Photo by me shot on the streets of Tel Aviv where the grafitti is grand

I always ask journalists, bloggers, writers, anlaysts which is the best way to reach you.

Asking shows you care.

Asking means that you are not expecting them to check email, Facebook, Twitter, DMs on Twitter anticipating a response.

Me?  

I prefer your emailing me:  alan at weinkrantz dot com.

 Yes, it's old school, but that's how I like to be reached.  It's my filter and best responder.  It works for me.  It may work different for someone else.

The lesson here is it's best to ask before you pitch.

Application stories are a powerful medium to tell your story.  It’s one thing to tout your product, platform, technology, solution, and it’s a whole other when your customers or partners can share its real world applications and benefits.

Photo shot somewhere in Iceland by me (c) 2007

 It’s Not About You 

Make your customer / partner the hero of your story, not you.  There’s tons and tons of great and way cool technology out in the world.  In fact, there’s way too much of it.  The way to best approach an application story strategy is to focus on how the customer applied and benefited from the application.   

Find Your Internal Champion

This is generally your direct customer - the person who is in charge of a team who is deploying your technology.  Best way to start is to ask.  Explain that you are trying to share their story in hopes that others can benefit from your solution as they have.  

Some customers won’t want to do this, as they may see your technology as a competitive weapon or having a leg up on their competition.  If this is the case, find a champion customer who this won’t be an issue with.

Get Permission

Getting your champion to approve this initiative is gets you half the way there.  

Publicly traded or heavily regulated companies will more than likely require approval from a legal department.  Some companies require a media relations person involved.  

In other cases, such as education, your mileage may vary depending on a school’s policy.  Security application stories can get sticky, since it involves, well - security.  You may have the best to way to keep the bad guys out of your network, but it may turn out to be an uphill battle to get your candidate story teller to share their story about how they used, and applied your solution.

Explain Your Intent

There are many applications for application stories.  These could be profiles of your customers on your site, for use in the reseller channel, and of course, for possible media coverage.

Particularly when it’s for potential media coverage, get the customer involved.  “We think your story belongs in ________, how about you?”  Even if you think you know where they story would be a great fit, ask your customer what they read, and in ranking order, where they think the story would be a great fit.  I am always amazed to see how insightful the end user’s point of view is vs. the mindset of a PR person like me. 

Empower Your Customer in the Process

When you approach your customer about doing an application story, explain to them that nothing goes live, nothing gets pitched, nothing sees the day of light, unless they approve it.  And even if you go through the entire process and there is a change of heart, assure them that they have a way out, and that the story simply goes away and never happened.

Shaping Your Story

Start off with the basics.... who are you, what do you do, what does your company do, what markets do you serve, where are you located, etc.  Then, get into the story.  What were you doing before, how did you pilot the program, who was involved, how long did the process take, what have your learned in the process, what’s made you more productive, more profitable?  

Beyond the Printed Word

Grab some video.  Take some photos.  Think like a Life Magazine or National Geographic story teller.  While your focus is on written content, support it with other media.  You don’t need a videographer or professional photographer to do this.  Hone in on your skills, or find someone inside the company who can help you produce the media.  Even if you don’t use the content today, you might find it useful for a user conference, investor pitch, or for great feedback to your R&D team.

Disruptive Is Good

In some cases, your offering may be a positive disruptor.  Maybe it helps companies transition from one way of thinking to another.  Perhaps you’ve helped disrupt, reinvent and even discover new ways to do things.   

Above and beyond any type of ROI or cost savings, maybe what you have to offer has helped a company enter new markets, kill off  a dying market space and reinvent it as something new.

Application stories keep you honest and on track to help you tell your story from the mind’s eye of others.

I am getting an increasing number of calls and emails from entrepreneurs in the San Antonio, Austin, and South Texas area about new technology startups needing PR (and some elements of social media) services.

Here's a few tips about how to approach me and here's how work with startups and what I look for...

1.  NDA - Non-Disclosure Agreement First

Today, I received a call from what I am sure was a well-intentioned entrepreneur who said he did not have an NDA and asked me if I had one I could send him.

You don't need a lawyer to get one.  You can download a free one here.

Bad sign.

If you take your startup seriously, and even if you don't really have anything proprietary, it shows prospective investors, partners, and service providers like me that you have something to protect and that you consider what you are doing to be very serious.

In this case, I really did not care if he had a NDA or not.  

Actually, it was a leading question.  I wanted to see how he would respond and how seriously he took what he was doing.  

I told him that my lawyer does not allow me to meet with startups without an NDA.

I see way too many things, way early and even if we don't do business, I make it a rule of thumb that we have an NDA in place.  

When he asked to send him an NDA, he was putting the burden me.  

Not good.  

I passed and wished him luck.

2.  Management Team

You can be 18, 22, or 90.  With tons of experience or none at all.

You can have another day job.

