Part of the problem that start-ups have is that they completely overlook the necessity of a knowledgeable, reputable, well-connected PR practitioner - and the investment in such a person is worth 100 times their salary/fee when it comes to advancing their brand and product/services.

As a former tech PR practitioner, I have to say that it can be a bit daunting to know what each editor wants to hear - every editor has their own agenda and can be a bit insistent that you, as the one providing the info, know what they want. Many who are not wise to the ways of Public Relations conduct briefings can be cookie cutter clones - with no regard as to what the editor wants or needs from the company. But my job was to make sure that I did the research on each publication and editor, so that each editor receives the briefing that meets their needs and the needs of their readers (their customers - ultimately).

As to the comment of the “untechnical” people using briefings as a platform - in my position, I made certain that we facilitated access to those that had the knowledge base to address the questions that cold possible spring forth during the discussion process with an editor.

I won’t take too much umbrage with the press release comment - the releases that I was responsible for were crafted to get as much technical information out to the editors for them to communicate to their readers without spec overload (trust me trying to reign in the engineers can be a merciless job).

Thank you gentlemen for reinforcing that we PR folks can be useful in business - not just a pain-in-the-rump when product folks want to toot their horns!

Charity

I made one of the worst mistakes an editor can do, namely, jumping to a conclusion. Haste makes waste, as they say. Cheers!

Are you playing the devil’s advocate?

No I’m not. You said that from my website, it looks like I had had press briefings before. What I have on my website is a press release but I have never been in a face to face meeting with the press about my company and/or product. So that is why I erroneously equated briefing to press release.
As you pointed out in your reponse to Gene, I know the technology “in painful detail” but very little about anything else, like “engaging the press.”
Thanks for your clarification.

NEVERTHELESS, briefings can be a very useful way to get the attention of editor(s) or investor(s). The problem is that many start-ups are understandably headed by someone who understands the technology in painful detail, but knows very little about anything else (like actually creating a product, engaging the press or creating useful PR/marketing material). Which is why many of us seasoned editors have such great tales about briefings with startups.

I really do like to cover startup companies, having worked as an engineer or program manager in several startups myself. I’m sure that Chris Edwards (see my original post) likes to cover startup, too. It’s just the unproductive briefings that I (and Chris) try to avoid.