This is the first post in a series titled "Getting Schooled." We'll feature some of the lessons we're learning as we build bGreen from scratch. This first post deals with our foray into the world of PR. Something we admittedly know very little about. This is a brief instant message conversation we had with our PR guy, Brian Kramer, about the inner workings of PR for bGreen. We're trying to attract interest in bGreen by taking the approach of "watch these guys start a business, follow the steps they're taking, and figure out what they're doing right and wrong." Brian is helping us present this aspect of bGreen.
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Kramer: FYI, that entrepreneur freelancer just asked for green companies via twitter but I found out it's an ROI story
bGreen: interesting
Kramer: not quite appropriate
bGreen: no, but maybe that's his current niche
Kramer: my thoughts are that it's not quite your area of expertise and I'd hate to burn bridges on this one...plus now it puts my previous email, which he alluded to, back up on the forefront. it is very, very, very okay to not participate in an interview if it's not 100% appropriate. plus, I'm not 100% that this is for Entrepreneur
bGreen: so what's the move?
Kramer: i just passed on it. in the long run it makes you guys look that much more media-credible and it makes it so you're not "media whores"
bGreen: re: now it puts my previous email, which he alluded to, back up on the forefront how so?
Kramer: because he gets toooons of emails. barely got a chance to read mine and now he knows that I was referring to a green company and I resent it to him so he'll reread it this is what I was trying to tell you, these reporters are inundated with hundreds and hundreds of emails/story ideas every day so, it's hard to stand out without being a pain in the ass to them
bGreen: this the dude? ‘freelancer: Do any "green" companies follow me? Slight chance I might be able to use you in an article I'm writing.’
Kramer: yup. he does a ton of freelance, is a good writer, and he and I have a good rapport
bGreen: cool. do you have 5 minutes?
Kramer: sure
bGreen: ok, so explain to me how this works... he puts up a post like that, which is right off the bat a great thing. you dig around, figure out it's a ROI story. do you get in touch and tell him "hey, got a green company, but not right for this article?"
Kramer: sort of. I see that he tweets that, I call him up from the database of reporters that I have here at work, and basically ask him why/what he needs a green company for. he knows me, he knows that I won't bs him. so, he tells me exactly why. I can then say, "Yup, these guys can talk about it" or, "nope, they can't" or, "maybe they can, let me check in with their experience here.” more than half of PR is just paying attention to the right people
bGreen: very cool. so basically you say "my guys don't know anything about ROI because 1) they have no I and 2) certainly no ROI" but here's my pitch for them
Kramer: sort of, but not too far off. I basically called up your biz partner, JUST to make sure. he said, nope you guys can't talk about it. so I called back the freelancer, and said that they can't, but that these were the guys that I emailed him about from my gmail acct. he's on deadline now, but he'll read the resent email.
Kramer: I am a middleman; no two ways about it...I connect businesses with reporters.
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