I’ve had PR ideas that got our clients coverage in the WSJ, TechCrunch, and WIRED come to me while:

• Walking the dog

• Watching a horror film

• Vacationing in Florida

Y’all: 👏 don’t 👏 underestimate 👏 the 👏 power 👏 of 👏 disconnecting 👏 from 👏 work 👏

The most undervalued benefit of working with a PR firm if you’re a tech founder:

Having a pro clarify your messaging.

Facts:
- The tech industry is heavy on jargon
- Laypersons just don’t speak that language
- The media doesn’t want to lose eyeballs to complexity

Which puts…

This shit is f#cking hard. No question.

A peer in a PR group I’m part of broke down in tears.

Honestly, I could relate.

Our industry is tough.

Not just because:
- It doesn’t matter who you “know”
- Getting top-tier placements is an art + science
- You have to be scrappy, adaptable, and tenacious to succeed

But also…

Carly Martinetti Be personal, and mean it. This is possible when you take a people-focused approach (i.e., getting to know a person, then sending a relevant idea only to them), rather than an angle-focused one sent to a huge list.

Carly Martinetti 🇮🇹The Wordfather
⚾️Fever Pitch
📈Trendspotting
🤫Key Embargo
📰No Coverage for Old Men
📝A Lead of Their Own

Carly Martinetti Star Words: The Media Strikes Back

The Matrix Rebranded

Avengers: Brandgame

Carly Martinetti 🎬 How to Lose a Client in 10 Days
🎬 The Pursuit of Coverage
🎬 Cloudy with Chance of Crisis

Hilarious PR movie titles:

💃 Beauty and the Brief
🪖 Saving Private Reputation
🐑 The Silence of the Brands
🏃‍♂️ Catch Me If You Can Communicate

Your turn 😅⤵︎

3 ways we helped a tech startup in the logistics space:
- Generate 106 leads in a single month
- Raise a $50M series B round
- 3x their employee count

1. Messaging Workshop

The first thing we do when we onboard a tech client is look at their messaging.

Tech startups tend to

The trades aren’t just a stepping stone to top-tier publications (the WSJ reached out to us for a podcast/article feature after seeing our client in the trades).

The trades are where decision-makers go to stay on top of industry trends and decide how to spend budgets.

Journalists get hundreds of pitches a day.

Some are human-generated word salads. Some are ChatGPT-generated word salads.

Journalists: in an era dominated by word-salad-pitches, how do you make a pitch stand out?

PR pros = matchmakers.

Find the right story for the right journalist, and love blossoms 💌

PR ≠ marketing/advertising.

They intersect, but PR is its own beast.

Marketing & ads sell; PR builds genuine customer relationships, crafts compelling narratives, & navigates crises.

It's not just about being heard/seen.

It’s about being understood.

I won’t sign a client unless I’m confident we can get them earned media.

Churn-and-burn agencies suck.

Let’s do better 💪

Researching the journalist you’re pitching to (their style, niche, & preferences) is just as important as the research you do on the pitch itself 🧠

Unpopular opinion:

Specialized PR firms miss out on the creative angles that can help:
- Separate your brand from the competition
- Get news coverage between announcements

More client types = more ideas to draw from when crafting the perfect pitch ✍️

Timing ⏰ is ⏰ everything ⏰!

PR isn’t just about publicity.

It's about weaving a powerful narrative, cultivating a positive brand image, and managing reputations.

Don’t just create noise.

Make music.

Guys I was exaggerating about showing up at reporters’ homes lol but the fact that everyone is questioning this as something PR people might actually do scares me 😅😅