• increase awareness
• strengthen consideration
• position against competitors
• build credibility through expert opinions and exposure to real-world customer experiences

However, running an effective PR program requires much preparation, research, perseverance and determination – much like running a marathon. Whether you are just crossing the initial starting line, or working to strengthen your existing PR program, here are the 5 key foundational steps that must be taken as part of successfully enduring the marathon of PR:

1. Define Goals and Objectives

What do you hope PR will do for you? By when? Are you trying to generate more awareness of your company over the coming 12 – 24 months? Is there a new product launching later this year? Are you trying to promote the expertise of your executive team over time? The intentions that you have for your PR program shape the goals you set, help you prioritize the program activities and enable you to evaluate the program’s success in the end. Once you have established your goals, you can define specific measurable objectives to achieve, such as:

• Securing a certain amount of feature articles about a new product
• Increasing the number of times your company is mentioned in the industry media per quarter
• Securing a specific number of interviews with your company’s executives and the media

A PR program typically has 3-5 goals, with related metrics, to be met over a specific period of time.

2. Identify the Target Audience

Once goals and objectives are established, it is equally important to identify the target audience for your PR efforts. To determine this, ask: who are your customers and prospects influenced by? For example, if you’re a B2B security software vendor, your customers might be the IT professionals of worldwide enterprises, and you’ll find that they are often influenced by bloggers and journalists that write for IT technology trade publications. If you are a service provider in the automotive R&D space, your target audience likely seeks out experts in automotive design and test outlets. To increase the likelihood that your PR efforts will reach the eyes and ears of your target customers, you must be sure that you know who they are and where they are reading information to guide their purchase decisions.

If you’re not sure, ask your customers. Also, look at where your competitors, partners and other companies in your space are advertising. Read up on magazines’ websites about their readership, topics they cover, and which reporters best match with your company’s expertise. Through this, you’ll be able to build your list of prospective media contacts to target.

3. Create Relevant Content and “Hooks”

Reporters are constantly looking for news and stories to fill their online and print space – product news; application examples; new ways of saving money, time, or improving quality and processes. As an expert in your field, you are in an ideal position to be a source of information for them. So before you contact your target media, create content that explains the essence of what you are trying to promote – whether that’s a product, technology, trend, application, or customer success. It is vital that you’re able to readily provide new and engaging content that helps to explain the value of what you are working to sell.  Content can come in many forms, but the types of content that are most helpful for reporters include:

• press releases
• customer case studies
• corporate blog posts
• FAQs
• company and product fact sheets
• white papers
• videos
• infographics

A key to success with PR is not just having the content, but presenting it in a way that piques the reporter’s interest. This is called the “hook” – you cast your line out (i.e., your content and idea) and hopefully the reporter bites and gets interested. The best way to come up with good hooks is to read what that reporter has done in the past. What do they seem to be interested in? What are their hooks that grab their reader in the first paragraph of their stories? By studying the hooks they use in their headlines and stories, you can start to hone in on an effective hook for your story, such as reducing costs; speeding time to market; reducing risk; etc.

The more you can turn your content and idea into a relevant, attention-grabbing hook that the reporter can easily turn into a story, the better chance you’ll have of ultimately catching that fish, e.g., media coverage.

4. Reach Out and Build Relationships with the Media

When you are ready to make contact with the media, craft an email “pitch” that will serve as the first correspondence where you introduce yourself and throw out your hook. Here are a few tips to help your pitch stand out:

• Read through the publication (online and/or in print) and customize your pitch to their style. Is their content focused on breaking news? A certain industry? New products? Case studies?
• Summarize your company “elevator pitch” into 1-2 succinct sentences, emphasizing what you do differently from competitors
• Present your hook and offer an opportunity to speak with an executive or representative of your company about it
• Provide updated contact information in case the media person wants to contact you ASAP

After you send your email, give the person at least 48 hours to respond before you send a follow up email.  It’s ok to follow up with a phone call after 48 hours as well, but proceed here with caution, as media contacts receive dozens of pitches every day and they don’t typically have time to answer or respond to phone calls from every company that is vying for their attention. Keep in mind that they certainly will respond to you if/when the story is right for them.  If they do not respond at first, try again with another pitch angle in a few weeks or months (depending on the timeliness of your hook).

