entrepreneurship at the intersection of sports media and the social graph

Google Inc., which helped popularize the idea of automated ad sales on the Web, has been quietly turning to an old-fashioned tool—phone calls—to compete in the hot market for local business advertising.

The Internet-search giant this year has hired several hundred sales representatives to call U.S. businesses such as spas, restaurants and hotels to promote new advertising initiatives, people familiar with the matter said. The effort includes an office in Tempe, Ariz., with around 100 sales representatives, one of these people said.

Since 20% of searches done on Google are for local information, "a strong Web presence can help neighborhood businesses answer those searches and bring in more customers," said Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of geographic and local services, in a prepared statement. Google's new local ad offerings "are simple and they work, so we've been investing in marketing and sales to support them."

One person who has experienced the results is Debbie Codino, a manager at Bob Brown Tire Center Inc. in Portland, Ore. She said she hangs up daily on callers who say they can help boost the small tire shop's presence on the Web to attract new customers. But when she received a call from a Google salesman last month, she stayed on the line.

Ms. Codino quickly agreed to pay $25 a month to highlight her store and show a 10%-off coupon when people use terms like "Portland tires" in a search on Google. "I was surprised," she said. "This time it was really Google calling so I was motivated to listen."

Google, of Mountain View, Calif., is better known for search algorithms and the engineers who refine them to get better results. The company's $24 billion in revenue last year came almost entirely from AdWords, a self-service system developed 10 years ago to let anyone buy text ads that show up next to search results. More than one million small businesses, from makers of boots to distributors of special shampoo or contact lenses, advertise through Google on AdWords to drive online sales or get people to download catalogs, among other things, according to some analysts.

But AdWords never fully took off with local businesses, in part because it includes features viewed as too complex or time-consuming for average business owners to use, according to former Google employees. For example, AdWords uses an auction-like system to determine prices for ads. By contrast, Google introduced ad offerings this year for local businesses that cost a fixed amount per month, the kind pitched to Ms. Codino.

So far, only a fraction of local businesses advertise online. BIA/Kelsey, a local-media advisory firm, estimates that local businesses will spend about $20 billion online this year, a figure that could reach more than $35 billion by 2014.

Google signaled a strong interest in the market with an unsuccessful attempt to buy Groupon Inc., a fast-growing company that offers users daily deals on a variety of goods and services. People familiar with the matter have pegged Google's offer at $6 billion; both companies have declined comment. Had that deal been reached, Google would have picked up a sales force of more than 1,500 people who call local businesses to get them to offer discounts to Groupon customers.

Companies such as Groupon and Yelp Inc.—a business-reviews website that has hundreds of sales reps—have attracted big Web companies such as Google and social networking site Facebook Inc. to the growing online local ad market. Google tried to buy Yelp last year, people familiar with the matter have said.

The direct-sales approach on local business "constitutes a cultural change of sorts" for Google, said Greg Sterling, an analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, but a necessary one. Paying sales people generates lower profit margins than a system like AdWords, "but what Google has come to see is that without a sales force or at least human involvement in the process, they're not going to acquire these small businesses as customers," he said.

Direct sales isn't a new approach for Google in handling large advertisers. Though many of Google's 23,000 employees have technical jobs, the company says it also has several thousand salespeople who work with Fortune 500 companies, small and medium-sized businesses and ad agencies on text and graphical ad campaigns, among other things.

To reach local businesses, Google has already built relationships through Web pages it developed last year for them on its search engine. Known as "Place pages," they list basic information, such as the location on a map and a summary of customer reviews.

Google's new sales reps are primarily selling two ad offerings called "tags" and "boost" to the four million businesses that have contacted Google electronically to verify the accuracy of their Place page. The ads show up on Google search results and in Google Maps that display local businesses.

When Facebook earlier this year began its own effort to establish relationships with local businesses, known as Facebook Places, its Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the social network would compete with Google's offerings but added that the local market is huge. A Google executive said he welcomed Facebook's moves.

Links to Place pages on Google's search engine recently became more prominent on the results page for searches covering everything from Italian restaurants to spas. That has put Google into conflict with some business-review sites that generate revenue from local businesses, such as Citysearch.com, which claim Google is crimping their sites' growth by directing more Web searchers to its Place pages. Google executives say the changes are meant to improve users' experience and they believe the changes have generally helped direct more users to non-Google sites that specialize in local-business information.

