Boostrapping Your PR: Create Content
If you're absorbed in the social-media community, you can start building buzz for your business or product even before your big launch. Mayfield says before he launched Socialtext in 2002, he began blogging about topics having to do with the consumer Web and sharing them to his social and professional circles. When you're forming opinions about topics not directly related to your business, you're creating content that people can comment on or share, which helps build your personal brand, he says.
Weekly says he monitors Twitter to see what topics are popular. When a trend is hitting Twitter, he says it's the time to seize the conversation by writing a substantial (1,000 words or more) blog post or article.
"All the other lazy people are going to retweet and link to it," he says. "The effect of Twitter is fascinating. It's an amplifier to spread news more quickly."
You also have the opportunity to share the process with interested audiences. Giving a certain group of writers or bloggers exclusive access to the process leading up to your launch will generate interest and could provide some constructive feedback, Troiano says.
"Start-ups are all about getting a growing set of concentric circles to buy in. That kind of organic growth — word of mouth, bit by bit, Facebook Like by Facebook Like — increasingly, that's the way a lot of these startup brands are being built," he says. "Every great brand starts with a group of really committed zealots. The backflow of info from that committed audience can be invaluable to you in shaping your product."
Another strategy to get your name out is to contribute to articles in journals, websites and trade publications.
"If you're in a particular industry, you're probably going to end up understanding your industry better than your traditional PR firm is going to," says Weekly, who has contributed to dozens of articles over the years. You can find these opportunities on the Web and then create an abstract of an article to pitch, he says.
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Bootstrapping Your PR: Handling a Crisis Situation
Now you've built some buzz on your own, but what do you do when you need to handle a public relations crisis?
Mayfield says a good place to start is to make sure you have a trusted network of advisers by including someone with a public relations or marketing background on your board of directors.
Before you respond to a news event, Weekly says you should sit down and sketch out the message and determine the key points to keep repeating throughout the ordeal. Stick to three main points to keep it simple, he says.
Experts all agree on this advice: be honest, be transparent and give up shaky ground while moving into firmer territory. Leong of Hunter says you should prepare by reading up on case studies of recent crisis public relations efforts — from BP to Johnson and Johnson — to see what worked and what didn't.
Monitor the conversation about your company on Twitter and blogs and respond if the conversation reaches influential media people, Weekly says. Adding your official voice to the conversation directly on blogs and comment sections builds good will, he says.
"People always appreciate that the folks from the company engage even if it's on a relatively small blog," he says. "They respect the fact that you're willing to come down and talk about them."
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Bootstrapping Your PR: Don't Ignore the Alternatives
Just because you're trying to squeeze every last bootstrap dollar out of your public relations efforts doesn't mean you have to go it alone.
Traditional firms help by staying on top of editorial calendars, applying for awards and seeking out speaking or interview opportunities. But Mayfield says you can still harvest this skill set by taking advantage of the poor journalism job market. A lot of reporters unable to find work will take a position on a public relations team in an industry they're used to covering. That gives you a person on staff familiar with the media landscape who is adept at telling stories and connecting with audiences.
Troiano says he's also found freelance public relations people who can be hired at a day rate for half of what a typical agency would cost.
Another resource Leong suggests is your local college. Many schools have chapters of the Public Relations Student Society of America, a public relations training ground run by enthusiastic students. A business can hire students at a cheap rate to develop a public relations strategy or consult on publicity issues.
"They can whip up a really nice plan locally and get it done for you," she says.
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