What's Your Software Story?
Savvy software companies leverage public relations to build awareness and credibility. Here are some tips on how to do effective PR.
By Sabrina Horn, Horn Group
Jun. 20, 2005
Good Technology, the leader in wireless software and services for handheld computing, was about to execute its most important product launch to date. Good has been the recognized leader in wireless email for many quarters, but aimed to outline the direction of the wireless software market and dramatically increase visibility for their services and applications. To deliver on this goal, Good Technology turned to its public relations agency. The result? The Good Wireless Summit brought partners, customers, prospects, media, analysts and Good executives together for a defining event in the wireless software industry in January 2005.
Public relations is one of the most powerful tools in the marketing mix, particularly for young, emerging technology companies. More cost effective than advertising, PR helps create awareness and credibility for a new product, category or entity. The primary medium through which PR communicates is the media: business press, trade/IT press, vertical press, as well as many of today's online outlets and blogs. PR also communicates with industry research analysts, influencers, consultants and sometimes, financial analysts. There are other audiences to consider in your PR targets: certainly, your prospects, customers, investors, business partners, and employees.
The Good Wireless Summit was the starting point of a deliberate and strategic ongoing PR relationship between Good Technology and their agency partner. With an emphasis on PR results that provide air cover for sales and delivering meaningful value to the organization, together we've implemented many of the PR fundamentals that help a company tell their story and get noticed.
So where do you begin? You have to know your "story." Here are the key elements to consider.
Messaging and Positioning - At its core, messaging answers the question What's Your Story? And positioning illuminates your competitive position in your market. Who are you and what do you sell? What is your unique value proposition? Consider a positioning template that will help you develop your "elevator pitch": a set of concise and defensible statements that identify who are and what you do.
Target Market - Make sure you know whom you are selling to… CIOs? CFOs? Business-line managers? Consumers? Each of these audiences reads different magazines and newspapers. Your PR program needs to focus on the publications and channels that best reach those individuals.
Competitive Differentiation - Be sure to think about your competitive differentiators. It not about be better, per se. It's about how you offer value or performance in a different manner, in a different market, or through different channels. And remember, you have to be prepared to identify your competitors. There is rarely a credible market of one.
Crafting Your Story - So how to you tell a great story? Your company may have a great story ... but that's not enough. To hit home with the media, your story has to be articulated well and stand out from the fray. News creates the bulk of media coverage; news is the timely reporting of new, important or interesting information that's driven by change, urgency, currency or the need to educate. Follow these rules to get the coverage you want.
The Pitch
- Make it relevant - tie your story to today's media issues and interests
- Identify the actors - great journalism is about people
- Back it up - data, statistics, numbers and proof
- Bring it to life - use anecdotes and customer examples
- Ask yourself "so what?" - empathy with the reader and the journalist is a must
- Take calculated risks - go off the record or give an exclusive
- Be a maverick - find 2-3 points on which to be bold
The Relationship
- Become a reporter's resource - it's not all about you
- Establish trust - communicate in good times and bad
- A controversial stance/personality is more important than being likable
- The best story ideas often come from going off script
- Make networking part of your media strategy - lunch with a reporter can lead to a story
- It can take many months to develop a story - keep at it
The Basics
- Know the audience - do your homework on the pub, its reader and reporter
- Communicate company, market and product in sound bites
- Talk business, not code
- Customers are willing to talk for the right opportunity
- No competition = No story (without it a seasoned reporter will dismiss you)
Public relations is one of the most powerful tools in the marketing mix, particularly for young, emerging technology companies. More cost effective than advertising, PR helps create awareness and credibility for a new product, category or entity. The primary medium through which PR communicates is the media: business press, trade/IT press, vertical press, as well as many of today's online outlets and blogs. PR also communicates with industry research analysts, influencers, consultants and sometimes, financial analysts. There are other audiences to consider in your PR targets: certainly, your prospects, customers, investors, business partners, and employees.
The Good Wireless Summit was the starting point of a deliberate and strategic ongoing PR relationship between Good Technology and their agency partner. With an emphasis on PR results that provide air cover for sales and delivering meaningful value to the organization, together we've implemented many of the PR fundamentals that help a company tell their story and get noticed.
So where do you begin? You have to know your "story." Here are the key elements to consider.
Messaging and Positioning - At its core, messaging answers the question What's Your Story? And positioning illuminates your competitive position in your market. Who are you and what do you sell? What is your unique value proposition? Consider a positioning template that will help you develop your "elevator pitch": a set of concise and defensible statements that identify who are and what you do.
Target Market - Make sure you know whom you are selling to… CIOs? CFOs? Business-line managers? Consumers? Each of these audiences reads different magazines and newspapers. Your PR program needs to focus on the publications and channels that best reach those individuals.
Competitive Differentiation - Be sure to think about your competitive differentiators. It not about be better, per se. It's about how you offer value or performance in a different manner, in a different market, or through different channels. And remember, you have to be prepared to identify your competitors. There is rarely a credible market of one.
Crafting Your Story - So how to you tell a great story? Your company may have a great story ... but that's not enough. To hit home with the media, your story has to be articulated well and stand out from the fray. News creates the bulk of media coverage; news is the timely reporting of new, important or interesting information that's driven by change, urgency, currency or the need to educate. Follow these rules to get the coverage you want.
The Pitch
- Make it relevant - tie your story to today's media issues and interests
- Identify the actors - great journalism is about people
- Back it up - data, statistics, numbers and proof
- Bring it to life - use anecdotes and customer examples
- Ask yourself "so what?" - empathy with the reader and the journalist is a must
- Take calculated risks - go off the record or give an exclusive
- Be a maverick - find 2-3 points on which to be bold
The Relationship
- Become a reporter's resource - it's not all about you
- Establish trust - communicate in good times and bad
- A controversial stance/personality is more important than being likable
- The best story ideas often come from going off script
- Make networking part of your media strategy - lunch with a reporter can lead to a story
- It can take many months to develop a story - keep at it
The Basics
- Know the audience - do your homework on the pub, its reader and reporter
- Communicate company, market and product in sound bites
- Talk business, not code
- Customers are willing to talk for the right opportunity
- No competition = No story (without it a seasoned reporter will dismiss you)
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