Mr. Sterling said he expects Google to offer more opportunities for local businesses to reach consumers, perhaps through Groupon-type daily deals. In addition, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said recently that Google's Android software for mobile devices could help people use those devices to pay for goods at a local store, rivaling credit cards.

"Google has always had large sales forces and, quite frankly, the advertiser opportunity has always been bigger than the number of people we were able to hire," said David Scacco, who joined Google as the first advertising sales executive in 2000. But he said Google co-founder Larry Page stressed from the beginning the "need to build automation," or allowing advertisers to buy ads through a self-serve system rather than just hiring scores of salespeople to reach the advertisers.

Mr. Scacco, who is now chief revenue officer at MyLikes, a social-media ad company, said Mr. Page would tell Google's ad team: "If you only throw people at the problem, you won't innovate."

Write to Amir Efrati at amir.efrati@wsj.com

Local has been a category that has long attracted a lot of attention from internet startups. Not surprising given that it is a $130Bn market. Now that Groupon and Living Social (a Lightspeed portfolio company) are growing s0 fast, it is attracting even more attention from startups.

Most of these startups focus on innovating on their product, and aim to have a “sales light” approach.

Usually they start with a self service business model, expecting local businesses to go to the web to sign up for service on their own. They mostly point to Google as the evidence that self service can scale.

I’ve long been skeptical that self service works for selling products to local businesses. From my time at CitySearch in ’96 to today, I haven’t seen this work. In fact, I’d argue that ReachLocal exists as a public company solely because Google can’t get local merchants to self serve. Today, perhaps lost in the holiday shuffle, the WSJ notes that even Google has turned to a call center sales force to reach local merchants.

The Internet-search giant this year has hired several hundred sales representatives to call U.S. businesses such as spas, restaurants and hotels to promote new advertising initiatives, people familiar with the matter said. The effort includes an office in Tempe, Ariz., with around 100 sales representatives, one of these people said.

The other business model that startups attacking local hope to rely on is channel partnerships. Many startups have struck deals with local yellow pages, or newspaper groups, to sell their product too. They have typically been disappointed when sales numbers come in far short of projections. It is hard to get someone elses salesforce to know and care about your product as much as you do, especially when they are used to selling traditional media and not online media.

The winners in this category (Yelp, Groupon, Living Social, Yodle, ReachLocal, CitySearch etc) have all relied on a direct sales force, whether on the phone, or feet on the street, to drive their revenue growth.

If you want to make a business in local online media, you have to control your own destiny and build your own salesforce.

How I Pitched @TechCrunch And 13 Ways To Get Press When You Launch Your Startup

How I Pitched @TechCrunch And 13 Ways To Get Press When You Launch Your Startup

Oct 18

I outlined 16 must have customer acquisitions techniques for startups in a post last month. One of the most important techniques comes in the form of Public Relations and I think its important enough to warrant its own article. PR is how you launch companies, build buzz, and get valuable attention that ranks well above the noise of buying advertising. For example Apple only aired the 1984 ad once, but received over five million dollars of free publicity due to everyone talking + airing the ad again on the news. Like anything worth striving for in life, getting attention from the press is hard, but if you attack it with the right approach, it becomes fairly easy to do. We’re launching a new version of Padpressed later this week and I thought I’d share some tips I’ve learned over the years.

A lot of entrepreneurs ask me how I got on TechCrunch with PadPressed, so I included the exact email I used to pitch and get on TechCrunch at the end of the article with some notes.

Tell a Story

The goal of a journalist and blogger is to engage readers and get more views/subscribers. Something boring certainly won’t entertain the readers, so why would they write about it? Journalists are also in a position of power. They have hundreds of startups pitching them everyday and vying for attention, so you need to stand out of the crowd. The best way to do this is to tell a story that will transfer from (a) your mouth to (b) the journalist’s keyboard to (c) the reader’s eyes. If you can tell a story that intrigues and grabs people, journalists are far more likely to write about you, as it will drive adoption of their product.

