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ABOVE THE CODEStory Telling / Branded Content
TechStars Cloud - San Antonio - March 6, 2013
TODAY...
•Presentation online @ www.alanweinkrantz.com
•Sharing principles, methods, approaches... each company is different
•Practical tips, hints and actionable steps you can take
INTRO...
•Who’s in the room?
•Startups: Status / Funding / Distribution / Partnerships
•Companies: Technology / Product / Markets
•Media coverage? Impact?
I’M HERE....
•To help you....
• think about the importance and role of branded content and story telling...
• share your startup or company’s story
•connect in a whole new way that a few years ago was left to the marketing department or an external ad agency or PR firm
•discover and build the editorial fabric of your startup as Demo Day approaches
ABOUT
•30 years - yup, I am an old school PR guy.... and believe in the real power of PR
•San Antonio & Tel Aviv
• Involved with Israel’s traditional tech sector for the last 18 years
LAST TWO YEARS
• Speaking / Writing ... Observing / Watching
• Geekdom - San Antonio
• TechLoft - Tel Aviv
• TechStars Cloud - San Antonio
• MexicanVC (500 Startups) - Mexico City
• Microsoft Azure - Tel Aviv
• The Leaders Palestine - Ramallah
• Google - Tel Aviv
GOOD NEWS :)
•Very low cost / no cost to create a start-up
•Big Idea
•Core team
•Strong will
•Servers / hosting
BAD NEWS :(
•Someone in New York, Madrid, San Francisco, Singapore, Tel Aviv, Mumbai is thinking the same thing as you are :(
•Hard to have a defensible position
•Hard to protect your IP
•Getting traction is tough
QUALITIES THEN...
•Strong Intellectual Property
•Defensible technology
•Strategic investors like Intel, AT&T, Cisco, Motorola
•Traditionally, VC funded
•30 engineers / CEO / VP Marketing / VP Biz Dev
QUALITIES NOW
•No Intellectual property
•Nothing really defensible
•Strategic investors & partners - Friends, Family, Angels, TechStars, 500 Startups, etc.
•Up until recently....No funding, or angel, micro, friends & family funding
•Easy to run a virtual company... no real address, presence from a co-working space and an IP phone number
THE WORLD AS WE KNEW IT
•Hardware
•Software
•Telecom
•Security
•Bio Sciences
•Medical Devices
Go to SchoolInternships
Go to College / UniversitySummer JobGo to Work
THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT
•Consumer Web
•Mobile
•SaaS
•Subscription
•eCommerce
•Marketplace
High SchoolStartupGap YearStartup
College / University - or not...Startup
AcceleratorStartupWork
StartupQuit Day Job
Startup
The rise of the startup economy is global
The rise of the multinational startup
THE MIND OF A CODER...
•Focus on...
• functionality
•application
•utilitarian value
50 years
Every startup is a rock and roll band
The Four Coders
Coders & Story Tellers
Music is the original code
Great songs have....
Great narratives
Great voice
Great stories
Great tone
Music is in all of us
Everything is getting coded
“The Internet of things...”needs stories...
We learn to “write”
WE WRITE FOR...
•Marketing
•Business
•Technical
•Legal
•Medical
•Social
... but we never learn the art of story telling, or how to write in simple language to explain what we are doing and what we feel
What you say, how you speak and what you communicate are
the new lyrics of theonline world
The experience your deliver on the platforms we now interface and engage with, are enabling
billions of people on the planet to create the new melodies of a
socially connected world
WRITE FOR STORY TELLING
•Why is what you are working on important?
•How are you improving lives?
•How are you helping people hack their own lives?
•What are you seeing in the way people are taking responsibility for their own health
LOOK WHAT YOU DID!
•Solved a problem
•Figured out a way to connect two or more things and do something special with it
•Codified a process, expertise, method or a discovery
•Delivering of new type of experience on the devices & platforms we are using today - and in the future
GUIDES TO WRITING
•Write like you speak...record yourself and transcribe what you say
•Pretend you are speaking to an audience.... write in front of a mirror (seriously...)
•Think of how you felt when you were read stories as a child
WHY THIS MATTERS TODAY...
•Story telling, having a voice, and the on-going narrative is a reflection of your startup / company’s heart and soul
• It becomes the body of work that helps you recruit talent, attract investors, customers, build partnerships, and be discovered by the media
THE MEDIA IS YOUR FIRST
MARKETto share and tell your story
you
bloggers
analysts
media
the consumer
The Media is Your Customer....
enterprise... institutions..
&
WHAT I BELIEVE
•Branded content & story telling is what’s next
• It’s harder and harder to “get coverage” because of the volume of noise
•Every company is a media company
•Your startup is a rock band... you’re in the studio figuring out something new
WHAT I BELIEVE
•Story is a defensible business strategy
•Narrative is the supporting infrastructure for your brand
•Tone is the voice of your brand
WHAT I BELIEVE
•12 Fundamental Belief Sets
•Not everything I do always works
• I do this for me... I do this for clients.
