ABOVE THE CODEStory Telling / Branded Content

Ramallah, Palestine - 10 February, 2013

TODAY...

•Presentation online @ www.alanweinkrantz.com

•Sharing principles, methods, approaches... each company is different

•Practical tips, hints and actionable steps you can take

You have a strategic advantage...

A land of story tellers...

INTRO...

•Who’s in the room? Family.... legacies...

•Startups: Status / Funding / Distribution / Partnerships

•Companies: Technology / Product / Markets

•Media coverage? Impact?

I’M HERE....

•To help you....

• think about the importance and role of branded content and story telling...

• share your startup or company’s story

•connect in a whole new way that a few years ago was left to the marketing department or an external ad agency or PR firm

ABOUT

•30 years - yup, I am an old school PR guy.... and believe in the real power of PR

•Based in San Antonio, Texas

•Advisor to PITA - in recent branding initiative

LAST TWO YEARS

•Speaking / Writing / Observing / Watching

•Geekdom

•TechStars Cloud

•MexicanVC (500 Startups)

•Microsoft Azure

•Dreamit Ventures

GOOD NEWS :)

•Very low cost / no cost to create a start-up

•Big Idea

•Core team

•Strong will

•Servers / hosting

BAD NEWS :(

•Someone in New York, Madrid, San Francisco, Singapore, Mumbai is thinking the same thing as you are :(

•Hard to have a defensible position

•Hard to protect your IP

•Getting traction is tough

QUALITIES THEN...

•Strong Intellectual Property

•Defensible technology

•Strategic investors like Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, Motorola

•Traditionally, VC funded

QUALITIES NOW

•No Intellectual property

•Nothing really defensible

•Strategic investors & partners - Friends, Family, Angels, Google, Microsoft, etc.

•Up until recently....No funding, or angel, micro, friends & family funding

•Easy to run a virtual company... no real address, presence from a co-working space and an IP phone number

THE WORLD AS WE KNEW IT

•Hardware

•Software

•Telecom

•Security

•Bio Sciences

•Medical Devices

Go to SchoolGo to College / University

Summer JobGo to Work

THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

•Consumer Web

•Mobile

•SaaS

•Subscription

•eCommerce

•Marketplace

High SchoolStart-UpGap YearStart-Up

College / UniversityStart-Up

WorkStartup

Quit Day JobStartup

THE MIND OF A CODER...

•Focus on...

• functionality

•application

•utilitarian value

50 years

Every startup is a rock and roll band

The Four Coders

Coders & Story Tellers

Music is the original code

Great songs have....

Great narratives

Great voice

Great stories

Great tone

Music is in all of us

Everything is getting coded

“The Internet of things...”needs stories...

We learn to “write”

WE WRITE FOR...

•Marketing

•Business

•Technical

•Legal

•Medical

•Social

... but we never learn the art of story telling, or how to write in simple language to explain what we are doing and what we feel

What you say, how you speak and what you communicate are

the new lyrics of theonline world

The experience your deliver on the platforms we now interface and engage with, are enabling

billions of people on the planet to create the new melodies of a

socially connected world

WRITE FOR STORY TELLING

•Why is what you are working on important?

•How are you improving lives?

•How are you helping people hack their own lives?

•What are you seeing in the way people are taking responsibility for their own health

LOOK WHAT YOU DID!

•Solved a problem

•Figured out a way to connect two or more things and do something special with it

•Codified a process, expertise, method or a discovery

•Delivering of new type of experience on the devices & platforms we are using today - and in the future

GUIDES TO WRITING

•Write like you speak...record yourself and transcribe what you say

•Pretend you are speaking to an audience.... write in front of a mirror (seriously...)

•Think of how you felt when you were read stories as a child

WHY THIS MATTERS TODAY...

•Story telling, having a voice, and the on-going narrative is a reflection of your startup / company’s heart and soul

• It becomes the body of work that helps you recruit talent, attract investors, customers, build partnerships, and be discovered by the media

THE MEDIA IS YOUR FIRST

MARKETto share and tell your story

you

bloggers

analysts

media

the consumer

The Media is Your Customer....

enterprise... institutions..

&

WHAT I BELIEVE

•Branded content & story telling is what’s next

• It’s harder and harder to “get coverage” because of the volume of noise

•Every company is a media company

•Your startup is a rock band... you’re in the studio figuring out something new

WHAT I BELIEVE

•Story is a defensible business strategy

•Narrative is the supporting infrastructure for your brand

•Tone is the voice of your brand

WHAT I BELIEVE

•12 Fundamental Belief Sets

•Not everything I do always works

• I do this for me... I do this for clients.

