The key to nailing your launch 

The most successful launches have a few things in common:

• A clear and compelling message
• Press coverage that includes those key messages
• Engage key audiences while garnering the broadest possible reach, leveraging every communication channel

Below is detailed information on how to nail your launch, including sample materials from a recent launch of a Redpoint portfolio company. 

1. Craft a clear and interesting message

Below is a winning formula for telling your story to reporters (adapted from here):

1. The status quo and why/who it's failing (context)
2. Why this problem is so important (passion)
3. What’s changed about the world that enables us to finally solve it (timeliness)
4. Why we’re the right team to take it on (credibility)
5. What traction we’re seeing (momentum)
6. What’s next for us and the industry (news & insight)

Don’t skip 1-3. Reporters and their readers are interested in your company as it relates to the broader world and industry trends. Use a mix of surprising data points, customer stories, and your own personal experience to bring your company story to life. 

2. Plug in PR + Communications support 

As you begin planning, you should consider bringing in an experienced PR consultant who will help shape a memorable narrative and improve your odds of reaching tough-to-pitch journalists. When interviewing candidates, ask them to send you their results from recent launches. Share your expectations for press coverage, and be realistic about what’s possible. It’s important to remember that press coverage is never guaranteed. Reach out to Meg and the Redpoint team for recommendations on PR freelancers based on your needs and expectations. 

3. Practice delivering your message 

Practice delivering your message -- with candidates in the interview process, with new employees, with friends -- until you know what phrases resonate 10 out of 10 times. Once you have your key messages, practice saying them at the beginning and end of conversations so you’ll be ready to do this with a reporter. The majority of the time you spend with a reporter should be spent talking about points 1-6 above. 

Everything you say and write in a text or email to a reporter can be attributed to you. If they ask for your opinion on other companies or any topic that you’re not prepared to discuss, you can say “I’d prefer not to speculate, you’d have to talk to them” or “I can give you my thoughts, but I don’t want to be quoted on this.”  You need to say this before you provide a comment, not after. 

A reporter’s job is to find interesting stories that haven’t already been told. Educate them on your industry and help them understand why what you’re doing is interesting, be passionate and engaging, and stay focused on your messages. 

To further sharpen your skills, hire a media trainer (often ~$800 for a half-day session). 

4. Have your materials ready to go before you talk to reporters

In addition to new funding or a launch, here are some other key ingredients that can help strengthen your story: 

• Company launch
• Securing funding
• New product, service, or territory
• New C-level executive hire
• Winning major partnership
• Industry first 
• Contrarian idea
• Upcoming event
  

Before you contact a reporter, you should have the following things ready to go:

1. Press release or company blog post: you don’t need to spend $1000 to put a press release over a wire service like BusinessWire. This practice is more relevant to public companies who have to abide by disclosure laws, and is still largely outdated. That said, you should write your news in the format of a press release or company blog post since reporters are used to ingesting information this way. It's common to copy the text from the press release or blog post into the body of the email to your reporter, below your intro or your signature. Don’t attach a file. Tips for writing a press release or blog post announcement:

• Put the most important fact in the headline, along with your single most compelling key message
• Aim for 600 words, about one page of single-spaced copy
• Include 2-4 quotes, e.g. CEO, co-founder, CTO/head of product, investor
• Review this guide on writing press releases

2. High-resolution imagery: company logo; photo of CEO/co-founders that is not a headshot (ideally with logo); product shots shown in context, with customers, for example (ideally with logo); office space with employees (ideally with logo). Check out this guide on taking photos for use with press.

 5. Focus 80% of your efforts on quality press coverage

In most cases, your goal should be to get one piece of really high-quality press coverage that includes your key messages, and then get the headline of your news picked up wherever else possible (e.g. in email newsletters). As you gain momentum and awareness, you’ll get more coverage. Here are key steps to land high-quality press coverage:

1. 3+ weeks before your announcement, make a list of reporters who cover your industry and/or write stories like the one you’re pitching. Also, revisit your list of existing media relationships. Rank them based on how influential their coverage is and how likely they are to write a story about your news. 
2. Ask your investors or your LinkedIn contacts to provide a warm introduction to the reporter whenever possible. If you don’t have a warm introduction, you’ll have to be lucky and persistent. 
3. Your email pitch to reporters should be concise, less than 5 sentences, covering what your company does, why it’s interesting, and what kind of news you have coming up. (Do not include the press release or blog post in your first email.) Ask for the opportunity to share more information by phone or in person. Follow up one or two times over the next two days, and then move on to the next reporter on your list.
4. Once a reporter is interested in covering the news, send them a draft of your press release or blog post for review and agree on the exact date and time for releasing your news (referred to as an “embargo”). Provide access to your executives, investors, data, etc, to help develop a rich profile. Share a link to all of the high-resolution photography. 
5. When the story appears, quickly follow up with the reporter to get any facts corrected, if necessary. (You can’t get opinions changed, just facts.) And keep up the relationship so the reporter is more likely to be interested in covering your next announcement. 
6. Share the company blog post and media coverage with all of the reporters on your original list, with a personalized note indicating your desire to work together on the next announcement. Send the coverage to all email newsletters for inclusion in their next issue, or ask the newsletter editors to commit to an embargo so that you can share the news there the same day as an exclusive if you prefer a one-day blitz.

6. Have a day-of announcement gameplan

Sample timeline

‍

Timing: 8:00am

‍Activity: Email announcement from CEO to all employees, including invitation to an All Hands meeting later that day

‍Responsible: CEO

‍

Timing: 8:05am

‍Activity: Email announcement from CEO to investors

‍Responsible: CEO

‍

Timing: 8:15am

‍Activity: Press coverage appears online

‍Responsible: N/A

‍

Timing: 8:30am

‍Activity: Company blog post appears online

‍Responsible: PR

‍

Timing: 8:30am onward

‍Activity: Share press coverage and company blog post on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Glassdoor, etc, and RT positive mentions throughout the day

‍Responsible: PR

‍

Timing: 8:30am onward

‍Activity: Employees amplify positive press coverage by posting news with personalized commentary on the milestone on their own LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc

‍Responsible: Every employee

‍

Timing: 8:30am onward

‍Activity: Pitch the news broadly for fast follows and try to amplify through other channels relevant to your announcement (e.g. Product Hunt, Hacker News, etc.)

‍Responsible: PR

‍

Timing: Morning or afternoon

Activity: Gather employees for an All Hands meeting to celebrate and answer questions

Responsible: CEO

‍

Timing: Day after announcement

Activity: Share the full list of all press coverage with employees and investors and ask them to share with their networks

Responsible: CEO or PR

SAMPLE launch materials from our portfolio company Bravado’s launch: 

• Business Insider + TechCrunch press coverage
• Bravado blog post
• Redpoint blog post
• Redpoint tweet
• Bravado tweet

‍