Now for the journalist's point of view:
Fern's talk on Promoting your Startup during last week's MIT Enterprise Forum of Israel meeting was followed by a presentation by Guy Grimland of The Marker.
Guy is a tech journalist. Well connected. Can cut through all the words that ever made it to the better known version of Buzzword bingo. And though he didn't explicitly say it, he's probably sick and tired of the gung ho attitude of us Israelis who think we deserve his coverage because...well... because.
A sobering (yet humble, funny and to-the-point) presentation.
If you don't read Hebrew/don't want to go over the full presentation above/want to learn The Publicity Bible while standing on one foot, here's my summary of the two main takeaways (plus fine print)
I. KNOW THE RULES OF THE GAME
i) Publicity does not happen overnight. A peak is just a peak; real promotion of a business/concept/person is done step by step.
ii) You have to play the game. And part of the game means giving up (at least partial) control.
II. FOLLOW THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT TO MAXIMIZE YOUR CHANCES
i) HOW? email is fine. phoning fine too (but not between 11 and 2 pm, when most journalists -at least in Israel- are fighting their deadlines). And cultivate those relationships.
ii) the WHAT will come from the journalists point of view. Think about what makes you different, and share changes in your company (funding, new management team, big release, etc)
iii) WHO: bring your CEO. That's the person the journalists and the public really want to see.
iv) WHEN: meetings take some 1 to 1.5 hours. Zehu. That isn't really a long time, so be ready. Think about what makes you different.
v) WHY not give up: if a journalist does not return your emails, it's his problem, not yours. Maybe he's working on a huge headline and must remain mum, or turn down otherwise interesting stories temporarily. This does not mean your business will go bust.
Fern's talk on Promoting your Startup during last week's MIT Enterprise Forum of Israel meeting was followed by a presentation by Guy Grimland of The Marker.
Guy is a tech journalist. Well connected. Can cut through all the words that ever made it to the better known version of Buzzword bingo. And though he didn't explicitly say it, he's probably sick and tired of the gung ho attitude of us Israelis who think we deserve his coverage because...well... because.
A sobering (yet humble, funny and to-the-point) presentation.
If you don't read Hebrew/don't want to go over the full presentation above/want to learn The Publicity Bible while standing on one foot, here's my summary of the two main takeaways (plus fine print)
I. KNOW THE RULES OF THE GAME
i) Publicity does not happen overnight. A peak is just a peak; real promotion of a business/concept/person is done step by step.
ii) You have to play the game. And part of the game means giving up (at least partial) control.
II. FOLLOW THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT TO MAXIMIZE YOUR CHANCES
i) HOW? email is fine. phoning fine too (but not between 11 and 2 pm, when most journalists -at least in Israel- are fighting their deadlines). And cultivate those relationships.
ii) the WHAT will come from the journalists point of view. Think about what makes you different, and share changes in your company (funding, new management team, big release, etc)
iii) WHO: bring your CEO. That's the person the journalists and the public really want to see.
iv) WHEN: meetings take some 1 to 1.5 hours. Zehu. That isn't really a long time, so be ready. Think about what makes you different.
v) WHY not give up: if a journalist does not return your emails, it's his problem, not yours. Maybe he's working on a huge headline and must remain mum, or turn down otherwise interesting stories temporarily. This does not mean your business will go bust.
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