5. Measure Results and Reassess Goals and Objectives

Take time to monitor your PR efforts, the amount of time spent on them, and the number of pieces of coverage or media interviews that you are able to secure in the end.  Often PR program measurements track company media coverage, competitors’ media coverage, as well as tracking the number of media interviews or engagements.  Here is a sample of how we track company vs. competitor coverage at TREW:

As your company focus shifts, you offer new products, or build deeper relationships with journalists, you’ll be able to set new goals for your PR program.

PR = Pacing Required

PR programs certainly require persistence, patience and time in order to generate frequent media coverage placements and strong media relationships. Be sure to pace yourself by setting realistic goals that can be increased to match your growing resources and capabilities over time. With the pacing and focus of a marathon runner combined with each of the strategic steps described above, you are ready to implement a successful PR program and secure media coverage to help your company and its products and services stand out, one mile-marker at a time!

Related blog posts:

How Strategic PR Efforts Boosted One IT Company’s Feature News Coverage by 125%

Blogging: How to Create Quality Content that Reaches Your Target Audience

2 Myths and 10 Tips for Effective PR

In Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, a 2011 documentary directed by Rodman Flender, O’Brien gives viewers an in-depth look into the months following his unceremonious departure from NBC’s The Tonight Show. After his last show on January 22, 2010, Conan found himself unemployed, sharing the same fate as 8.6% of Americans. The documentary is amusing and clever, for sure, but it is also a raw portrait of a man trying to find a new purpose after his greatest failure has been realized. Through the comedy shows and unscripted footage, the viewer sees a man’s journey to keep his career passion and craft alive, even after losing his job.

Although we are unable to host the video here, we can share with you a video of a commencement address Conan delivered last year that echoes many of the same lessons.  His audience may have been college students, but the wisdom Conan skillfully delivers is something we can all learn from whether we are twenty-somethings preparing to embark on what we believe to be a lifelong journey or businesspeople suddenly facing a daunting setback. He never once claims that it is easy to come back from a hard fall, but he is resolute in his belief that by nature, failing gives us a clean slate. And Conan’s advice for getting back in the game? “Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen.”

He’s a comedian, so of course there is a lot of banter in the beginning—skip here to get to the really good stuff.

]]> http://texasenetworks.com/2012/02/21/how-perceived-failure-can-be-a-blessing-in-disguise/feed/ 0 http://texasenetworks.com/2012/02/21/startup-softball/ http://texasenetworks.com/2012/02/21/startup-softball/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:58:40 +0000 Marc Nathan http://texasenetworks.com/?p=29464 Houston startup enthusiast, Jeff Reichman the founder of January Advisors has a great idea: Startup Softball.

Startup Softball

March 24, 2012 | Houston, Texas

Location TBD

Warmup & BBQ – 11:05 am Game Time – 1:05 pm

Add your advice to the discussion section!

Exploring new technologies, applications and ideas requires collaboration, partnership, risk taking and investment. Each day, the staff and partners of the Houston Technology Center work closely with entrepreneurs and start-up companies to provide them with in-depth strategic and tactical business guidance, fundraising advice and connections to opportunities, allies and capital. As a catalyst for change, economic growth and development, the focus of HTC is to assist in the acceleration and commercialization of emerging technology companies.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, HTC assists Houston-based entrepreneurs within several key sectors: energy, information technology, life sciences, nanotechnology, and NASA/aerospace.

Our Impact:

Total HTC Graduates (1999 – 2011): 70
Number of Companies Assisted (1999- 2011): 250
Capital Raised by HTC Clients and Graduates (1999 – 2010) $1 Billion
Revenue generated by HTC Clients and Graduates (2010): $145.8 Million
Jobs created by HTC Clients and Graduates (2010): 2,960

In 2011 over 230 Professional Advisors and Mentors provided thousands of volunteer hours to foster the growth of our clients. 

Collectively, the Houston Technology Center’s Clients and Graduates contributed $515.5 million to the Houston economy in 2010.

