J.J. Colao’s Post

For some time now, lots of people hear me talk about how the traditional PR agency model doesn't work for tech startups. When I launched SamsonPR in 2017, we set out to change the model. It's allowed us to deliver big for our clients. We're a services company, like a law firm. If you needed legal representation, I imagine you wouldn't hire a law firm and want a team of junior lawyers helping decide your fate. You want people with experience leading the way and advising you. Law firms got it right. Many PR firms got it wrong. Over the years, many agencies have over invested in a junior workforce (ACs, Associates, AEs) to drive all their clients' workloads behind the scenes - to do the heavy lifting. It doesn't work. Clients get burned. Results are minimal. PR requires deep experience, expertise and connections. Check out my recent "The Outsider" blog on our SamsonPR website around this topic! Hope you find it insightful and useful! https://lnkd.in/gsj5phW5

In the fast-evolving world of technology, where innovation drives progress and competition is fierce, mastering digital public relations (PR) is essential for tech companies to thrive. PR companies with tech experience use successful PR strategies to enhance brand visibility, cultivate thought leadership, and nurture significant relationships with the intended audience. Whether you’re a burgeoning startup or an established tech giant, mastering your digital PR efforts is crucial. Here are 20 Digital PR Tips for tech companies to elevate your digital PR game and achieve maximum impact

Insight on finding the best PR partner for your business.

In the fast-evolving world of technology, where innovation drives progress and competition is fierce, mastering digital public relations (PR) is essential for tech companies to thrive. PR companies with tech experience use successful PR strategies to enhance brand visibility, cultivate thought leadership, and nurture significant relationships with the intended audience. Whether you’re a burgeoning startup or an established tech giant, mastering your digital PR efforts is crucial. Here are 20 Digital PR Tips for tech companies to elevate your digital PR game and achieve maximum impact

What is the best PR agency for your organization? There are objective measures to help you identify the best firm for your business - and it has nothing to do with a firm’s size, revenue, industry or makeup. Here are three questions to help your selection process. Do you want national media coverage? With today’s technology, you don’t need to be in any specific city because you can reach reporters from anywhere. However, there are advantages to being on East Coast time. A publicist on the East Coast has more time to develop angles from overnight developments. It’s not as easy on the West Coast since most publicists are asleep when reporter assignments are handed out (5 am PST). Factor in deadlines, and you can see why people on the West Coast have less than three hours to pitch national news organizations. Do you want local news coverage? When it comes to getting a story on the local news, there are many variables to factor in, but region and media market play a pivotal role in influencing coverage. Generally speaking, it helps to work with a publicist who understands the editorial slant in that local news market. For example, the Northeast region of the country - including New York, Boston and Philadelphia - place a larger emphasis on harder news, while West Coast cities tend to run more softer news features. If you’re leaning toward hiring a local agency in your city, make sure the publicist understands the local news climate and nuances. Should you bring PR in-house? This is a legitimate question for anyone in accounting or operations. Why hire a PR agency when you might be able to hire a full-time person for roughly the same cost? This is more subjective based on the publicist’s experience, approach and tech tools given to the in-house hire. If the budget is smaller and your in-house publicist has less experience, I'd go with the indie team that can better scale the story. Want to hear more? My Forbes article provides more perspective on finding the right PR partner, including the nuances of pitching tech and Silicon Valley. #alwaysfreshpr #eastcoast #westcoast #mediastrategy #entrepreneurs https://lnkd.in/e6jWNyW9

💥 After a 20-year career building large tech PR agencies, I started my own tech firm (in the dog days of the pandemic) with a looooooong list of non-negotiables. Want a few specifics? Sure, I got some for you: *No more chasing every dollar at any cost (like, say, my team’s mental health) 💸 *No more working with a**holes (clients OR employees) *No more expensive office overhead in hubs like Boston and SF and Manhattan *No soul-sucking commutes when we can do our jobs literally *anywhere* with a laptop and a WiFi connection 💻 *No more bait & switch (if you know you know) *Related: No more staffing accounts with junior talent and crushing their souls in the process 🐣 *No more spray & pray pitching like professional spammers *No more dickering with RFPs that don’t include budget and ask for free PR plans *No more squandering thousands of dollars flying teams anywhere to pitch wildly speculative business *No more pissing away umpteen thousand dollars on vanity awards programs 🪞🤵♂️ *No more tracking time in 15-minute increments like hamsters trapped in a maniac’s lab experiment *No more reliance on press releases as a PR strategy or relying on lame metrics like “impressions” as proof of our worth And my favorite: *No more bullshitting prospects about “which reporters we’re friends with” as if that actually matters. Spoiler alert: it’s the story, stupid! 🙄 👇 We knew the above list of non-negotiables cut against the traditional PR industry grain. We knew that. But hear my when I say: we didn’t build Crackle PR for anyone else’s approval 🫤 We built it because we genuinely believe *empathy* and *partnership* —without the red tape and the maddening bureaucracy— is truly the best path forward in our industry. We built Crackle in public right here on LinkedIn, in the cold hard light of day, to be an alternative to the big agency meat grinder that chews up employees and spits out clients every 14 months like clockwork. And guys, it’s working. In 3+ years we’ve lost only two employees in an industry with a 25% annual turnover rate. Our very first client is STILL a client, and we’ve been fortunate to add many others to our roster since then. Still, we aren’t for everyone. We’re not. We only work with *good people at good companies.* Full stop. And we know our unique model probably leaves money on the table (and certain companies in the “no can do” pile.) But for us and our clients? This is the way ✊

