Tip of the Day: PR Agencies are Dead, Handle the Press Yourself

George Roberts

September 28, 2010

I was reading the Business Insider this week and came across the Tip Of The Day by Ross Mayfield, the President and co-founder of Socialtext, and it absolutely resonated with me.

At Openview Partners — a Boston based Venture Capital firm that invests growth capital in expansion stage software companies — we work with a lot of founders and/or CEOs to help them build great businesses with economically sound business models. Often, once we invest expansion capital in a company, many management teams want to go get a PR agency to help them “Build their Brand”.

As I look back on this, I can honestly say that 100% of the companies where not happy with their experience and, after spending thousands of dollars, came to the conclusion that there was no real value.

Ross states in his tip:

“Everybody has the ability to publish. You engage in direct conversations with both traditional journalists and bloggers through the Web.”

I could not agree with Ross more, and on our new OpenView Labs website we have some great ideas around content marketing and are currently running a series on corporate blogging that may help you achieve the desired results without having to retain a PR agency that Ross talks about.

Anyone who has met me knows I have an opinion on everything… however it does not mean I am right. What do you think… are PR Agencies dead?

All the best!

G

Venture Partner

<strong>George Roberts</strong> is a Venture Partner at OpenView. He enjoys partnering with companies and helping them achieve their goals through strategy, focus and operational execution. From 1990 to 2003, George spent 13 years at Oracle Corporation, most recently having served as Executive Vice President of North American Sales. While at Oracle, George was responsible for over $1 billion in revenue and more than 2,000 employees, reporting directly to the company’s CEO and Chairman, Larry Ellison.