I am working on a blog post to follow up PR secrets too. Great post. Loic is the best at this stuff in the business. UPDATE: it's now up: http://scobleizer.com/2008... - Robert Scoble

Robert, can't wait for your post. Can I pitch you a marketing product as a target? - Loic Le Meur

I've found that you are correct about Bloggers, I see that they don't need to try to reach out to bloggers. If the product or service is the best out there you don't need to try sell it. They will review it without your help....via feedalizr - Paul

Loic: the new PR is two things: 1. It's "Professional Relationships." You are by far the best in the business at that. 2. It's creating experiences that create story frameworks. The best example I've seen recently is Michael Adams inviting us up to Yosemite (Ansel Adams' son). He had no news, nothing to announce, but by having a magical experience to share he got on front page of New York Times. - Robert Scoble

I agree PR should not in itself become a barrier that someone must get help to climb over. With all the great tools that exist today it is possible to form direct relationships which will facilitate ones PR efforts. This is not to say knowing the best ways is not important but that one need not be an expert or for that matter pay one to effectively promote ones efforts, product or company. - Joel Ordesky

I love sincere post like this one. - Gadiel Rivera

Gadiel Rivera, I am always sincere. Robert, thanks for the compliments, dear "PR Target" :) - Loic Le Meur

Love #5 and agree. If you do something incredible, why force it? Your time will come and you'll get the attention and respect you deserve. - Shawn Farner

Awesome post Loic! I really like # 2....CEO should evangelize their own products like you do so well. Heck, if they can't get passionate about it, why should I ?! - Susan Beebe

Speaking of which, Loic, I have another bottle of awesome wine here. Why don't you come over and show me some more cool stuff about Seesmic while we drink it together? :-) - Robert Scoble

I like Scoble's comment here too about Adams & NY Times PR traction... amazing case study there for sure. PR is changing. No longer does it matter who you know but more importantly ... WHAT you do with those relationships! Do you leverage them or just pass off your PR duties to a "professional"? sounds like consumers are seeing thru the fake old school PR strategies and want the real deal (authentic, grunge, not plastic fake)! - Susan Beebe

Robert, deal. I will bring one too, want dinner tonight? For lunch it is a bit late I am having dessert, we could join you with Geraldine would be super cool - Loic Le Meur

Hmm, already have plans today/tonight (gonna go hang out with http://www.tangodiva.com ) so give me a call and we'll figure out a good night to get everyone together. +1-425-205-1921 - Robert Scoble

Since starting work at a very, very "old media" trade press outlet I get pitched all the time by PR people. What's interesting is the questions that I ask back are ones that they're unprepared to answer when they think they're pitching MSM. I often get asked "are you a blogger or something" and I have to explain that I started as one (and still am), and if I don't find it interesting, than my audience (who is paying exorbitant amounts to read our stuff) has nothing to learn from me parroting their crap. - Andrew Feinberg

Also, AMEN BROTHA to Robert's comment on Professional Relationships. Especially in DC, peer-to-peer is the best way to get your message across. It's how I've managed to put together an experience that should create a great story framework that you all should hear about very soon. Trust is built one-on-one, and if you have no relationship, all you are is a mouthpiece. PR people should "lurk" on the scene and spend 2-3 months at bars, meetups, etc before even trying to make a pitch for anyone, to anyone. - Andrew Feinberg

Sorry for the third consecutive comment, but another analogous industry is Lobbying. Like startup PR and journalism, you need to build a community (grassroots/readership) as well as manage professional relationships (with members, staff, sources). But, the Golden Rule of K Street (you might be surprised by this) is the best lobbyists are by far the ones that NEVER lie. Once you give someone bad information, your credibility will be zero going forward and you might was well find a new job. - Andrew Feinberg

I have your number Robert, in my "VIP PR key people to pitch" folder. Or I will do kite surfing, I should try your camera! - Loic Le Meur

Spot on. We're definitely seeing eye to eye on this. I'm not a big fan of PR people either. Cuddling egos of startups' founders get them contracts, but I know very few CEOs praising their PR firms 4-6 months into working with them. - David Marcus

The camera is yours! Just gotta figure out how to meet up to give it to you. - Robert Scoble

let me see if there is wind Robert, otherwise it is not going to happen, but thanks! - Loic Le Meur

I just posted my blog post about this topic: http://scobleizer.com/2008... - Robert Scoble

hey Scoble should I not say bullshit? I see you wrote it "bulls++t" ? - Loic Le Meur

PR Secrets is an oxymoron. - paul mooney

sorta curious what Brian Solis' reaction to all this will be? ouch! - Susan Beebe

Thank you for the comments everyone. I think those who know me, have read my work on my blogs, or read the TechCrunch post completely, know I'd never suggest marketing at targets. And just for the record, the original post was entitled, "PR Tips for Startups." While they may seem like common sense or PR 101, truth is that the points I’ve shared are what most company founders and executives usually overlook. And while leading CEO’s, such as Loic Le Meur and Jason Calacanis, are setting the bar for a new genre of entrepreneurial participation, we need to remember that they are among a small, and hopefully growing, group of communications and community-savvy evangelists. They, as of right now, are among the edglings. This post is intended to help expedite the evolution. Just to clarify any confusion: Don’t market at audiences. Do not “pitch” people. Be genuine and remember that at the end of the day, you’re engaging with real people, not stats or marketing demographics.More on Loic's comments in just a bit - Brian Solis

my thoughts on the "PR = BS" topic: http://tinyurl.com/6cek22 - Jeremy Toeman

1. Loic, I think you took a few things out of context, and yes, knowing Brian he would never think of anyone as a "target" 2. Saying that all you have to be is great is complete bullshit. There are plenty of great tools, products and services out there, too many, if you want yours to succeed and be competitive you need to let people know you're out there. And 3. as Brian mentioned, this stuff may seem obvious to you, but there are plenty of people out there who have no clue what to do. They need our help. - Jackie Peters

Solis knows one secret- How to spin a story to PR for FutureWorks - Jason Kintzler

People sure seem a bit harsh about Brian sharing secrets as he wants to articulate them. Sure, a great company with a great product should not have to delve into PR strategies ... and a great athlete should win based on ability, not because of a coach; a great novel should reach No. 1 without the manipulations of an editor or publicist; and the best presidential candidate should win the election on the merits of his or her position, without need of a central guiding hand for the campaign. Sure. It'd be nice - Walter Neary

strong and has the better product, but MS eats their lunch in this industry in the long tail. Same could be said about the iPod. There are better MP3 players on the market with more features at cheaper prices, but the PR and marketing genious of Jobs basically created a product that people couldn't live without, even if it wasn't the best one available in its category. - Devlin Dunsmore from twhirl

Wow Twhirl totally messed that up!! Please for the love of god fix it so that it doesn't delete my message when updating feeds!! The missing part talks about Apple having a better product than Microsoft and while they are coming on strong MS still dominates that market. - Devlin Dunsmore from twhirl

And that market would be the OS market - Devlin Dunsmore from twhirl

Loic, thank you for bringing much needed attention to the subject of helping startups succeed in PR. Here's my response to comments across the web: http://bub.blicio.us/?p=957 And, also, here's the unedited version of the original post. I think you'll see that we're practically on the same page (more importantly, it's very helpful for startups who need to learn about all of this in general): http://www.briansolis.com/2008...... - Brian Solis