📌 Communications become #CommTech, so PR & Corporate Communications are being re-introduced. Comms pros need to embrace an inherent culture shift across the industry as they become more performative, predictive, and productive. The #conversation about tech-enabled communications has kicked off. Read the blog post and be part of the conversation in the comments below. https://lnkd.in/dy3V-qiF

I was reflecting last evening over coffee with a PR veteran about the ongoing shifts in how tech companies can and should operate amid a years-long downturn. Flash back to 2019, when I was looking for an in-house comms role, and I identified then the suitable fit to be at a Series A company looking to bring comms in-house as another growth lever that they have the luxury of growing to include. Over recent years, that same wisdom quickly became at the Series B stage. Lately, as I speak with people across the industry, it feels increasingly more likely that the role won't be available and viable until Series C; that's when a company can spin off comms as a justifiable expense. So what I would recommend now and next to VC-backed companies exploring their comms strategy is to consider the following progression: Until you're Series A, do it all yourself. Reporters prefer to hear directly from founders at this stage. You're better off with that method. If the CEO labels PR as requisite for the business at such an early stage, they will prioritize pitching stories and being responsive to reporters on deadline. If they find they're not getting around to it, or are rejecting what comes their way, then that will demonstrate it's not a priority after all. If they can establish some traction, and over time it becomes too much for them to manage themselves, they'll know also when it's time to hand the program to a consultant. They should have the first 90 days of work ready for that expert, not ask them to conjure it up out of nowhere. A continuum. Between Series A and Series C, work with consultants who offer great value. Even better would be to beg, borrow, and steal resources from people internally and those they know externally who will do them the courtesy of sharing opportunities and to be a sounding board when questions arise. This is a very good spot for VC platformers to step in and to assist, not to replace roles rather to help usher along the businesses they actively support. A continuum. At Series C, the companies that carry on should consider ahead of that announcement to bring aboard a full-time PR person to take the program to the next level, assessing via an audit of years' worth of press what's working, what's lacking, how they will expand their story beyond what's been said and done to date, and to compress the origin story to make room for more time focused on growth. As the company begins to speak more seriously about exit strategies, they will want another adult in the room with them to factor in how press today will bolster possibility a year from tomorrow. This is a practical sketch that makes sense amid the current climate. Any PR type who argues in this day and age that all companies require their services all of the time is selling snake oil and is showing their desperation more than they're revealing any mastery. Pay attention to what's going on. The PR-for-its-own-sake people get left behind. The business-minded get the calls.

In my role, I often get the question 'Why should we invest in CommTech?' Well, PR Specialists have become multimedia journalists; hosting podcasts and YouTube tv shows; creating libraries of crisp photography instead of relying on stock images, and redefining content through thought leadership. All the while handling a Crisis, setting up PR Plans and Corporate Communication Strategies and what not. So, eliminating time (and budget)-consuming processes and streamlining your workflows through software that keeps everything you need in one place frees up your team’s time so they can spend it on what they do best – creating awesome campaigns. We compiled a complete guide on everything you need to know before choosing a CommTech vendor that is best for you: https://lnkd.in/eAVamyYj Spoiler alert! As always, the right choice of software will come back to your Public Relations goals.... #lesstechmoretouch #PR #PublicRelations #IR #InvestorRelations #CorporateCommunications

Companies can build meaningful relationships with the media by developing a few internal experts who can provide genuine insights on trending topics that are relevant to their expertise. By offering reporters this valuable information, companies can move beyond just promoting themselves to serving as a trusted source, who the media will seek out time and again. #mediarelations #subjectmatterexperts #longisland