Reinforcing the point made and covered in my previous blog entry on this subject, PR for Startups, Seth Godin makes a few more interesting points in this post.
His main theme is that startups, or even companies at later stages that are 'ready for their closeup', don't need to count on a large multi-media splash for their success. Seth references some household brands that never went that route, including,
Starbucks, Apple, Nike, Harry Potter, Google, William Morris, The DaVinci Code, Wikipedia, Snapple, Geico, Linux, Firefox and yes, Microsoft
People and companies love good publicity -- it wasn't too long ago that 'clipping services' were popular. These paid-for services were provided by firms that would scour the print media for references to your company and products, compile them, and send them on in a big envelope. But for the vanity factor (and the big scrapbook of clips in the lobby), I can't imagine the utility of these services when any old search engine will do just fine.
So, it's not unreasonable to think that getting great coverage of a company or product launch is essential to success. However, that's also last century thinking. PR can help, and help in big ways. But it's far more important to realize that the people you should be spending time and treasure to impress are your customers, not print magazine or newspaper editors. And with web services, it's far better for users to take a look for themselves, rather than to rely on the considered opinions of editors.
Of course, as we look toward our own launch event at Tradavo in the coming months, I may regret this post. But probably not -- the less coverage we get, the harder we'll need to work to build a groundswell of excitement in our user and prospect base.
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