Mary Keating and Monta Johnson of Hill+Knowlton Strategies highlight the fundamentals of public relations (PR) for startups. They discuss how to know if you're ready for PR and provide tips for working with and being interviewed by the media.

2. PR Fundamentals for Startups
November 15, 2012
Presented by Hill+Knowlton:
Mary Keating, Senior Vice President
Monta Johnson, Vice President

3. Today’s Agenda
• What
is
PR?
• Are
You
Ready?
• PR
Toolkit
• Telling
Your
Story
• Case
Study
• Q&A
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4. What is PR?
4

5. “ ”
If advertising is
what you say about yourself,
public relations is
what others say about you.
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6. Defining Public Relations
What it is:
● Management of relationships between your company and various
publics:
● Media
● Government
● Customers
● Employees
● Partners
● Analysts
● Our Focus: MEDIA
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7. Defining Media Relations
What it can do:
● Enhance understanding
● Build reputation, credibility
● Create interest, demand
What it is not:
● NOT advertising
● NOT free publicity
● NOT a science
● NOT just a press release
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8. Are you ready for PR?
You Should:
1. Be ready to put a stake in the ground
2. Have the right materials
3. Know what you want to convey
4. Have something to interest media
5. Have others who can endorse you
6. Know what to expect
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9.
Telling Your
Story
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10. Media Relations: The Steps
Research & Build &
Target Continue
1 2 3 4
Define Your Contact & Follow-
Story up
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11. Case Study: Launching “EatRight”
● Device for measuring and tracking nutrition levels
● “Under the radar”
● Launching in six weeks
● Why?
● Attract staff
● Funding
● Start generating revenue
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12. Launching EatRight: Step One
Define The Story
● Ask yourself:
● Problem being solved?
● Differences from competition?
● Who will buy it?
● Why will they buy it?
● How did you get here?
● Back it up with proof
● Write it down
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13. Launching EatRight: Step Two
Research & Target
● Know the media
● Build a list of targets
● Journalists
● Bloggers
● Industry Analysts
● Evangelists
● Decide on a hook for the launch
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14. Launching EatRight: Step Three
Contact & Follow-up
● Brief industry analysts early
● Launch day: contact media and
bloggers with your news
● Share the news with your partners,
customers, investors and other
stakeholders, too
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15. Launching EatRight: Step Four
Build & Continue
● Don’t stop there!
● Social media
● Blog
● Tradeshows and conferences
● Write articles
● Consider PR opportunities with partners
● Maintain relationships with the media
● Keep thinking about what makes news
● New customer wins
● Great hires
● Financing
● Awards
● Surveys and data
● Trends
● Controversy
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16. Media Relations Tips
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17. Questions?
Mary Keating
416.413.4638
mary.keating@hkstrategies.ca
Monta Johnson
416.413.4564
monta.johnson@hkstrategies.ca
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