Be Prepared Technically

Things spread fast in this day and age. Even if you’re not actively pitching, once you’re out in the wild, anything can happen. Articles can’t be re-written and you only have one shot at first, so make sure your app can leave a good impression. Around the time of launch, allocate more resources than normal in terms of hardware. This is so much easier to do now vs. five years ago due to Rackspace and Amazon. Also be prepared the second you give the story to someone as embargoes will most likely be broken in this day and age. You don’t want major press coverage to give a negative impact to users.

Segment Your List

You need to segment your press list depending upon the exact angle and topic of the publication. For example, with PadPressed, we’re approaching all the following segments of publications

- Traditional Tech Blogs
- Well known bloggers who could use the tech
- WordPress Publications/Blogs
- Apple/iPad focused blogs
- Media/Publishing Trade Specific
- Traditional media looking for iPad stories

You also need to adapt the story you tell and the pitch that you give according to the outlet you pitch. A WordPress blog should be approached much differently than a traditional media publication like the Miami Herald or San Jose Mercury News. It’s the same way pitching different companies and departments on a sale vary.

Give A Taste Of The Future

So when we pitched TechCrunch, we didn’t pitch it as a WordPress plugin company. That’s just not big news and though it’s a very cool, it doesn’t provide excitement. We gave a taste of the future of being available to All CMS’s, a hosted platform, and helping pave the way for the future of media via tablet publishing. Don’t talk too much about the future, since you’re not there yet, but give a glimpse into it. It also makes setting up future stories a whole lot easier. Once you reach those milestones, it gives the journalist something to refer back to and segway into the next article.

Be Brief

Keep your pitches short and make sure the basic gist fits into the first glance of a GMail subject line. Bloggers get way too many pitches on a daily basis and they need to get the gist of what you’re trying to do almost immediately. If THEY can’t get it in a few sentences, how are there readers ever going to understand what the product does?

Give All Links To Detailed Resources

Not being contradictory here, but complimentary. Keep the actual pitch email very short and to the point with a call to action. For more detailed information, link to it inside the email and make it apparent. ie- not thrown as a random obscure link.

Founders > PR Firm

It’s always better to have founders pitch a product than a PR firm. Yes, at some point, you may have a corporate com department, but for the most part, you are a small company whether or not you have a track record. Journalists also get a bit of an ego stroke when they deal directly with a founder (in a good way). It means a lot to them when an actual founder reaches out and takes the time to answer questions/deliver a pitch.

“Speaking of that and a heads up, some of the major Hackers & Founders meetups will be hosting the first in a series on how to get PR for your startup – with panelists from the founders who’ve done it, the reporters who cover them as well as the agencies who work with early stage companies. Shout out to Dave Ambrose on the Hackers & Founders Twitter handle for more updates when we do the event in November.”

Give direct Contact info and be quick

Most stories will go from pitch to print fairly fast in online media. Traditional print takes a bit longer, but even then, it can happen fast. When a journalist is on a deadline, they need to get the story done on time. If you can’t deliver fast enough, then you’re cut out. Give your direct contact info and during the launch period, make sure you are always around to answer questions. You should also give priority to whatever they need to get the article out – screenshots, giveaways, further facts,etc.

Ride a Wave

The best way to get press attention is to ride the wave of an already big trend being talked about. In some cases, you get an article solely featuring you or you may be part of a larger article on the topic. This often happens with iPad and iPhone apps or the trend of cloud computing. When I launched my first project to the press, we specifically aimed it at eBay raising their fees. The Associated Press picked up on it, resulting in coverage in USA Today. Here’s a throwback to my past days in the press.

Try to Make A Connection Beforehand

If you’re in the tech sector, especially in Silicon Valley, odds are you spend a good amount of time at events and conferences. Bloggers/journalists get paid to go to these events and are often there as well. Don’t go into a full on pitch, since you’re probably not ready for press coverage. Do try to make a personal connection beforehand just so the intro is warm when you are finally making a pitch.

Exclusives Can Help But Are Tricky

TechCrunch and other blogs often like to get exclusives, but it also hurts your chances with other blogs. Certain launches have certain goals. Is it to reach a specific audience? Is it to have the widest distribution and buzz? Is it to cause potential partners/acquirers to jump? Exclusives are like the super power up that you can only use once per level in a video game to kill a specific boss or opponent. Make sure you use it for the right purpose and at the right time.

