STORYSTACKThe Role of Narrative and Story Telling
for the Educational Startup
June 1, 2014
ABOUT
• Tech PR / Branded Journalism
• 30+ years…. been through major shifts & cycles
• U.S. and Israel
• Met Amalia & Team at SXSWEdu in Austin / 2014
PRESENTATION
• Live on www.alanweinkrantz.com blog & Slideshare
• Tweet questions to: @alanweinkrantz
• Ask questions….I’m not here to “lecture…”
• Based on belief sets, principles, and experimentation
Istanbul - 29 May, 2014
A huge, global volume of education - related startups…. all vying for
attention in the media
Just get us some press…
Do you have the right contacts in the media to get us a huge story in….. ?
We have a huge (and important) announcement next week and we need to be covered everywhere….
_____ is on our Advisory Board….our team came from the IDF….we have the most
important educational technology in the history of man-mind….we are going to be the
Google of ______, etc….
I heard that if you _________ with journalists, it’s a sure way to get__________. At least that’s what a friend of mine at another start-up did….and got
covered in ______…
Education is very unique, and unless we have relationships
with media, how can do we this ourselves?
There’s always a story behind the story, and what it took to get there….
ALAN’S PRINCIPLES OF “GETTING PRESS”
• Listen
• Build a sustainable body of work
• Pitch - with expectations
• Keep listening and contribute to your ecosystem
LISTEN…
• Identify the writers, bloggers, analysts who you think matter
• Come up with 15 - 20 as your target and assign the founders the responsibility to tune in, read, and just listen…
• Share your insights with the team on what they write about, say, issues they cover, what they could be missing, and most of all, where you can help them.
A BODY OF WORK
• Depends on what you are doing… use common sense
• Social, of course,
• Blog is best.
• Helpful content. Not self-promotional.
• Write to help the media discover you and be an authoritative source…”thought leader…”
PITCH - EXPECTATIONS
• Introductory email
• Various ways to “pitch”
• Meeting and following up at conference is a good way
• Commenting on articles can help you be discovered
• Not every pitch sticks
As educational story tellers you have the opportunity to
add a massive layer of value to your startup
What’s Branded Journalism?
The art of applying story telling and building narratives to support and
reflect a brand’s values…
Having a body of work separates your startup… all vying for attention
The new tools of building your startup
Technology Stack LAMP Java
Python OpenStack
Ruby AWS
Rackspace Microsoft
IBM / Softlayer
StoryStack
Blog YouTube Instagram Twitter LinkedIn
SoundCloud FaceBook
WHY
• Builds a new type of defensible position
• Your body of work helps you define who you are
• Media can discover and cover you
• Can lead to new types of unexpected deal flow
StoryStack
Story
Narrative
Voice
Engagement
Discovery
STORY
• Sets the stage for the heart and soul of your company
• Builds and expresses culture
• Attracts customers, partners, media, etc
VOICE
• Educator
• Researcher
• Helping kids
• Gets parents
• Inspirational
NARRATIVE
• Connected events
• Gluing your story together
• Ties your channels together
• Helps you express, connect and engage with your ecosystem
ENGAGEMENT
• Lets you listen
• Give your customers / partners a voice
• Enables amplification of your story
• Which can lead to….
DISCOVERY
• An act of faith
• Parents, teachers, kids are searching for you
• Let them discover you
• Find others
• Get discovered, covered by media
content (curated,
contributed, posts)
socialcommenting
writing
Branding your startup with content adds a unique layer of value
Your Startup’s Voice
BRANDED JOURNALISM EXAMPLES….
• News
• Content
• Story Telling
• Media
WHAT’S YOUR VOICE ?
• Educator
• Love kids
• Helps parents
• Gets teaching
• A better world
EXECUTION…
• Agree to some basic milestones
• Don’t be afraid to write
• Don’t publish until you feel comfortable doing so
• Build out an editorial calendar
• Share the responsibility with your co-founders
EXECUTION
• Decide on the outposts (channels)
• Allow 90 days to get the process going
• Use stock tools
• Your SmartPhone is a very powerful story telling platform
SUGGESTED READING
!
• www.adweek.com/topic/branded-content
• www.digiday.com
• www.battellemedia.com
• www.ragan.com • all photos (except for The Beatles, BB King, etc) by me.
LET’S CONNECT…
• SoundCloud
• YouTube