I sometimes reflect on the types of client companies I enjoy working with and promoting.
No question, there is the "prestige factor" that comes from working with the largest companies. The press are more open to pitches involving these companies and sometimes even beat a path to your door.
With startups and smaller companies come smaller fees. You need to spend lots of time educating the media and explaining why people should care. You almost always need to provide some form of validation out of the gate (in the form of customers who will talk, generally) before anyone will take you seriously and even entertain taking a briefing, let alone writing.
There is generally little room for error. Often, the venture is betting most of its marketing dollars on PR. At the end of the day your program will work or it won’t – and if it doesn’t, there is a fair chance your client will be toast.
In short, there is not much space between rubber and road when it comes to PR for tech startups.
Looking on the positive side, although there typically aren’t lots of niceties such as deep marketing and admin. support benches on the client side, there is also less of a chance to get caught up in big company politics (unfortunately there are some smaller companies that act like big companies in all the bad ways).
Absence of an established brand means the opportunity to build brand and not be associated with preconceived notions and the baggage that is almost always there in some form or other. Shiny and new is inherently newsworthy, it really rocks.
There is no greater opportunity to prove your mettle and put your skills to work – to move the dial and make a real difference in your client’s success.
In short, there is no substitute for the thrill of the startup in tech PR (no worries, I love my large clients too and think any agency should have a balanced portfolio, as with thrills often come gray hair and volatility).
