In the process of setting up real meetings with your team, potential partners, investors, and suitors, simultaneously set up an imaginary play date with the media.

Imagine who you would want to get to know, engage and share your startup with.  Envision a prospective investor saying they read about you on a specific site that is best suited for the space you are pursuing or trying to invent. Photo me shot in Tel Aviv, a great place for grafitti.

You don’t need your Mom or Dad to set up a play date with the media; you just need some imagination.

• Make a wish list. 

• Start reading their content.

• Get to know them with their writing.

• See what interests them.

• Who they follow.

• What they write about.

• Who they report on.

• And why.

Sooner or later you’ll be ready for this. 

So as you’re going through your evolution and prior to coming out to share your story, put yourself in the mindset of coverage, and being prepared.

Imaginary play dates with the media will help you shape your story and be a better candidate for coverage and certainly, a better story teller.

 

I often see entrepreneuers take the positioning process as something very literal. 

Different realities through different minds.  Grafitti shot on the streets of Tel Aviv by me.

We own this space.  We are the world's leader in _____.  Our company is the best value _____.

I am of the belief that part of positioning has nothing to do with features, benefits, or the position your are trying to establish.

Much has to do with the reality you are trying to make - and create for you and your team.  

If you create a reality that is attractive to others, they'll join in.  

Gain them in mass, and your exit might come sooner than later, and at greater perceived value.

Beyond positioning, creating a new reality has value in its own right.

I'm holding a free seminar on communications strategies for startups at TechLoft in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, February 15th at 18:00.  TechLoft is located at 14 Nachmani St, just off Rothchild.

This is NOT a seminar on getting PR.  

The intent here is to help your startup think about messaging, your voice, content strategy, following and engaging with journalists, analysts and bloggers in advance of your even thinking of media relations.

If you would like to attend, please register here on Eventbrite, so you will be you are added to the list.

A special thanks to Gilad Tuffias, Founder and Managing Director at TechLoft for making this happen.

Part of building your startup's culture is having a tone that reflects your company's verbal persona.

Take a coding day off tomorrow and work on your narrative. 

Think of your story, the tone, the voice the words that best help shape the editorial fabric of your site.

There's more to the UI than sexy graphics and cool interfaces.  

Think of your narrative as part of the code you're writing.  

There's no new language to learn, other than the narrative you hope your customers-to-be will share with others who love your product, platform, app or approach to doing something really big.

Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.

Go here to have your voice heard.

We are now well into the month of January of our new year. 

Hopefully, you're rested, refreshed, and caught up on email backlog.

Being a new year and all, and in a time of starting anew, is it time to refresh and pivot your message?

Maybe what you did and how you said it has not just changed, but evolved.

Take some time and re-evaluate your message. 

An ever so slight tweak to your message, might be the best move you can make before the month is over.

Part of the user experience should also take into account the words and tone of voice you use.

Voice & Tone Matters.  Make sure you've captured what's best for your customers, partners and investors to be.  Photo of Blue Microphones shot at CES 2012 by me.

A site for engineers or developers will more than likely have a different voice and tone that one aimed for musicians or school teachers. 

Depending on how you've positioned your startup, you might be irreverant, fun, whimsical, or too cool for school.

Before writing the core text of your site, try this:  stand in front of a mirror and talk to your imaginary audience.

Imagine the world is listening and wants to engage.  

It's not only what you want to say to them, but the tone of voice that will resonate best.

WTF? 

Own PR?

We're just getting our company going.  

We just raised a bit of money.

We're scrambling to get code done.

There's four others kinda sorta doing what we are doing and we're in a race to get our platform out there.

Yes.  Someone should "own" PR. 

You don't have to do PR - the traditonal sense.  As a rule, I recommend against it. 

You should, however have one person in your startup owning the voice, the brand, the message, the image, the perception, the voice and vibe you want journalists, analysts, and bloggers to feel when you are discovered or found.

Go ahead.

Own it.  

Before others define who you are.  

When that happens, you then have a much larger problem, and bigger time suck on your hands.

Tomorrow morning, I am headed off to CES 2012 in Las Vegas.  I've been going to the show for many, many years, starting back with my very first job out of college in 1976 (yes, I know that was a really long time ago.)

Way back then, I worked for a company that was owned by Jack Tramiel, the founder of Commodore, who went on to buy the Atari brand name, and other related ventures.  Way back then, I had a really cool job as a copywriter, authoring mail order ads for products that were breaking new ground that the company I worked for sold.  

Contemporary Marketing is no longer in business, but was a mail order outfit owned by Tramiel that was used as an outlet to primarily sell Commodore branded calculators (remember this was 1976).

We were also working on the launch of the new Commodore Pet and other Commodore branded products. 

Fast forward to today (or tomorrow when I leave) I'll be doing two things:  I'm covering the G.hn standard for my other site, Everywire.com.  I am also looking for a broader trend that I am trying to get my hands around the very (but maybe not so obvious) notion of the consumerization of IT.

B.Y.O.D.?

B.Y.O.D. (Bring Your Own Device)  is not a new fangled term for drinking in a different form, or bringing your own alchohol to save money on drinks.  B.Y.O.D. is the term for Bring Your Own Device.  

Now, if you are running your own business, or a solo entrepreneur, this is no big deal.  But what happens when you work for a company, with an IT department, with equipment that is given to you, that has security policies in place and on and on.   You might be showing up to work with better, far more powerful,  and cooler toys that what have been budgeted to your department.  Or maybe you were given a corporate Blackberry, and you'd rather work with your iPhone, the iPad you got for Christmas, or your children's Mac that you bought them.

Showing Up To Work A Whole Lot Smarter

Gizmos, gadgets, computers, tablets and smart phones aside, the fact of the matter, is that we're all coming to work a whole lot smarter, and far more technologically savvy than we were even a few years ago.

 You might work for an awesome company, but also have a personal brand in your own right, or produce content, or  keep a blog about a hobby, a side business or a business you hope to build on your own and go independent.

I don't have an answer to this, and still trying to define what this means.  I do know that these powerful devices we are bringing into the workplace is impacting how, and the way we work.