentioned in the same article.

The irony is, I’ve been so busy empowering small business owners with practical and doable PR strategies, that I haven’t been consciously trying to get PR for myself or this blog.

For me, this unexpected exposure demonstrates the snowball effect of PR and social networking. Once you set things in motion, they take on a life of their own. You get promoted through word-of-mouth. Happy customers gush about you. Interviews you gave months ago get passed around, cited and quoted.

Before you know it, you get discovered by influence peddlers, your reputation gets established, and it’s easier than ever to get even more publicity.

The going may be slow at first, but once you gain momentum, it does get easier. However, this doesn’t mean you can rest on your laurels and slack off.

In fact, I feel more motivated than ever now to keep giving you, my reader, even better content on PR, online marketing and social media.

If you have any ideas for how I could possibly serve you better, please let me know. I’m all ears.

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The amazing thing with doing public relations is, you never know who’s out there listening, watching or reading about you.

This might be a scary thing, but most of the time, it’s a GOOD thing.

The more consistently you put yourself out there, the more unexpected praise, recognition and opportunities come your way.

The ripple effect of PR has only gotten more intense with social networking. Journalists as well as other content publishers and influence peddlers are online. They may be “on to you” without you being aware of it.

I experienced this myself recently when I was included in Forbes.com’s 20 Women for Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter.

I hadn’t been interacting with the writer on Twitter.

Who’s listening?

However, I have no doubts that my online presence–including this blog and my activities in Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn–helped Forbes writer Natalie Sisson to discover me. In fact, she sites PRinYourPajamas.com as a “great blog.”

Social networking has expanded the realm of PR from the traditional newspapers, magazines, radio and TV to blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media.

The Internet provides a vast opportunity for entrepreneurs to become, not only more visible, but also more “findable”.

If you’re reading this post,you’re probably already active in various social media. If so, it’s worthwhile for you to ask yourself the following questions:

• How am I using my social media involvement as part and parcel of my PR efforts?
• Do I consciously project a consistent brand, image and message across social networks?
• Which groups, lists, blogs, networks, forums and pages should I be active in to reach my audience and the people who are already reaching my audience?

If you consider social networking to be something distinct from PR then you could be leaving a lot of opportunities on the table. You could even hurt your overall PR efforts.

On the other hand, if you embrace social media as part of your PR strategy, then you will see bigger results with less than the usual effort.

And to make sure you don’t miss any exposure you’re getting, remember to set up a Google alert for your name, business name, and product name.
woman listening to music from Crestock Stock Photos

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I was recently contacted by Janet Esposito, author of the new book Getting Over Stage Fright who said:

“I wanted to share with you the great news of my first article for my book. It is a full page spread with a huge image of my book and my photo, along with a long text. It appeared in the feature section of the Litchfield County Times. Thanks so much Elena, for helping to inspire me to go after local media as a first step. I will continue to contact other newspapers and will look forward to more exposure!”

I loved the title of her book as it is what many business owners go through in their own PR efforts – Stage Fright!

We’re often afraid to get started in doing our own PR because of fear of rejection, overwhelm with how to start in the first place and general apprehension of doing something new.

In the meantime, we keep looking over at the competition who IS getting media coverage and wondering when it will be our turn to shine in the spotlight.

How did Janet do it?

“I didn’t even have to write a pitch letter for this one,” she says.  “My assistant had called for information on who to contact at this paper and the editor found out about my book from that call and was immediately interested and a reporter was sent out the following week.”

Could it really be that easy?

Yes, it can be.  Your local media’s mandate – newspaper, TV and radio stations – is to cover local businesses such as yours.  They are looking for you, they are looking for fresh ideas and new personalities and would prefer to cover YOUR business over one that is not in their geographic scope.  If you just look around you will find endless possibilities to get media coverage.

So, take a page from Janet’s story, and get over your stage fright.

If you’d like to see the great write up Janet got in her local paper, check it out here.

OCTOBER 2010 UPDATE:

I received a new email from Janet that said:

“I wanted to share some positive media attention I received for my Getting Over Stage Fright book this month. I got into a national magazine called Whole Living (formerly called Body + Soul). I have about a quarter page that references my book and describes some methods that can help with stage fright. ”

“Interestingly, it took about 5 times for me to get a reply to my inquiry from the editor. I was just about to call it quits on this effort and decided I would give it one last attempt. I received a reply within days and everything flowed nicely from there.”

Takeaway from Janet’s experience: Sometimes it happens immediately and sometimes you need to be a bit persistent and patient before you get some publicity! Do not give up!

As always, I look forward to your comments and your experiences – how have you worked with your local media to get publicity?

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