Or you could be doing this solo.  

I don't care. 

I just want to see who is involved, what their backgrounds are, and some sense of history.  If you have no history, it's really OK.  I just want to know.

3.  IP - Intellectual Property

If you have IP that is yours - be it patented or patents in the works, that's important as well.  It means you have some defensible strategy.  

No patents?  

That's ok too..... just bring it up in the context of your pitch, so I don't have to ask you.

4.  Funding

How are you funded?

Self funded.  Angel money.  Seed.  VC.

It's all good.  Tell me what you are doing for money and how you plan to get to next level to secure funding.

5.  Who Should Cover You?

You're reaching out to me for PR.

So, in a perfect world, who should cover your story?  Why?  What media / what mediums.

Think like a PR person and do some homework first.

6.  Make Your Pitch Realistic

"Our technology will revolutionize X...."

Uh... pardon me, but before you make a some outlandish statements like these, make sure you know what you are talking about.

Hint:  humility is a virtue.

7.  Yes, we have Beta's 

In an perfect world (there isn't one) it's nice to have Beta customers who we can talk to in order to get a realistic view of their world and how and why they like your technology offering.  

Do you have Beta customers?  

Big help in that department.

8.  What Happens When I Google You?

Are you on LinkedIn?  Facebook? Twitter? G+?

What will I find?  What will I learn about you - or rather what will I perceive about you?

Make sure that your social presence is up to date, accurate and reflects what you are doing.

9.  Sell Me On Why I Should Represent You.

You have every right to interview me.  

But don't forget, I am going to interview you as well.

I probably turn down most of the startups that come my way - not out of arrogance, or lack of budget, but because either I don't think you have a good enough story (yet) or you won't make a great, kick-ass client.

I want kick-ass clients who will listent to me, follow my advise, let me fuck up every now and then, and sustain a program so we can both be successful.

I don't work for you.  I work for the media, the industry analyst, the blogger and the thought leader who I think should know about you.  

If I bring a great story to someone of influence, my job is to help them be in the know and discover what is awesome about your technology, your company and the team behind the vision.

10.  OK.  Let's meet

If I don't know you, and you want to meet, I charge a basic consultation fee of $500 to meet or have a conference call.  

This generally lasts about 1.5 hours and even if we don't do business, you'll get my take on what you are doing, some good advise on PR, and a week or two later, you'll probably get another call from me, because now that you've made me aware of what you are doing, something will more than likely come to mind where the consult will be of further benefit.

Money aside, it also means you are serious about you're heading in a new direction where you might want to engage with a PR advisor such as myself.

I like to get the money thing on the table in advance.  I am happy to have a short phone call at no charge and see what's up.  

I don't prescribe until I diagnose. 

After that, my time, like yours, has value.

Best way to reach me is here. 

I get lots of pitches for story ideas for this blog, Everywire.com and 3Screens.net.

Most of the time, they are indeed timely, relevant and on-target.  I may not use them all or embrace your pitch, but I do welcome them.

Here's an example of how not to pitch.  This is from Barbara Teszler with Levine Communications in LA.  While I am sure it was well intentioned, the problem is that I have nothing to do with my desire to change jobs.  Having been self-employed for 25 years, I am not looking for greener pastures or seek greater happinness in the workplace.  I am actually pretty happy and very blessed in my life, thank you very much.

Before you pitch - do your homework.

And don't randomly spam people like me.  It gives our practice a bad reputation a bad name and hardly serves your client, Shawn Achor.

Bad Pitch Gone Bad -

We're all busy with client work, family things to do, and managing our lives on and off-line.

I'm using Wunderlist as a to-do list.  I use this as a primary way to organize tasks for clients that are tactical in nature.  

I've tried many of these types of platforms and even rely on a Moleskine journals to keep track of things, take notes the old fashion way.  

Yes, they are over priced and expensive when an ordinary tablet you can buy at OfficeMax will do, but when I am using Moleskines, I tend to take the note taking as an art, rather than a task oriented process.  I buy mine here on Amazon.

But Wait - My To-Do LIst Overwhelming Me.

Even with the elegance and simplicity of Wunderlist, I just started to try GoalStacker.  

Amidst a massive to do list, GoalStacker makes me focus on what has to get done today.

Not tomorrow.  

Not pending.  

Not in the future.  

As in today.  

Oh - And Place A Place For Notes... 

My favorite App for notekeeping - not note taking - is Evernote.  To me the tasks and processes are very different. When I am taking notes, these are just reminders of what I hear.  And when I really want to capture what I hear and possibly transcribe later, I use the 

How 'bout you?  How do you keep track of things to do?  How do you get things done?

Chime in.....

I spend quite a bit of time on outreach to media, bloggers and analysts pitching story ideas and angles on behalf of clients I represent.

