Tip of the Day: PR Agencies are Dead, Handle the Press Yourself
September 28, 2010
I was reading the Business Insider this week and came across the Tip Of The Day by Ross Mayfield, the President and co-founder of Socialtext, and it absolutely resonated with me.
At Openview Partners — a Boston based Venture Capital firm that invests growth capital in expansion stage software companies — we work with a lot of founders and/or CEOs to help them build great businesses with economically sound business models. Often, once we invest expansion capital in a company, many management teams want to go get a PR agency to help them “Build their Brand”.
As I look back on this, I can honestly say that 100% of the companies where not happy with their experience and, after spending thousands of dollars, came to the conclusion that there was no real value.
Ross states in his tip:
“Everybody has the ability to publish. You engage in direct conversations with both traditional journalists and bloggers through the Web.”
I could not agree with Ross more, and on our new OpenView Labs website we have some great ideas around content marketing and are currently running a series on corporate blogging that may help you achieve the desired results without having to retain a PR agency that Ross talks about.
Anyone who has met me knows I have an opinion on everything… however it does not mean I am right. What do you think… are PR Agencies dead?
All the best!
G