This was a talk that we were giving for the lovely folks at The Family in Berlin for a diverse tech audience. You'll find a ton of PR lessons for founders and small startups in there and at the end a list of books that I recommend to anyone who wants to improve their PR game.

1. „Help them to sell more.“
WHAT PR CAN DO FOR YOUR GROWTH

2. We create and execute successful campaigns
for high-growth tech companies.
3 OFFICES · 35 CONSULTANTS · 50 CLIENTS

3. @FelixMergemeier @rumberg
trivago, Box, Firefly, Twino,
FragRobin, Pyramid Analytics
Udacity, Stack Overflow, 6Wunderkinder,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Udacity

4. Anything is game.
ONE RULE TODAY

5. Here is what we’ll do
A quick look at the things we will get done today

6. 1. The Foundation
2. The Examples
3. Getting to Work
4. Resources
Taking a quick look at PR and what it can do for
your startup or initiative
We take a detailed look at different campaigns,
why they worked and how we did it.
This is the fun part. We develop story angles
and pitch ideas with you
We’ll provide you with tools, resources, contacts
and other useful things for your work

7. Our Approach today
3. Using the Lessons for your Growth
2. Important Lessons & Best Practices
1. PR in General✌

8. The Foundation
A quick look at the driving forces in public releations
and how the media works

9. PR IN GENERAL
There are two key benefits of PR for startups. Their importance
to your business depends on the maturity of your company.
Reputation AND Growth

10. PR IN GENERAL
PR Is a lot like dating
No matter if you want to get coverage, convince important
people, attract new customers: It’s all about a perfect date.

11. PR IN GENERAL
LONGTERM Commitment!
Even though everything is really fast-paced in the tech industry. PR and its relationships
should be treated as something lasting and valuable. You will benefit greatly in the long-run.

12. LESSONS & BEST PRACTICES
Here are a few things that you should know about the media,
their restrictions and what they are looking for
KNOW HOW THE MEDIA WORKS

13. t h e m e d i a y o u r s t a r t u p
The Media is Connected Globally
When we look on a global scale, there is a strong interconnection between
the tech and lifestyle press, dominated especially from the US.

14. what you HAVE TO tell what the journalist
thinks about
The Bigger Picture
Journalists constantly compare a single story with underlying movements in society.
This is one of the key differences to marketing and social media.

15. Click rates
There are two driving Forces for Online Journalism
Clickrates are the most important metric for online news and have a big impact on
how modern PR is shaped. You create your stories backwards.

16. Ego
There are two driving Forces for Online Journalism
There is a hidden reason why journalists pick certain topics. If the story is good,
it will help them to win against their competing colleagues and let’s them stand in the spotlight.

17. LESSONS & BEST PRACTICES
Here are a few tips and best practices to help you find the
right stories and get you the coverage that you want.
THESE TIPS WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER

18. Successful Stories
Successful stories online fall into one of the two ends on a simple scale.
Everything in between won’t succeed in the long run.
Extreme
You
Opposite

19. + =
Collaboration is Key
Especially in European journalism, journalists often look for more
than one protagonist in a story. You can use this to your advantage.

20. time
popularity
0 1 2 3 4
WITH A HIP TRIGGER (e.g. Producthunt)
the old-fashioned
MEDIA way
There are different Roads to Media Attention
Especially in Online PR and Marketing there are different ways of breaking through the first phase.
Let’s call them „hip triggers“. Successful apps get a strong push from users in the very beginning.

21. embarassingly simple
The Pitch should be as simple as possible
There is an ongoing discussion what a great pitch in PR should look like.
We think it’s fairly simple: Have a great story and write like a four-year-old.

22. WRITE FOR A FRIEND FIRST
Don’t change your language, just because you write.
People tend to write differently when they pitch. The best tactic to avoid
that: Write for a friend first and then change the tonality.

23. People, DATA, Product, Events, Emotions
1 2 43 5
There are Five Pillars for Good Stories
Every story that get’s attention can be attributed to one of five topics.

24. Steal Like an Artist
Successful stories online fall into one of the two ends on a simple scale.
Everything in between won’t succeed in the long run.

25. Even though most of you work in a fast-paced environment,
planning ahead is incredibly important.
Internal news
Public occasions
Creative stuff
Events that you
can attend or
speak at?
Plan for the Future

26. Let’s take a few minutes to get some fresh air. Ask us anything
Quick Break with Q&A

27. Getting to Work
It’s time for the fun part. Let’s get started with results for your companies

28. What are your business goals over the next 12 months and who are you selling to?
1. Business Goals & Audience
5 MINUTES

29. What are most interesting and surprising facts and story snippets
about you and your product?
II. Key Facts & Snippets
10 MINUTES

30. What are your next milestones and what events do you plan to attend?
III. Roadmap
10 MINUTES

31. Pick a medium that gets you attention from your key audience and write a short pitch
about you and your company for a journalist that covers your topic.
The Goal: They should either meet with you or write about you.
IV. short description
45 MINUTES

32. We get together in small groups and talk about the results.
Split-Review Session

33. Resources to get better PR results

34. Ryan Holiday
Trust Me, I’m Lying
Austin Kleon
Steal Like an Artist
Alain de Botton
The News
Susain Cain
Quiet
RECOMMENDED BOOKS

35. RECOMMENDED TOOLS
Ulysses III Blendle
@rumberg’s favorite writing app. It can
publish directly to wordpress and medium
and is a powerful Markdown editor
The service was originally created to read
print magazines online, but for PR it’s a
powerful research tool
Producthunt Nylas N1
The best community to find tools that make
your life a lot easier.
A very useful Email client that offers email
tracking, scheduled emails, Markdown
support, reminders and a ton of other stuff.

36. RECOMMENDED COMMUNITIES & BLOGS
tim.blog indiehackers.com
The blog from bestselling author
Timothy Ferriss
A collection of transparent growth stories
from SaaS startups
growthhackers.com digitaljournalism.rocks
A large and resourceful community of
growth hackers and marketing people
A Slack group full of journalists and people
who are interested in the development of
digital journalism

37. balloupr.com
@BallouPR_DE
Linienstrasse 42
10119 Berlin
yasmin@balloupr.com
sebastian@balloupr.com