So another Web 2.0 Expo has come and gone. Other than a display of Google CEO machismo by Eric Schimdt, not much happened. So let’s go back to the beginning. On Sunday night, Justin Kan of Justin.tv gave a presentation for Ignite regarding how to get free press for your start-up business. A disappointing topic for such a fascinating video venture, but let’s delve into this publicity discussion for a moment.
I consider myself qualified to brag about discuss getting free publicity because I’ve had my fair share. Over the years I’ve been a been interviewed by anchors on ABC News, CBS News, ABC’s Good Morning America, PBS, NBC, MTV, The New York Times and other major media outlets. After years of such media exposure I’ve come to understand the relative advantages and disadvantages of engaging the media.
Now, as the era of “transparency” has taken hold—a time in which everyone has a blog, a video show or a publicly published email address—the relative meaning of publicity has shifted. Nevertheless, getting press exposure for your fledgling company is still important. So how do you do it?
1. Have An Interesting Story
Transparency is finally working in favor of business—harness this media shift. Reporters love to hear that you sold blood and ate graham crackers for dinner for a year in order to buy your first server. They also want to know if you were left to fend for yourself at the age of 12 behind some dumpster in San Jose. Do you have ADD? Perfect! This can all work to your advantage as long as “you” know they are points of interest that make you a “character.”
Photo: Moriza
2. Have A Look
I know it sounds superficial, but your look is important. The media eye is unforgiving, and if you are arrogant enough to think that you are just so smart, or so successful that how you look is meaningless, you deserve all the Dilbert jokes you’ll get. Aside from the typical slacker (Steve Jobs) or buttoned-up IT dude (Bill Gates) looks, there are other ways to psyche out the media. When famed hacker John Lee launched UrbanExpose, the Web 1.0 dot com scandal sheet of Silicon
Alley, he would often show up to interviews in a shocking white Thomas
Jefferson wig and weird eyeglasses. The ploy worked to hide his identity, for a while, and stir intrigue. You don’t have to go that far, but simple visual cues do have an effect on the media—use them.
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3. Know Why Your Company Sucks__
Hopefully, your company/business idea doesn’t actually suck. But invariably, someone will figure out a way to point out: that someone else is already doing your idea, your idea isn’t scalable, you have no chance of future profits, etc. So it pays to grill yourself before doing any media. Dispense with pride and figure out every weak point in your business model. This is important, because even though you might have an answer as to why profits haven’t appeared yet, the media won’t give you 10 minutes to lay out your elaborate (and possibly valid)
explanation.
You need a pithy answer that will satisfy the question and move them on to the next. If you need training examples, tune in on
Sunday’s to Tim Russert’s house of pain called Meet The Press.
Chuckling with cherubic glee, no other political news anchor delivers more sharp elbows with a Santa Claus smile than Russert. Watch how the politicos handle the heat. Although unlikely, assume everyone reporter you meet will have the gotcha research and stealthy media judo of
Russert. If you feel you’re ready for Russert, then you’re ready for your media spotlight.
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4. Emergency Measures __
If you can’t swing any of the above, then it’s best to either hire an experienced front man/woman to do the media work for you, or resort to being shameless. Shameless works, but it can leave deep metaphysical scar tissue that may never heal.
Donald Trump recently lost his last shred of dignity by wrestling for the WWE just to get some press for his failing Apprentice show. When no one tuned in to Ted Murphy’s
(PayPerPost) self-produced reality show, he bowed to his greatest critic and let Jason Calacanis write his name on his forehead (a graphic Calacanis now runs at the start of every video show). And
Justin.tv? After a month of no nooky, he let thousands “participate” in his moment of satisfaction (at least via audio).
Like I said, shameless works, but it’s like that big red button you see in the movies—only use it as a last resort.