That was the motivational message given to NASCAR driver Kurt Busch by his team owner for Saturday Night’s Shootout at the Daytona International Speedway.  For those of you who are Formula 1 followers and have observed the highly complex and computerized detachable steering wheels in those machines, please understand that if you bring only the very traditional NASCAR version of that part back to the garage after a race, the rest of the car is scrap.

That was a not too subtle way of saying that the owner expected Busch to push himself and his car to the limits and take whatever risks necessary to earn the checkered flag.  (He didn’t, by the way.)  In this week leading up the to the annual Daytona 500, I thought a racing theme would be a good way to focus on motivational issues for your startup employees and even your cofounders.

Job one is to make sure the founding team is all on the same page with respect to enthusiasm and work ethic.  I’ve seen quite a bit of reshuffling even in the student teams in the 1 Semester Startup class at U Texas Austin as they have learned who can pull his or her weight and who can’t.  Almost inevitably over time as the business comes into being and starts pivoting, founders will rise or fall in importance as new skills are required and old ones wane.  Personalities that match the startup stage also may not translate well to the more structured growth stages that you expect to achieve.  And, if you have a founder who is accustomed to a more highly structured setting, chances are you’ve recruited that person about 10 hires too early.  

The founder group motivation is akin to the combat theory that soldiers under fire are really fighting to protect each other and their unit and not to let their buddies down.  They aren’t focused on God and Country when in the midst of a firefight.  If your team has that esprit de corps and shares a similar work ethic, you’re going to get the immediate jobs done.  You may reorganize later, but for now if functioning well together and taking care of each other fairly, that’s all you can ask.

As to your first round of hires beyond the founding group, the issues become a bit different.  There are libraries full of books on the general topic of motivating employees, so I’m going to confine my thoughts to the peculiarities of a tech startup. 

The hiring decision obviously sets the tone for what will follow.  As you begin adding to your tight-knit founding team, it’s probably best to have potential hires evaluated by the entire group and see what bonding occurs.  You’re not looking for a new friend to hang with, but you are looking for somewhat who “gets it” when you describe the company and the tasks at hand, and who on first meeting can demonstrate some positive insights.  That individual is more likely to be the self-starter you need at the early stage.

What about the money issue?  Good employees do like to get paid, and you’ve got to show the capacity to meet your payrolls.  The better ones look for market salaries and also for some equity participation in the form of stock grants or options.  It is an old saw that money is more of a de-motivator than a motivator.  An employee who feels appropriately compensated is going to be more productive than one who feels short changed.  Excess pay rarely translates into excess motivation.

Far more important than money as the company progresses through product development and launch is recognizing those who perform and making them part of a team victory as each milestone is met.  I’ve been through that cycle many times, and it’s a sweet feeling when, as I mentioned last week, a company transitions from start-up to an actual business and customers actually start using and paying for what you have wrought.  You’ll never see a winning NASCAR driver interviewed without hearing him thank all of his crew members, not to mention all the sponsors, and occasionally even Jesus.  

And, it goes without saying that you need to lead by example.  Far more important at the early stage is leadership, as opposed to management.  If you show that you are willing to give the company your utmost and literally drive the wheels off to beat the competition, your employees will follow you.  All those textbook methods of performance reviews, pay incentives, etc. will come in handy when you get to the 50^th or 100^th employee, but right now you’ve got to be the one out front – with inexhaustible energy, enthusiasm, creativity, and a clearly articulated vision.  That’s better than any 5-hour energy drink, or even the more “stick-like” headline of this post.

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There are several tools to help guide your time at SXSW, but I’ve found that Sched is the most intuitive and comprehensive. Here is my curated list of panels, parties and events that favors startups and Houston speakers: http://austin2012.sched.org/marc1919 please add your tips and ‘can’t miss’ events to the comments.

The article was focused on asking better questions for selecting venues or other vendors in the meetings industry, but her point is universal.  People often ask vague questions with the hope of specific answers.

On the flip side, those answering are just as guilty, as when we hear a question and do not seek clarification on the detailed needs of the person doing the asking, what use is our off-the-cuff response?.

