January 01, 2002
Getting Press for Your Internet Company
Show Me the Money
In my talks with some of the top editors and writers from across the country, one clear theme continually came up: You have to prove that you are providing something the market hasn't done, or hasn't done well, and you have to prove earnings or revenues.
"We don't necessarily kill a story if we don't get financials," says reporter Gina Imperato of Fast Company. "With private companies we look for signs of growth: opening additional offices, hiring more employees. And we look at management practices because if they are good they translate into growth."
Sam Sayegh (pronounced Sayer,) producer at Bloomberg TV and Radio concurs, "After the Internet shakeout we've seen in the marketplace, media will look more seriously at the business model and whether a company can compete with so-called old economy stocks."
"A privately held company has to at least be willing to tell me who their investors are," says Michael Martinez, business writer at the Seattle bureau of the Associated Press. "It certainly gets my attention if Paul Allen or Kleiner-Perkins is an investor. That would make them credible."
"No matter how interesting a company is," says Joshua Macht, senior editor at ecompany magazine, "they have to be prepared to show their numbers."
Prove You're Smarter
OK, so Paul Allen isn't one of your investors, you're not a first mover and your financials could be better. Will the media take you seriously? Yes, if management has a track record.
"There is a lot of vapor in this industry," says Newsweek senior writer Jared Sandberg. "My interest leans to new ideas, trends, what is emerging. I distinguish trends from fashion. The kind of privately held companies that are newsworthy are the ones with interesting management, an idea that's outrageously different and perhaps smarter than any competitors."
The Food Fight Approach
Every editor interviewed said that you need to understand what he or she writes about before pitching a story. In other words, blasting out press releases to every business editor in the country may not be the way to go any more.
"A lot of people take a food fight approach of throwing everything at all reporters," Sandberg says. "I understand that PR people are just doing their job, but writers like people who approach them to know some of the things they write about."
Charlie Crumpley, Business Editor of the Daily Oklahoman agrees, "I get a lot of releases from people in New York about something happening in Vermont, and we're in Oklahoma. Something like that has just about a zero chance of getting published in Oklahoma." But, he adds, "I know it's a challenge for PR people because they need to get national coverage as much as they can."
"I really resent a lot of the spam email I get from national PR firms pushing products and services that do not have a unique local angle for me," says Dave Elbert, Business Editor of the Des Moines Register. "I probably waste close to an hour a day looking at emails and answering phone call pitches from PR folks who cannot pitch a local angle or even a unique angle on their product or service."
Wag Your Own Tail
How can a start-up company executive get on a contact entry on an editors Palm Pilot? Sometimes a phone call is all it takes.
Imperato says, "We're always open to people emailing us and saying 'I think this is a good executive for you to know.'" Martinez says he goes out of his way to go to events that let him have direct contacts with executives "without a PR agency getting in the way."
"I want to cover executives who are respected because of their track record," Sayegh explains. "If there is no track record, which does happen, press coverage has to be earned with performance. Steve Case came out of nowhere a couple of years ago, and he didn't get press initially. He had to earn it."
Break Rules
A wise man once said, "It takes eleven years to become an overnight sensation." And that was true, until the Internet revolution. "Now if you're from a startup we almost always turn you down," says Martinez. "We never know if you'll survive more than two weeks."
There are, however, exceptions to every rule—even the ones journalists set for themselves. "I break my own rules all the time because something really interests me," Sandberg says. "I just got out of a meeting with someone not related to anything I am writing about but who has the potential to make a contribution to a bunch of different stories."
"We'll look at a business in the early stages and growing if it has a lot of potential," Sayegh notes. "I judge a story by asking myself 'Is this important to my viewer or listener?'"
Skip the Press Conference
Can you jump into media prominence with a splashy announcement at a press conference? Not likely!
"Press conferences are good for major, breaking industry news, where all players need to be in one room," Imperato says. "With the AOL/Time Warner merger, reporters needed to speak to both executives [so] the press conference was helpful."
If you're not AOL merging with Time Warner, or you don't have a cure for cancer, think twice about a press conference. "It's very dangerous to feed the media hype," Sandberg warns. "It can turn on you, torpedo your integrity and credibility. If you give a press conference, it better be a great, landscape shaping kind of moment."
Even if you get reporters to your press conference, you have no guarantee they will cover your event, they all insist. "If we're watching certain companies I might attend but not cover the event," says Imperato. Martinez says the issue would have to have a potential effect across industries for him to cover the story.
Be Interesting
What's the best way to attract editorial attention? Imperato describes certain recurring themes that are always of interest. He says that companies that come up with new and creative ways to express themselves get a leg up. Effective and interesting leadership can help, too. "We always ask ourselves 'What can our readers learn?'"
Answer that question, and an unknown company on a shoestring budget may just make headlines tomorrow.
B.L. Ochman's company, whatsnextonline.com, builds global traffic and sales for Internet businesses.
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