Don’t Copy/Paste

For the love of God, do not mail/merge or copy/paste a pitch to a journalist. Yes, you can re-use some parts of the pitch such as what you do, but keep things at a personal level. You may have to type 100 emails, 50% of which don’t even get a response. That’s called having to hustle. You would think it’s hard to tell if something is copy/paste, but a good journalist can see right through it. No personalization, vague statements, etc.

Follow Up

First off, don’t pester journalists if they don’t want to cover you. It’s nothing personal and everyone makes bad judgment calls. There’s just not enough time to properly cover all the startups. If they DO show interest, make sure you’re on top of the ball. If they forget to followup, make sure you get them the info they need and get the article to press. Getting a piece of press coverage is A LOT like making a sale. Not following up on a warm sales lead is foolish and so is the same with a journalist.

Offer Something To Readers

If you look at many of the successful launches on TechCrunch, they often offer some NONMONETARY giveaway, usually in the form of early invites to the service or a limited number of free premium accounts. This isn’t bribing, this is adding utility to the readers of the publication. One goal of a writer is to provide utility to their readers. By offering access to an app that is hard to come by elsewhere, the story certainly provides utility.

Stunts Can Be The FireStarter

Stunts are a sustainable way to do press, but they can certainly get the momentum going for a company. One of the most famous examples to this day is Half.com renaming Halfway,Oregon to Half.com. AirBnb happened to do the same thing by selling cereal during the presidential elections of 2008 (Obama O’s and Cap’n McCains). You need to find a way to rise above the crowd and be a proverbial Purple Cow. Once you have the spotlight on you with massive attention it makes it a lot easier to get attention in the future for more mundane things such as product launches.

Leverage Your Contacts

Odds are someone you know, knows someone at a press outlet and can give you an endorsement. Being backed by the right angel or VC can be insanely useful as well. YCombinator companies are able to get tons of press due to the sheer network and validation of being part of YCombinator. Doing partnerships with other companies is also another way to leverage your contacts and network. By doing a partnership with an already recognizable brand, you increase the likelihood that a press outlet will take a liking to your pitch.

Example PR Pitch Email To TechCrunch

This is the exact email I sent to TechCrunch when we launched.  Nothing was omitted, including my personal info.  Feel free to say hi

——————-

Subject: Exclusive for TC: Launching Padpressed- make any blog feel like a native iPad app

Hey Mike,

Launching PadPressed tomorrow at noon EST and TC gets free reign on an exclusive before then. PadPressed makes any blog look and behave like a native iPad app. We’re talking accelerometer aware column resizing, swipe to advance articles, touch navigation, home screen icon support, and more. We’ve built some pretty cool tech to make this happen smoothly, and it works with your existing layout (iPad layout only activated when the blog is accessed from an iPad). Okay, I’ll shut up now and you can check out the demo links/feature pages below, which are much more interesting than my pitch.

PS- Would also be happy to do giveaways to TC readers. Thanks again and feel free to reach out if you have anymore questions (skype,phone,etc. listed below).

Video Demo:
Live demo site (if you’re on an iPad): jasonlbaptiste.com
Feature overviews: http://padpressed.com/features
My contact info: j@jasonlbaptiste.com , Phone: 772.801.1058, Twitter: @jasonlbaptiste, Skype: jasonlbaptiste

-jlb
772.801.1058
You Should Check Out JasonLBaptiste.com

———————

Some notes:

• Gave TC the exclusive due to the goal of getting a large reach and seeing if there was enough demand to further the project.
• Highlighted what it did in one sentence with key features following thereafter.
• Highlighted the tech behind it so this seemed special.
• Added in giveaways.
• Most important part:  direct links to the exact resources they would need, including my phone number.  Mike emailed back soon thereafter and Alexia called an hour after.  The article went from pitch to being live in < 5 hours.
• Update:  I added in the subject I used.  I literally spent close to an hour on it, email testing it.  I would send myself emails using the subject line to see how it would appear.

All of the above are important, but the one that will carry over to other aspects of your startup happens to be – “Tell A Story”. If your startup can tell a story, then you are far ahead of the curve. What PR tips have been the most effective for you over the years?