Our society has become very superficial and there is always a rush to take action and make decisions (in what to ask, how to answer, forming opinions, etc….). Joan’s thoughts in this post are correct about the need for including specifics up front (at the initial question) or an answer without any meat will follow.

The Leap of Reason board package will include a copy of the book for each board member and other supplemental materials to get the board discussing how to manage toward outcomes. If you would like to be entered into the contest, simply respond in the comments with a brief (1-3 sentence) description of why you think your nonprofit is ready to start managing toward outcomes.

In Leap of Reason, Morino, co-founder of Venture Philanthropy Partners, argues that every nonprofit MUST, if it wants to survive in this new environment of “brutal austerity,” create a culture of performance. Many nonprofit organizations simply exist to “do good work.” But that is just not enough anymore. It’s not enough for those that fund the work, and it’s not enough for those who receive the services. Nonprofits must determine what they exist to change and whether they are actually creating those changes. Mario is ever-mindful, however, that large scale evaluation projects are simply unrealistic for the vast majority of nonprofits. They don’t have the money or time to devote to such projects. He and other experts in the book provide key initial steps and case studies to encourage nonprofits to develop their own ways to manage to outcomes.

So, if you think your nonprofit is ready to start managing to outcomes, and you’d like the Leap of Reason board package to help you along, respond in the comments with a short (1-3 sentence) explanation of why you think your nonprofit is ready.

I will then pick three winners. Each nonprofit winner will receive:

• A Leap of Reason book for each board member
• A Leap of Reason User Guide for each board member
• A Leap of Reason Supplemental Reading Packet for each board member
• A Leap of Reason Board Package Overview (a how-to guide for the executive director or board chair leading this process)

Good luck!

About the Author: Nell Edgington is President of Social Velocity (www.socialvelocity.net), a management consulting firm leading nonprofits to greater social impact and financial sustainability. Social Velocity helps nonprofits grow their programs, bring more money in the door, and use resources more effectively. For more information, check out Social Velocity consulting services and clients.

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Related posts:

1. Sparking a Movement Toward Outcomes: An Interview with Mario Morino
2. A Call to Arms for the Nonprofit Sector
3. Changing the Nonprofit Sector

]]> http://texasenetworks.com/2012/02/21/a-contest-to-help-your-nonprofit-manage-to-outcomes/feed/ 0 http://texasenetworks.com/2012/02/19/would-mlk-disagree-with-mlk-day/ http://texasenetworks.com/2012/02/19/would-mlk-disagree-with-mlk-day/#comments Sun, 19 Feb 2012 12:40:17 +0000 Cole Harmonson http://texasenetworks.com/?p=29429 Today we commemorate the birth of one of America’s greatest heroes—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  It took 15 years to establish the federal holiday, with the charge to pass the holiday bill being led by Rep. John Conyers Jr.  Opposition to the holiday bill cited Dr. King was not important enough to have his own holiday, albeit his extensive leadership in the civil rights’ movement. Today, we might think these critics were crazy, but after reading the last sermon he ever delivered, titled “Drum Major Instinct,” I am convinced his grace and humility would have compelled him to disagree with the celebration of his birth date (January 15) as a national holiday, too.

The premise of his sermon is we all have a tendency to seek praise, recognition, and distinction. But Dr. King preaches a different definition of greatness, unlike the kind many of us are used to:

“If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

Sadly, no discussion about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is ever complete without recalling the way his life was tragically cut short on April 4, 1968. And in this particular sermon, he speaks prophetically of his death that would come exactly two months later.

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school…

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that’s all I want to say.

If I can help somebody as I pass along,

If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,

If I can show somebody he’s traveling wrong,

Then my living will not be in vain.

In his life, he showed us how to courageously pursue a more just world, regardless of personal sacrifice or consequence. Although Dr. King was part of a greater civil rights movement, his leadership and personality was vital to the movement’s success, and he is a large part of the reason why we now celebrate the gift of diversity in our beautiful country with an African-American president, three female Supreme Court justices, and a Muslim U.S. Representative. And in his death, Dr. King reminds us of that we should not lament the evanescence of life, but instead, let that drive us to lead a life overflowing with compassion, generosity, and love.