Wednesday evening, Dogpatch Labs hosted a “PR for Startups” event alongside Anthony Ha of VentureBeat and Jason Kincaid of TechCrunch. Topics included:

- what is newsworthy
- how and when to engage press / bloggers
- who to engage and with what tact
- when to use internal vs. external PR leads

Below is a list of 11 great takeaways written by David Hua of Wellsphere and Health Central. The pictures are from Dogpatch resident Art Chang (of FanPulse). Art also has a list of six takeaways from the evening – available on his blog.

Takeaways from PR for Startups Event (by David Hua)

1. Short and Sweet – Send concise emails stating what your company does and why it is interesting. 48-72 hours of notice before a launch is recommended.

2. Video Walkthroughs – Emails with a youtube video walkthrough (1-2min) is helpful

3. The Elephant in the Room – Don’t be afraid to compare yourself with the competitor. Do show how you are different.

4. Pay attention to the Calendar – Plan your launch with the calendar in mind. Do not release your news around big events, announcements, or a busy day of news.

5. A Day in the Life – Tech Bloggers put out 3-6 posts a day. If it is a slow day for them, email them something interesting and cc their tips@URL.com email (launches, acquisitions, and funding are big news items)

6. Headlines – Don’t suggest one and don’t use a misleading subject line, it’s annoying

7. Assets Ready – In the follow up email or phone call with the writer, make sure you send an email with screen shots, company information, and video (optional).

8. Build relationships – If you know something interesting that doesn’t pertain to your company, send the tip along to the writer, they are helpful.

9. Meetups - Invitations for lunch, dinner, and events are welcomed

10. Clear communication every step of the way – Be very clear what you mean about “exclusive”. (i.e How long a particular writer has an exclusive for? Notification if you are moving on with the news to another publication.)

11. Traffic Observations – Techcrunch sends firehose amounts of traffic over the course of a few days whereas VentureBeat sends a consistent amount of traffic over a longer period of time

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