Journalists, Bloggers and Industry Analysts are always on the lookout for interesting and innovation products and services.  Create the right content and you'll be found.  Photo shot by me on the streets of Tel Aviv - June 2011.

Even when I get a positive response, it does not always wind up as a story.  

Sometimes, journalists & bloggers are jammed up and busy.  And while you may have a great story to sell, the timing or the interest of the receiver's end may not be there.

Oulets like Mashable, CNET and TechCrunch get 200 - 300 pitches a day.   You may have a 1 in 10 chances of coverage, even when you have a great story.  

At the other end of the spectrum, you may have a journalist / blogger doing a trends story on the space you're in and will search for companies like yours in the category.  

That's when it's important to be found.

And even for those of us with direct relationships with the editorial staffs, I have to respect the process and some times accept the fact that even if I know someone and they pass on my story idea, tomorrow will be another day. Clients don't get it, but that's the way it is.

Re-Thinking Your Start-Up As Media Company.

1.  The best way to be found is to re-think your company as a media company.  Not a software company.  Not an infrastructure play.  Not XYZ as a service.  

2.  Create content.  Produce your own videos.  Post screen shots on Flickr.  Get your product demos and presentations on SlideShare.  Blog.  Blog. And Blog.  

3.  With the help of an SEO Consultant, write, write and write (daily) and keep feeding the spiders.  

4.  Make sure you have an up-to-date press room and be sure to have a contact / phone number so when the opportunity hits, you can respond to the journalists' request.

Because of the volume of startups, you're faced with increasing competition for coverage.  Journalists and bloggers are hounded and pitched to death in a sea of what has become a market where the cost of entry is nearly zero.  

Outsmart your competition by staying the course in content creation and great story telling. 

Be found, and you'll get the coverage.  

While (part of) my role is to get clients media coverage, I'm also dedicating parts of my day to listening to, instead of just pitching journalists.

Photo by me.  Shot on location at Sun Studio, Memphis, TN

I'm circling more and more journalists on Google+, which I wrote about here, with the intent of being more effective at pitching - and when appropriate, making a great (and hopefullly useful) pitches that will indeed get clients I represent coverage.

Why It's OK If They Don't Circle Me Back.

While there is no way to know if someone has circled you back on Google+, in this case, I don't really care if any journalists to do so.

That's not the point of this process.

I'm using Google+ as a listening station - a stethoscope if you will, so I can better understand what's on their minds, what they are writing about, and how they express their content on this emerging platform.

Oh, if you are a journalist, covering some elements of technology and disruption and wanna connect, circle me here.  

But you don't have to.  

I'm searching and listening to you in hopes I'll find you -  and help you discover, and possibly cover a compelling story that I bring your way.

The Business Development team at a technology company helps develop new business, forge partnerships and create channels - often in industries or market spaces that don't exist, or are evolving.

A the end of the day, the idea is to monetize Biz Dev and to help bring in new sources of revenue, raise money, and hopefully be part of an exit strategy.  What if you categorized PR as a Business Development initiative and stopped looking at it as "just media coverage?"

PR - The Currency of Validation, Thought Leadership, And Yes - Sales

I see myself as a business development person for my clients.  Here's what I do and the mindset I try to bring to the table:

1.  Tie business objectives to communications strategy.

I once had a client that was winning some very large OEM contracts.  The problem was not winning the business- the problem was getting their supply chain in Asia to take this emerging company serious enough to help them scale what was anticipated demand.   Another needed credibility when going in to sell a very unique security platform that needed validation from industry analysts.  In this case, our focus was on the Gartner's, IDC's, Forresters, and a few, select consultant who covered my client's space.  

Two different clients, with two very different needs and strategies.

2.  Engage the  Business Development Team in the PR process

The Biz Dev folks are on the street selling and doing, well, business development.  Get them engaged in PR.

A.   Have them come up with story ideas you can pitch.

B.   When they sign up a key customer, ask them to engage early on in the relationship and ask them to work with the PR team to get you application stories.

3.   Pimp up your business partners.  

Sign a deal with a new reseller or channel partner?  Promote them.  If it merits a press release consider this, but there's more you can without going through the time and expense of doing this.  Interview them on Cinch-Cast.  Feature them on your blog.  Start following them on Twitter.  Fan their Facebook page.  Shout out to them on LinkedIn.  

4.  Got coverage?  Have your Business Development team repurpose your content.

Hold the presses... before you do anything, thank the journalist / blogger who covered you.

Send links of the story to current and prospective customers, partners, investors Gain coverage in mediums your Business Development.

These are just a few simple tips.  What about you?

Do you have a Business Development team involved in your PR activities?

Photo of man in a Guyabera, shot in San Antonio where lots of men wear these, by Alan Weinkrantz (c) 2011

On Sunday, I'll be speaking to 300 technical writers and marketing communications executives at the MEGAComm Conference, that represent Israel's technology economy.   Please share and comment.