Build a press kit

Concise Message and Pitch

Assess your message
Take a look at your website, app, project, and anything else that has your startup's messaging on it, and assess the situation. Does your company portray a consistent message? If not, how many different messages are you throwing at consumers? What are the key takeaways?

Happy planning!
Write a one sentence pitch
For starter's, create a one-sentence pitch for your company. Review the Founder Institute’s one-sentence pitch formula.

Then compose your own one-sentence pitch to describe what your startup is all about!

Remember, the formula is: My company (company name), is developing (a defined offering) to help (a target audience) (solve a problem) (with secret sauce).
Share your pitch
Share your pitch on your project page.

Ask three people for feedback on your pitch.

Offer critical feedback on other pitches.

Know What is News

Make a list of new ideas
Taking note of what you've learned in this unit, make a list of 10 news ideas for your startup.
Create some buzz
Share your news ideas on your project page.

Provide feedback on your classmates news ideas.

Unique Data

Utilize Your Data
If your company has useful data that may be able to be used to generate press or a unique report, brainstorm topics that could be of interest, as extrapolated from this data. Consider infographic, white paper, and report options that could be of interest.

Share your data with your classmates.

Understand the Journalist

Narrow your audience area
Make a list of the types of journalists you're hoping to reach. Include the following information:
- Outlet types. Magazines, Newspapers, Trade journals, Blogs, Corporate newsletters, etc.)
- The "beat" or "vertical" a journalist writes in. Such as Technology, Fashion, or Metro News)
- Specific publications. Such as Wired, Mashable, CNET, Cosmopolitan, New York Magazine, Nat Geo, etc.)
- Journalists. Research publications and verticals that you want to reach and narrow down your audience to specific journalists. Begin following these journalists online in whatever way you prefer -- add their RSS feed to your reader, follow them on Twitter, etc. You'll need to get to know these journalists, their interests, and how you can add value to their work.

Journalism Lingo

Create exclusives
Brainstorm ideas that your startup may be able to offer up as exclusive stories. During your brainstorm, also consider the top news outlets you'd want to pitch. Make a list and take action!

Emailing Etiquette

Compose a pitch email
After you've completed your one-sentence pitch, compose an email, pitching your product or service. Make sure you use your one-sentence pitch in the email.

Bonus: If you're feeling ambitious, make a list of assets you have on hand to send to journalists, including screenshots, company logos, demo videos, and upload them to Dropbox or Google Docs. In the future, you can refer journalists to your cloud-stored press kit with a simple link.

Twitter

Follow a reporter
Spend 15 minutes researching journalists in your field on Twitter. Use MuckRack to do your research, and follow at least one journalist on Twitter.

Bonus credit: If you're feeling ambitious, create a Twitter list of journalists in your field.

Reverse Pitching

Sign up for HARO
Sign up for reverse-pitching site, Help a Reporter Out, so that you can start receiving pitches from journalists, instead of doing all the work yourself!

Final Tips for Success

Read this article
As a final review for this course, read my article, "10 Essential PR Tips For Startups" on Mashable. It's a basic look at what you've learned in this course and should help tie everything together.

Build an Effective Press Kit

Share your press kit
Your one-sentence pitch, email pitch and assets make up your Press Kit.

Post your Press Kit to the "Student Gallery" tab on Skillshare, so that you can get feedback from other students. Feel free to link to Google Docs or other assets on the web.

Congratulations on finishing the course! I hope you feel confident. You're on your way to Internet fame!

Cheers,

Erica

Additional Resources

The One-Sentence Pitch

It's important that startups have a go-to, one-sentence pitch that explains what they do. Founder Institute's Adeo Ressi explains his "Madlibs for Pitching" approach for creating this one-sentence pitch. After watching this video, take some time to craft a one-sentence pitch for your startup, using this formula.
As a final review for this course, read my article, "10 Essential PR Tips For Startups" on Mashable. It's a basic look at what you've learned in this course and should help tie everything together.
Check out Erica's "Selection of Startup Pitches with Flair."

Like you, these startups took her "Getting Press on a Tight Budget" course and submitted their press kits via the Projects tab. Erica chose some of the top performers to highlight, so that future students could use those great examples to build their very own press kits during the class.
Demystifying PR for Startups.

The following video is from a panel on Demystifying PR for Startups.

While this video may be a few years old, the commentary is as relevant as ever. This is one of my favorite panels on the subject of startup PR and is perhaps the most informative panel I've ever sat on or been a part of.

Enjoy!

Timothy Sullivan

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