This document provides guidance on media relations strategies for startups. It discusses the media landscape, how news is produced, and types of media interactions. The key points are: 1) Understanding how media works is important for startups seeking publicity. News is a product that media sells and they prioritize stories their readers want. 2) Building relationships with journalists, opinion leaders, and influencers who cover your industry is important. Attend events, write comments online, and develop your brand as an expert in your field. 3) Have a clear media pitch highlighting how your startup benefits readers. Create a media kit and pitch your story to relevant publications and journalists. Media relations takes sustained effort but can help start

2. Media For Start-Ups:
Understanding Media
Relations
N Bringi Dev
June 01, 2013

3. Session Objectives
 To introduce you to
 The media relations milieu
 How the news reporting process works
 Types of media interactions
 Frugal media relations strategies

4. What is Public Relations?
Public relations
vs. media relations
How is it different
from Advertising?
Advertorial vs. Editorial

5. Types of Public Relations
 Offline
 Online
 Social
Source: Alok Kejriwal

6. Does Offline PR Still Matter?
 There is a market of decision makers (CEOs of
Companies, Heads of Departments, Senior
Govt. Officials, etc) who only read print.
 The online websites of large publications have
large audiences and once you are written up in
print, you automatically get featured online too.
 Think of it as ‘proof of concept’ test. The day you
can make it in the Fortune or Time or The
Economist, you have done something
worthwhile.
Source: Alok Kejriwal

7. What can Media Publicity Do
for You?
 Build awareness
 Potential Employees
 Investors and Banks
 Possible Partners
 The public at large
 Build Brand and Value
 Generate Business?

8. Caveat:
There are No Free Lunches!
 While media relations appears to be ‘free’,
there are costs involved:
 Financial costs
 Media Kits, travel, etc.
 Outside resources..
 Non-financial
 Time!
 Work!
 Consistent Focus!

9. THE MEDIA MILIEU

10. The Media Milieu
• Time is always short
• Media channels compete
• E-relationships
• Low attention span
• Technology massively
propagates pictures,
videos and ephemera

11. The News is a Product
• The news is a product which media
companies sell, and people have attached a
value to it with paid subscriptions a tangible
measure.

12. What media wants
Conflict of Interest?
What ‘sources’ want

13. The Bottom Line
 The relationship between source and media
is symbiotic
 There are skews
 Publications decide what their readers
want/get
 Online media is only slightly better
 Sources need to understand this relationship
and how to leverage it

14. Messaging Model - Old
Messages
Target
Audience

15. Messaging Model - Now
Messages
Influencer/
Opinion
Leader
Target
Audience

16. Opinion Leaders
 Opinion leaders serve as a powerful conduit in the flow of
information
 Opinion leaders may have more direct access to the media
and/or a better media literacy than the masses
 They have credibility with individuals that the mass media may
lack
 Political figures
 Celebrities
 Community or religious leaders
 Teachers
 Media analysts
 Industrialists/Investors
 Journalists

17. BEHIND THE NEWS

18. Behind the Scenes

19. Who Decides?
 Editors commission stories/columns
 Journalists/writers file
 The Editors decide
 Sub-Editors hack the story
 Priorities change all the time

20. Journalist Roles
20
journalist has a personal
role
personal approach is allowed for
the journalist
journalist must be
objective
newsroom
work only
commentary, note,
columns, opinion
news, news feature
story
reporting
interview

21. Channels and challenges
Print daily Internet Mobile TV
Update
Keep your news
always up-to-date
Write your story for
next morning
Be faster than your competitors
Time
Mind the deadline
to deliver the daily
by breakfast
reading
15 min /
newspaper
1-2 hours/day
Inconvenient:
estimated 3 min
per session
6 sec/shot,
30 sec / news
Space
Text and visuals
must fit the page
Page size, layout Scrolling
Bandwith,
resolution
scrolling
schedule
Competition
The next issue
must also be sold
Maintain readers’
loyalty
aggregators, news
stolen
Content services of
mobile operators
Channel surfing
21

22. Types of media interactions
 Press or media releases
 Media conferences
 Media briefings/Junkets
 One-on-one meetings
 F2F
 Telephonic or video
 Questionnaire-based: written or e-mail
 Television interviews
 Round tables, debates & conferences

23. Interaction Model
Spokesperson
PR
Agency
Readers
Wire/News
Services
Spokesperson
Spokesperson
In-house
MarComm
Journalists
Editors
Analysts
Web Sites
Other
Stakeholders
Editors
Investors
Readers

24. MEDIA RELATIONS FOR
START-UPS

25. Fundamentals
 Know thy TA!
 Whom are you talking to?
 How do I reach them?
 What do they read?
 Know thy messages!!
 Find the right publications that can help you
reach your TAs

26. Getting Past the Gatekeeper
 What will excite the media?
 Read all the papers, magazines and web
sites you would like to be covered in
 Read the way people are quoted in your
industry – what do they say, how do they
contribute to stories, what do they stand for?
 Develop your pitch
 Prepare multiple versions for different TAs
 Spell out the benefits/implications to readers

27. Connecting
 Who are the journalists that write in your
area?
 What kind of stories do they write?
 Comment on their stories online –
responsibly yet provocatively
 Get their email addresses:
 Write to them, but do not spam them
 Find out who their commissioning
manager/editor is
 Give them reasons to want to know you

28. Connecting -2
 Network, network, network: haunt the places
journalists will see you
 Attend conferences and seminars
 Become a speaker or panelist as often as you can
 Attend entrepreneurship group meetings
 Participate in incubator activities
 Register with and participate in the ecosystem
players
 Microsoft, Intel, NSRCEL, whoever…

29. Connecting Online
 Develop serious blogs
 Have a trenchant point of view
 Comment on relevant issues
 Develop a Personality

30. Be Prepared
 Develop a pitch for the media
 Focus on highlighting the aspects of your offering
that they think will be useful to their readers
 Have a media page on your site
 Your pitch is a ‘living document’
 Develop a media kit: online + offline

31. Some Bright (?) Ideas
 Is there a media-savvy person in your
founding team? Why Not?
 No Idea? Get Idea
 Can you find a media relations person
cheap?
 One-person outfits exist - call themselves
consultants – select one who comes
recommended by someone you trust
 The Moonlighter Option

32. More Bright Ideas
 MR Now – Pay Later
 Find a PR agency that will provide consulting now
for a slice of the business or later
 Work on a pay for results basis
 Fledging agencies may be willing to work for
costs
 Get your investors to help you connect
 They have a vested interest
 Most times we do not ask them..

33. Stay the Course
 Like all relationships, building media relations
takes time
 Be prepared for the long haul –it is worth it!
 Most importantly – the leadership team needs
to invest time and effort to make it work.

34. Discussion