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Effective PR Strategies for Startups: Navigating the Evolving Media Landscape

SixEastern’s Emilie Gerber shares insights for early-stage startups seeking impactful media coverage and brand recognition.

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Emilie Gerber is the founder and principal of SixEastern, a PR firm specializing in startups and tech companies. With a background in corporate communications at Uber and product communications at Box, Emilie offers invaluable guidance on leveraging PR for early-stage startups, navigating the changing media landscape, and securing impactful coverage. Learn how startups can effectively utilize PR to build credibility and gain recognition.

What you’ll learn

  • Understand the key differences between PR and marketing, focusing on earned media and its unique value for startups aiming to build credibility without paid advertising.

  • Determine the ideal stage for a startup to engage in PR activities, weighing the pros and cons of hiring an agency versus leveraging consultants at different funding stages.

  • Learn how to set realistic expectations with startups regarding media coverage, focusing on the importance of understanding reporter bandwidth and the nuances of storytelling.

  • Discover effective strategies for pitching podcasts, emphasizing the need for direct, conversational approaches tailored to specific hosts and their audience preferences.

  • Recognize the value of traditional media for startups, highlighting the trust and brand cachet associated with coverage in established publications like *TechCrunch* and *The Wall Street Journal*.

  • Explore how to leverage new media platforms and adapt pitching strategies to suit the evolving landscape, including personalized outreach on platforms like X and LinkedIn.

Takeaways

  • Seed-stage companies usually don't need a PR agency on retainer, unless there’s a wildly unique story, and should instead focus on one-off announcements with realistic expectations for coverage.

  • Founders often overestimate the likelihood of securing top-tier coverage in publications like *TechCrunch* or *The Wall Street Journal* immediately after launching, requiring careful expectation management.

  • The most effective PR strategy involves understanding the nuances of each media outlet and tailoring pitches to align with their specific interests and audience demographics.

  • Building a founder's social media presence can be valuable, but it is not always realistic or scalable; prioritize authentic engagement on relevant platforms over emulating others.

  • Traditional media still holds significant value, providing trust and credibility that positively influences algorithms and builds brand recognition for startups, despite its smaller reach.

  • Consistently prepare stories, anecdotes, and key stats when prepping for podcasts to enhance storytelling, ensuring impactful and memorable points are effectively conveyed.

In this episode, we cover

  • (00:03) Introduction to Emilie Gerber and SixEastern

  • (00:47) Defining PR and its role for startups

  • (03:13) When to engage in PR: internal vs. external

  • (06:19) The landscape of PR firms for startups

  • (08:39) Setting expectations for media coverage

  • (09:18) Strategies for pitching podcasts and media

  • (16:42) The gap in storytelling for Series A-C startups

  • (17:44) Crafting the founder's message

  • (21:08) The trend of founders going direct

  • (25:26) Examples of successful PR strategies

  • (29:21) The value of traditional media

  • (31:12) Pitching to new media

  • (32:00) Organic vs. strategic PR

  • (37:18) The role of marketing in PR firms

  • (38:47) Influences and trends in media consumption

  • (42:39) Mentors and career influences

  • (44:38) Lessons learned in PR

  • (45:40) Crisis PR at Uber

  • (48:16) Ignored startup sectors in PR

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Stay Curious.

Nataraj

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