•There’s always exceptions to the rules
•Discussion is based on a combination of experience and principles
WHAT I SEE...
•Great ideas
•Cool technology
•Understanding the role of UI / UX
•Little, or no thinking through the role of the written word, language, tone, voice and “speaking through” the devices we are using in our daily lives
From >
Code
To > Above The
Code
Alan’s 12 Fundamental Belief Sets
#1 - STOP PITCHING
•Start story telling
•Your pitch helps clarify / define what you do, but really sucks as a way to get coverage
#2 - YOU’RE REALLY A MEDIA COMPANY THAT....
•Creates and makes media so you’ll be discovered, found and shared
•YouTube
•Blog
•SoundCloud
•Google Plus
•UStream
#3 UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BEING...
•Discovered - random
•Found - search
being discovered and being found increases your chances
of sharing
#4 IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU
•How do you help others do something in a compelling way you could not do before
#5 BE HUMAN
•Get off your perch and write like you would speak
•Converse with your potential market wherever they are
#6 LIKE MINDED PEOPLE TEND TO FIND EACH OTHER
•Give them a place to connect and share their story
•Consider aligning with other startups like yours to create a multinational startup
#7 HAVE A MISSION
•We’re out to make __________ better
•We want to help _____ do _______
•We want to help others the opportunity to ________
•We’re connecting _______ with ______ so they can ________
•We make it easier to ____________
•Have your voice be heard about _________
#8 THINK LIKE A SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHER
•The potential to collect “Big Data” means you have something of incredible value to a potential partner, investor, or brand
•Gives you a better chance of a lift when an exit may present itself
•Big data lends itself to infographics, which contributes to your thought leadership and a great way to get media coverage
technology platform
spark - what if?
story...
BIG DATA
real value narrative to engagement
Lift towards an exit...(c) Alan Weinkrantz
“some funding.”..
#9 PUT IT OUT THERE
•You never know who is going to find your content and engage
• You don’t have to have high quality production values to do this
• Hardware is cheap. Tools are free. Tons of creatives to help you.
• Put your brand in play
#10 DRAW, PAINT, PHOTOGRAPH, ROCK OUT
•Do something or learn to do something creative other than working on your startup
• It will re-wire your brain in an unexpected way
my drums circa 1968
#11 IT’S NOT ALWAYS REPLICABLE
• Just because one strategy or tactic worked for one company does not mean it will work for another
#12 GET LUCKY
•Go wide
•Get lucky
•Run with it when you strike a chord
HACK YOUR OWN COMMUNICATIONS
•Think of yourself as a reporter & story teller
•Much of this you can do yourself
•Leave digital bread crumbs
PLAN....
•Post and write relevant content so you can be a source to media on your field of expertise
•Develop & publish infographics you can share
•Follow a wish list of 20 journalists you think should cover you
•Read and comment on relevant articles without being self promotional.
•Ask end user / beta customers if you can refer to them to media
•Follow editorial calendars
•Create your own editorial calender
F1
F2
F3
F4
Role. Tone. Voice.
CEO: Serious. Thought Leader.
CTO: Technical. Knowledge. What’s Next.
Biz Dev: Forward. Opportunity. Open.
Lead Dev: Innovator. Code. Team.
“F” = founder
March April May
F1
F2
F3
F4
90 Day Editorial Calendar Planner2x topics per month from each - 24 posts per quarter
NOW....
•Make a wish list of where you belong
•business / tech / bloggers
•media appropriate to your space
•analysts / influencers appropriate to your space
• track competitors or companies in your periphery on news.google.com to see who covers and writes about them
• track competitors on Angel.co
PLAN FOR PR
• If you follow some of these basic principles, you’ll be further ahead.
•This process takes at least six months to one year to really get on a journalist’s radar and be sticky - sometimes you can get lucky
•Get everyone on your team to make this part of their regimen as it will make them aware of the opportunities that await you when you are ready.
•Bring up PR in your team meetings in a “what if...” scenario.
Be Ready For PR So You Can Succeed
RECOMMENDED READING
•Why Branded Content is Beating Editorial http://www.digiday.com/brands/why-branded-content-is-beating-editorial/
•The Pressures of Content Creation http://www.scottmonty.com/2012/11/the-pressures-of-content-creation.html
•Brands Will Become Media http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2012/11/brand_media.html
•The Internet of Things http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/The_Internet_of_Things_2538
www.angel.co
Text
www.twtrland.com
www.listorious.com
www.helpareporter.com
As you approach Demo Day... reach out to me and I will give you an hour in helping you in thinking this through specific
to your startup.
Rise...
please share:)
ABOVE THE CODE™
Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. SlideShare. Scribd. Instagram. YouTube.
© Alan Weinkrantz And Company 2012 Above The Code ™
all photos - except slides 18 & 21 - (c) Alan Weinkrantz 2013