Instigator Blog

One of the biggest challenges for startups is keeping in the public eye - getting the word out on a consistent basis to drive an audience, customers, buzz, etc. There are lots of marketing techniques for startups but one that I think is under used and under appreciated is PR.

Public Relations is all about getting the word out. But generally, PR is used to reach the mainstream press and a mainstream audience. So a lot of startups - especially those living in a Web 2.0 bubble - don’t focus much energy on PR. If your startup is in the Valley or another true startup ecosystem you may be able to generate sufficient buzz through the community, but for the rest of us, we need everything we can to keep in front of people, garnering attention.

The thing with PR is that it’s not just for attracting mainstream press, although that’s a good reason to use it. The press certainly looks at blogs, social media and less traditional avenues for its scoops, but they still work via press releases & press relationships as well. And even companies living in a Web 2.0 bubble - the ultra-coolest of the cool consumer apps only for the “Facebook crowd” - can still benefit from breaking into the mainstream. Ultimately that ultra-cool Valley crowd is still pretty small, and you’ll need to break out beyond it for real success.

So what can PR bring a startup?

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We all know that hiring top talent for startups is hard. In a recent post I weighed in on the debate about whether or not startups should hire workaholics. Within the comments on that post, Jeff Nolan said something very interesting (which may appear a bit out of context, but that’s OK):

…the best employees are motivated by a combination of working on something intellectually stimulating, working with smart people, and making money… in that order, based on my experience.

The rewards angle is interesting to consider, but I believe that the best employee satisfaction strategy is to constantly remove barriers that get in people’s way. Google is really good about this with their engineers, they create an environment that is as friction free as possible for people to exercise their creativity, while at the same time working in concert to execute on Google’s mission.

I definitely agree with the first point. And if you don’t offer employees something intellectually stimulating and smart people to work with, I’m not sure it matters how much you pay them … the best people won’t be motivated.

And for the most part what this really means is that it’s very difficult to motivate people.

It’s very hard to truly motivate employees. Yes, working at startups can be hugely rewarding. But ultimately, most of the motivation has to come from within.

So what about all the perks and rewards that companies offer? What’s the point?

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On Thursday, March 20th @ 12pm EDT I’m hosting the second Social Media Recruiting Radio Show with Chris Russell.

The goal of the 1-hour show is to talk about social media recruiting — what it is, how you can use social media for recruiting, the benefits, pitfalls, success stories and more.

For Thursday’s show we’ve got a guest — Dennis Smith from WirelessJobs.com and we’ll be talking about the use of blogging for recruiting.

We run the show on BlogTalkRadio which is very cool. There are phone numbers to call-in and ask questions, or you can sit back, relax and enjoy. It’s a great opportunity to dip a toe into social media recruiting and see what you might be able to do - very easily - to improve your recruiting efforts.

The first show ran a couple weeks ago — here it is for you to enjoy:

Quick recap:

• What: Social Media Recruiting Radio Show
• When: March 20th @ 12pm EDT
• Why: Cause it’s cool

One of entrepreneurs’ favorite pastimes is complaining about venture capitalists (VCs). (Incidentally, I’m fairly sure the reverse holds true for VCs, but I won’t put words in their mouths.) Although some of this is understandable (raising money is extremely hard and can be a frustrating process), I’ve often thought it’s in bad taste and just plain stupid.

I agree with Jeff Bussbang — too many entrepreneurs play the VC blame game. This is when an entrepreneur complains about a VC’s incompetence, because they didn’t agree to fund the entrepreneur’s startup. I understand the frustration, and you can be sure all VCs aren’t created equal, but the more you play the blame game, and openly complain about VCs while still trying to raise money from them the harder you’ll find it.

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Steve Spalding is a blogging force to be reckoned with. He writes a fantastic blog over at How To Split an Atom. I encourage you to check it out, if you haven’t already.

And now he’s launched a new initiative — History of Blogging — of which I’m playing a part. It was great to be invited…

History of Blogging is a new kind of blog network - each member picked by Steve, each member tackling technology and social media issues from a different perspective. We’re loosely connected through History of Blogging where we publish links of interest (from our own sites but primarily from others), to bring you an assortment of top-quality content (hopefully!) I’ve already discovered a number of blogs and people absolutely worth tracking.

With that in mind, here’s the list of people participating in Steve’s latest project:

• Charo Nuguid, head geekette at The Geekette Speaketh
• Mark Dykeman, social media analyst of Broadcasting Brain
• Dan Rua, venture capitalist of Florida Venture Blog
• Elmer Thomas, navigating Web 2.0 for tech entrepreneurs at Thinking Serious
• Joseph Ferrara, real estate guru at Sellsius Real Estate Blog

I look forward to participating with this group and seeing where History of Blogging takes us. And I hope you enjoy all of these bloggers and the content they share as well!