Jason Calacanis On How To Get PR For Your Startup: Fire Your PR Company

My philosophy of PR is summed up in six words: be amazing, be everywhere, be real.

You don’t need a PR firm, you don’t need an in-house PR person and you don’t need to spend ANY money to get amazing PR. You don’t need to be connected, and you don’t need to be a “name brand.” Today, many bloggers lament how much press folks like Kevin Rose and Robert Scoble get. They say that they get too much attention and that they got this attention too quickly and without earning it.

1. Be the brand

As the founder of your company you must be in love with your brand and inspired by your brand’s mission if you have any hope of getting press for your product. If you don’t *really* believe in your product on a deep, intrinsic level, it’s going to come across *immediately* to the bloggers and press you’re pitching.

2. Be everywhere

If you and your team have committed to being the brand, the next step is being committed to being everywhere. When I was running Silicon Alley Reporter I was essentially a beat reporter. Every single night I would go out and meet folks in the Internet industry. While other folks went home to their families–and there is nothing wrong with that–I went out and made a family. In this case, the family became known as “Silicon Alley,” and the members of the family were the folks in and around the startup companies.

3. Always pick up the check–always.

At the industry events I mention above I always set a goal of creating deep relationships with a small number of folks as opposed to running around trying to trade cards with as many folks as possible. You can trade cards on LinkedIn, but you can’t break bread there. In the real world break bread, don’t trade contact information.

4. Be a human being

The best way to get PR is not to sell someone on your company or product–it’s by being a human being. Journalists hate PR people and they hate being pitched. They do. It’s just a fact. Journalists and bloggers despise PR people, and if they say otherwise they are lying, placating you or just being diplomatic.

5. How to bond with a journalist

It’s important for CEOs/founders to realize that journalists and bloggers are, in fact, humans. They long to be heard, to be admired and to belong–just like you do. When I was a journalist I was always amazed by the number of unfocused pitches I would receive. For example, when I was covering the internet I would frequently get pitches like “You have to check out this new nanotechnology company” or “we’re launching a new technology to make shipping more efficient!” Ummm… great, but I’ve never covered the nanotech or shipping industries–why would I start now?

6. How a CEO should e-mail a journalist

When I was a journalist I would not speak to PR people about my stories, and I would hold a hard line with them: if you want me to cover your company have your CEO e-mail me at jason at calacanis dotcom. They would reply, “ok, let’s do a call about your story and i can put you in touch with the right person over there…” and all I heard

was “blah blah blah.” The CEOs and founders of the companies who had direct relationships with me got more direct coverage of their company, as well as more quotes in stories about other companies and issues.