•There’s always exceptions to the rules

•Discussion is based on a combination of experience and principles

WHAT I SEE...

•Great ideas

•Cool technology

•Understanding the role of UI / UX

•Little, or no thinking through the role of the written word, language, tone, voice and “speaking through” the devices we are using in our daily lives

From >

Code

To > Above The

Code

Alan’s 12 Fundamental Belief Sets

#1 - STOP PITCHING

•Start story telling

•Your pitch helps clarify / define what you do, but really sucks as a way to get coverage

#2 - YOU’RE REALLY A MEDIA COMPANY THAT....

•Creates and makes media so you’ll be discovered, found and shared

•YouTube

•Twitter

•Facebook

•Blog

•Pinterest

• Instagram

•SoundCloud

•Google Plus

•LinkedIn

•UStream

#3 UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BEING...

•Discovered - random

•Found - search

being discovered and being found increases your chances

of sharing

#4 IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU

•How do you help others do something in a compelling way you could not do before

#5 BE HUMAN

•Get off your perch and write like you would speak

•Converse with your potential market wherever they are

#6 LIKE MINDED PEOPLE TEND TO FIND EACH OTHER

•Give them a place to connect and share their story

•Consider aligning with other startups like yours to create a multinational startup

#7 HAVE A MISSION

•We’re out to make __________ better

•We want to help _____ do _______

•We want to help others the opportunity to ________

•We’re connecting _______ with ______ so they can ________

•We make it easier to ____________

•Have your voice be heard about _________

#8 THINK LIKE A SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHER

•The potential to collect “Big Data” means you have something of incredible value to a potential partner, investor, or brand

•Gives you a better chance of a lift when an exit may present itself

•Big data lends itself to infographics, which contributes to your thought leadership and a great way to get media coverage

technology platform

spark - what if?

story...

BIG DATA

real value narrative to engagement

Lift towards an exit...(c) Alan Weinkrantz

“some funding.”..

#9 PUT IT OUT THERE

•You never know who is going to find your content and engage

• You don’t have to have high quality production values to do this

• Hardware is cheap. Tools are free. Tons of creatives to help you.

• Put your brand in play

#10 DRAW, PAINT, PHOTOGRAPH, ROCK OUT

•Do something or learn to do something creative other than working on your startup

• It will re-wire your brain in an unexpected way

my drums circa 1968

#11 IT’S NOT ALWAYS REPLICABLE

• Just because one strategy or tactic worked for one company does not mean it will work for another

#12 GET LUCKY

•Go wide

•Get lucky

•Run with it when you strike a chord

HACK YOUR OWN COMMUNICATIONS

•Think of yourself as a reporter & story teller

•Much of this you can do yourself

• “Paper trails” on the Internet exist if you search correctly

PLAN....

•Post and write relevant content so you can be a source to media on your field of expertise

•Develop & publish infographics you can share

•Follow a wish list of 20 journalists you think should cover you

•Read and comment on relevant articles without being self promotional.

•Ask end user / beta customers if you can refer to them to media

•Follow editorial calendars

•Create your own editorial calender

F1

F2

F3

F4

Role. Tone. Voice.

CEO: Serious. Thought Leader.

CTO: Technical. Knowledge. What’s Next.

Biz Dev: Forward. Opportunity. Open.

Lead Dev: Innovator. Code. Team.

“F” = founder

March April May

F1

F2

F3

F4

90 Day Editorial Calendar Planner2x topics per month from each - 24 posts per quarter

NOW....

•Make a wish list of where you belong

•business / tech / bloggers

•media appropriate to your space

•analysts / influencers appropriate to your space

• track competitors or companies in your periphery on news.google.com to see who covers and writes about them

• track competitors on Angel.co

www.angel.co

PLAN FOR PR

• If you follow some of these basic principles, you’ll be further ahead.

•This process takes at least six months to one year to really get on a journalist’s radar and be sticky - sometimes you can get lucky

•Get everyone on your team to make this part of their regimen as it will make them aware of the opportunities that await you when you are ready.

•Bring up PR in your team meetings in a “what if...” scenario.

Be Ready For PR So You Can Succeed

RECOMMENDED READING

•Why Branded Content is Beating Editorial http://www.digiday.com/brands/why-branded-content-is-beating-editorial/

•The Pressures of Content Creation http://www.scottmonty.com/2012/11/the-pressures-of-content-creation.html

•Brands Will Become Media http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2012/11/brand_media.html

•The Internet of Things http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/The_Internet_of_Things_2538

Rise...

please share:)

ABOVE THE CODE™

alan@weinkrantz.com

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© Alan Weinkrantz And Company 2012 Above The Code ™

all photos (except slides 16 & 17) by me