One of the most effiicent ways to be discovered by media, analysts, and bloggers is to write interestesting, helpful, and compelling content on your startup's blog.

Old School Typewriter shot by me last year while traveling.

While this may seem to be overstating the obvious, I am amazed at how many startups I meet with and ask, "where the fuck is your blog?"

The general response is... and general answer back is...

1.  It takes too much time:

You don't have to post daily.  Write something once a week.

2.  We have nothing to say:

Oh yes you do.  

You're disrupting an industry, you've got your pulse on beta users, studying industry research, getting help from mentors, and much more.  

3.  We are not in sales mode.

Even better.  Your goal is not to sell anything.  Your goal should be to be helpful and a resource to the media on your particular market segment.  

4.  We're still in stealth.

Stay in stealth.  

Maybe you illustrate your humanity and share some of the struggles, the joy and the changes you are going through in bringing your startup to life.  

I'll help you figure it out.  Free.  No charge.  Let me show you how.

The first five startups that email me a link to their site, and pitch me on what your doing, and what makes you interesting, I'll give you 30 minutes to help you get going on your blogging / story telling initatives.  alan at weinkrantz dot com.

Two things here from David Blumberg, Blumberg Capital... watch, listen carefully and read below....

1.  Speed Pitch Opportunity at SXSW 2012

If you are coming to SXSW and looking to connect with VCs and CMOs, come to Blumberg Capital's event which you can register for here.

2.  Scale Quickly. Be Capital Effiicent

This is a simple and powerful message.  

Watch the video.   Repeat.

Listen and watch what David has to say about what he's looking for.  He now has Alon Lifshitz on the ground in Israel so you can connect with him there.

If your business model fits the parameters of what he and his team are looking for, then you increase your chances of getting on their radar.

Israel's accelerator ecosystem is continuing to expand with DreamIt Ventures' launch event at Afeka College tonight in Tel Aviv. Register here.

I had a chance to meet Managing Director, Kerry Rupp at the Landmark Ventures Dealmakers Conference where she shared her insights on the program, its expansion into Israel, and their partnership with Capital Factory in Austin to help entrepreneurs find co-founders at SXSW 2012.  Click here to learn more about the the entrepreneur speed-dating program during SXSW.

Mitchell Golner, Managing Partner with Dream It Ventures Israel will be running the program here in Tel Aviv.  Related coverage here on TechCrunch.

Today in Tel Aviv, I gave a presentation to a group of friends and associates of Jeff Pulver's startup ecosystem in Israel.

The premise of this presentation is NOT to do PR, but how to prepare your company for PR, how to be found by the media and how to make PR and strategic communications part of the R&D process.

Spend a few minutes of your day watching, listening and discovering some of Israel's best and brightest entreprenuers that are building scalable, global and distruptive web-based enterprises. When you attend a Jeff Pulver breakfast event in Israel you never know who you'll meet and connect with.

Spend a few minutes watching this video to learn about people who live in Israel, have moved to Israel or, like Jeff  and me, come back and forth to Israel to be inspired and connect with people that are disrupting every part of the traditional business ecosystem.

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.