6 South by Southwest tips for PR pros

It’s not too early to start thinking about how to take advantage of the event’s great publicity opportunities.

Last year my firm helped launch two startups there. One client, Zaarly, launched Zaarly 2.0, and the other client was an app, but we’re not allowed to disclose its name. (It was named one of the breakout apps at SXSW by multiple media.)

Together, those two experiences provided many lessons, some of which I want to share to help those of you in the process of putting your plans in place.

1. Say hello to major media opportunities.

It feels like all the tech press is at SXSW. Though they’re inundated with pitches, they’re also looking for interesting, new things to cover. Bonus points if you can give them a story everyone else at the event isn’t already covering.

We organized an on-site media tour for the Zaarly CEO and secured meetings, which led to valuable coverage, with outlets including AllThingsD, Inc., and Mashable. We had a timely news hook because Zaarly 2.0 was just going live, but you can arrange similar meetings even if you don’t have a launch. Just make sure you have a pitch or story opportunity that really is newsworthy.

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.