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| Clinton Karr |
A new company or product launch is arguably the single most important activity in the PR lifecycle. Certainly, it is important to maintain consistent coverage post-launch, but it is the initial launch that catalyzes media interest and generates momentum for post-launch follow up.
Working with LEWIS PR, in the past year I have managed multiple successful company launches, including Metacloud and BlazeMeter among others, generating coverage with publications including TechCrunch, GigaOm, Wired and Forbes, among literally dozens more.
Every launch has its own idiosyncrasies, but having successfully launched so many companies, it becomes apparent that every launch has a lot in common too. Recently, I sat down to codify some of the best practices I’ve learned from my experience to share with the account teams at LEWIS PR. Today, I extend these best practices to you.
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Plan ahead to get ahead—It has been said an ounce of prevention saves a pound of pain. The same is true for a successful public relations launch. From inception, it is imperative to understand your timeline, goals, audience, messages and spokesperson. Investing time up front into planning will insure you aren’t scrambling at the last minute. Speaking of scrambling at the last minute: avoid last minute changes at all costs; all they do is introduce errors into the process.
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Time is of the essence—Do you have two months to conduct your launch or do you have two weeks? It makes a big difference. In an ideal world, you will have two months to refine your message, identify key influencers, secure third-party validation and schedule briefings. In reality, you may have to cram two months of work into two weeks. In either case, creating a working PR choreography to trackback against will keep things organized and moving forward.
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The big picture is made of many small points—In order to develop effective messaging, we must use only that which works and take it from any place we can find it. Schedule calls with key stakeholders to identify what matters most to them, but also rely on your own industry expertise and resources such as LinkedIn profiles, corporate blog posts and company collateral, including product sheets and white papers to identify what will matter most to reporters.
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LMGTFY (Let me Google that for you)—To identify analyst and media influencers, utilize the key messages you have developed to mine proprietary services such as Cision, IT Database and Meltwater News to determine which outlets and individuals are most aligned with your launch. You can use the site-specific search capabilities of Google to search as follows:
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“Your key message” site: www.targetwebsiteURL.com.
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For example, a search for “’successful launch’ site: www.prnews.com” should return a result with this article.
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Pitch Writing Can Be a Challenge/Solution—Scalable, automated and highly available solutions are a dime a dozen. A successful pitch may include these ubiquitous buzzwords, but a more effective approach is to speak in real-world terms. What is the challenge businesses face today and how does your client solve it? Challenge-solution is a proven method of generating demand because the mind naturally seeks to fill gaps. Create a gap by presenting a challenge and your audience is more receptive to fill it with your solution.
Launching a new company or product takes a lot of dedication and finesse. Without previous experience, engaging one of these projects is like setting off to explore an uncharted realm, but these tips should provide a map. Good luck navigating the path to launch.
Clinton Karr is an account manager at Silicon Valley-based Lewis PULSE PR. He can be reached at [email protected].