How to benefit from major industry events... when you cannot attend them?

Where were you last week?

Where you one of the lucky ones, attending LeWeb'10 in Paris?

Oh. No. You couldn't.

I can get that. But did you benefit from it?

You should have. Here's an example of "how".

As other key industry events, LeWeb'10 attracts hundreds - if not thousands - of people that, as a startuper, you must meet. I'm talking journalists, bloggers, VCs, angels and influencers.

But because your company's a startup, you have to allocate your (scarce) resources in the best possible way, on a daily basis, and to make a long story short, you had to (reluctantly) decide not to attend. Ok. Not THAT big deal. That would have been a major error if you hadn't take this opportunity to meet all those influencers and present your company.

That's precisely what I've organized for one of my beloved customer: Kwaga, the SmarterEmail semantic toolkit. We've organized a private tour of the Opera Garnier, home of the famous Phantom of the Opera. Key bloggers, influencers and journalists just looooooved it, and so did Kwaga ;-)

This opportunistic operation allowed Kwaga to meet key people and to establish relationship with them, while sharing a unique experience. This is exactly the kind of operation I encourage my fellow startupers to organize, think about, share and benefit from.

When you don't have the resources, think leaner ;-)

Do you have any other ideas of the kind to share? Please do so in the comments!

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101 How-to: 3 Clichés about Homo Journalicus

Let's eradicate!

This is the first part of how-to get a nice article when being interviewed by the most worshiped dude of your galaxy: the journalist. Next one will cover the actual how-to prepare and conduct the interview.

Maybe I should point out that, as a communication person , I've been dealing with journalists for the best of the past 20 years (do I have to be THAT transparent???). Some are very nice fellas, and some are not. As in any other areas of our lives. My point here is to give a clear picture of the people we're (desperately) trying to reach to get the press coverage that will skyrocket the product/company/person we want to promote.

Note: feel free to search/replace "journalist" with "blogger"

Cliché #1 - Journalists are Divas

• Wrong: they got bosses to whom they must sale the idea of an interview before actually carrying it. It takes them time and energy. I feel deeply sorry for you if you try to grab them when they just got their asses kicked by their boss... Or worse, by an infuriated someone they interviewed recently...
  Although I'm not saying that some aren't true Divas :-D
  

Cliché #2 - Journalists keep on trying to set you up

• Wrong: they got that story that their boss is expecting (remember? they sold it hard, explaining why they should interview you...) and they're only trying to find enough matter out of the conversation to write a story - as interesting as possible :-s

Cliché #3 - Journalists are clueless dumb-asses

• Wrong: you are the expert. That's basically the reason why they are seated in front of you, btw... So if by extraordinaire, the person in front of you doesn't seem to understand the idea that you're explaining, maybe you should ask yourself "why"... and try to re-formulate it in other words, with examples. Doesn't it sound wise?

Any other clichés that you can think of? Feel free to share!

101-How-To: Write and Distribute a Press release

Sometimes I forget the basics.

Since I started working with startups, I've discovered and exchanged a lot on various topics, among which social media, PR, websites, lead management, SEO, traffic optimization etc.

Enlightening.

And that's obviously one of the best part of my job.

However a bunch of recent work sessions made me realize that some of what I consider “basic stuff” and took for granted, actually were not.

That's why I've decided to start this “101-how-to” series of posts.

Here we go: #1 - How to write a press release?

1. Title: work hard on that one, and keep it concise. This is the 1 second chance you have to grab people's attention. It should be short and should content all key names / topics at once.
   Example: Kwaga selects StoriesOut to handle its worldwide online and offline PR.
   
2. Subtitle: Once you've grabbed the attention, expands the title with subtitle. Give more info based on the title.
   Example: The startup fighting email-overload wants to expand its international reach as its market traction is skyrocketing.
   
3. Date/place: Do I really need to explain? ;-)
   
4. Press release body: Develop your points in small paragraphs. 1 idea each. Use bullet points to structure the message. Keep in mind that most people "skim-read" press release. Make it simple to them to get your point.
   
5. Quotes: If you add any, make sure they appear distinctively from the rest of the text. Use italics and indentation. Content of quotes must give an extra angle to the announcement. Prefer figures and real facts to emotions.
6. Boilerplate: this is your company's standard presentation. It is the last paragraph of your press release and presents your company in 6 to 10 sentences. Again, work it out carefully and make sure to keep it up to date.
   

How to distribute a press release.

1. Distribution wires: there are huge differences on these types of services, mainly based on geography and on the industry your company is.
   Basically in the US no one would email a journalist directly to distribute a press release but would rather use services from Marketwire or PrNewsWire.
   In France is it not that obvious. Even though these international wires do propose their services here, I find their reach to the IT press pretty poor. Now, there's another one: Hugin Group but never tested it. BTW, I would appreciate any feedback from actual experiences of it ;-).
   However, keep in mind that these services cost money and that prices vary with the word count of the announcement + the press target + regional target.
   The services often cover both distribution to information sites and to journalists. But you'd rather check their lists before committing :-)
   
2. Free websites to post your announcement to: there are many of them in each country. A simple Google search would give you an idea. In France I found a nice post listing the main ones, it is here.
   
3. Emailing a journalist list: few tips here

• If you do it manually, use BCC ;-)
  
• There are quite a bunch of platforms that you'd like to use for your emailings, ranging from free to not-that-expensive. My favorites are: iContact and MailChimp. Great thing with these platforms are the tracking and analytics they provide you with. It really helps enhancing your reach. Strongly recommended.
• Put the text of the press release directly into the email. DO NOT attach it!
  
• Complementary resources: Screenshots, pictures, videos etc. should be mentioned and linked to. Do not embed them in the press release itself, a) there are too many email clients out there for you to make sure these resources would display properly on each of them b) firewalls may well just spam your message c) it would make your email too cumbersome to open.
• Post your press release online on your blog or website so that you'll be able to direct people to it via other media such as twitter, Facebook/LinkedIn status etc.
  

I think I covered most of the key points, if you think of any other please tell me, and above all, tell me if this post is of any use to you!

Any other topics you'd like to read about in my forthcoming post ? Tell me.

Let's save time: share your experiences!