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Sacke & Associates Contributed Article
NEWS MAKERS: OPPORTUNITIES EXIST FOR THOSE HIGH-TECH STARTUPS WHO USE PUBLIC RELATIONS
From the July 24, 2000 issue of Report on Wireless
by John Sacke
An integral part of any business plan, and one that's often overlooked, is the public relations aspect of a company. Looking back over the last decade of emerging high-tech startups, all of the success stories made public relations as much a priority as they did other business essentials, like financing, marketing and management.
Whether a public relations specialist is hired to work on staff or a firm with the proper expertise is contracted for the job, it's important that a startup company doesn't spend so much time making sales, forging alliances and bringing money in the door that it forgets to tell the world about its successes.
However, it is possible for a company to do well in its industry without the benefit of public relations. The company may steer clients its way and be very profitable, but it will never know how much more it could have progressed with public relations at its side and some initial exposure to the news media.
Many entrepreneurs pick up the dailies, search the web or look at trade magazines and see an article about Company XYZ on the front page and assume the exposure came about through pure luck. What they don't understand is that the stories found in the news media are, planned, directed and nurtured through public relations, sometimes for many months. Once a startup gets a little bit of visibility, the exposure can take on a snowball effect.
When writing the business plan, the first decision to make is whether to do public relations in-house or outsource it. Each has its commonly known advantages and pitfalls. If the outsourcing approach is chosen, it's important to choose a firm that is at a similar stage of development and can see things through the company's eyes. For example, there wouldn't be a lot of synergy between a two-person startup and a large multinational firm with offices around the world.
Just like technology, public relations is a fast-paced industry. Combine the two and you have something that moves at tremendous speeds.
There is a misnomer that public relations is free and that businesses get publicity just by luck. While luck may have a hand in it sometimes, when it's broken down to its most simplistic terms, public relations is basic common sense and perseverance. The real skill is the development of the story's angle that will make editors want it in their publication. Using public relations does not mean a company will be on the front page of every newspaper or lead item on a web portal the next day. Maybe only one in ten editors will find the story of interest.
As it's putting a company's name into the minds of the news media, public relations also fulfills the roles of branding and sales. For public companies, it can affect the stock price. When something goes wrong, when a plan put into action fails, public relations can also soften the blow from the news media and angry shareholders.
Companies who ignore the need for public relations do so at their peril. The repercussions are sometimes irrevocable. If their business is successful, they'll continue to exist and meet their needs to survive, but they don't know what opportunities are passing them by. And the clients they can't reach are going to their better-publicized competitors.
John Sacke is founder of Sacke & Associates, a full service PR agency specializing in telecommunications.
Sacke and Associates
John Sacke
416.218.1102
johns@sackepr.com
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