STORYSTACKThe Role of Narrative and Story Telling

for the Educational Startup

June 1, 2014

ABOUT

• Tech PR / Branded Journalism

• 30+ years…. been through major shifts & cycles

• U.S. and Israel

• Met Amalia & Team at SXSWEdu in Austin / 2014

PRESENTATION

• Live on www.alanweinkrantz.com blog & Slideshare

• Tweet questions to: @alanweinkrantz

• Ask questions….I’m not here to “lecture…”

• Based on belief sets, principles, and experimentation

Istanbul - 29 May, 2014

A huge, global volume of education - related startups…. all vying for

attention in the media

Just get us some press…

Do you have the right contacts in the media to get us a huge story in….. ?

We have a huge (and important) announcement next week and we need to be covered everywhere….

_____ is on our Advisory Board….our team came from the IDF….we have the most

important educational technology in the history of man-mind….we are going to be the

Google of ______, etc….

I heard that if you _________ with journalists, it’s a sure way to get__________. At least that’s what a friend of mine at another start-up did….and got

covered in ______…

Education is very unique, and unless we have relationships

with media, how can do we this ourselves?

There’s always a story behind the story, and what it took to get there….

ALAN’S PRINCIPLES OF “GETTING PRESS”

• Listen

• Build a sustainable body of work

• Pitch - with expectations

• Keep listening and contribute to your ecosystem

LISTEN…

• Identify the writers, bloggers, analysts who you think matter

• Come up with 15 - 20 as your target and assign the founders the responsibility to tune in, read, and just listen…

• Share your insights with the team on what they write about, say, issues they cover, what they could be missing, and most of all, where you can help them.

A BODY OF WORK

• Depends on what you are doing… use common sense

• Social, of course,

• Blog is best.

• Helpful content. Not self-promotional.

• Write to help the media discover you and be an authoritative source…”thought leader…”

PITCH - EXPECTATIONS

• Introductory email

• Various ways to “pitch”

• Meeting and following up at conference is a good way

• Commenting on articles can help you be discovered

• Not every pitch sticks

As educational story tellers you have the opportunity to

add a massive layer of value to your startup

What’s Branded Journalism?

The art of applying story telling and building narratives to support and

reflect a brand’s values…

Having a body of work separates your startup… all vying for attention

The new tools of building your startup

Technology Stack LAMP Java

Python OpenStack

Ruby AWS

Rackspace Microsoft

IBM / Softlayer

StoryStack

Blog YouTube Instagram Twitter LinkedIn

SoundCloud FaceBook

WHY

• Builds a new type of defensible position

• Your body of work helps you define who you are

• Media can discover and cover you

• Can lead to new types of unexpected deal flow

StoryStack

Story

Narrative

Voice

Engagement

Discovery

STORY

• Sets the stage for the heart and soul of your company

• Builds and expresses culture

• Attracts customers, partners, media, etc

VOICE

• Educator

• Researcher

• Helping kids

• Gets parents

• Inspirational

NARRATIVE

• Connected events

• Gluing your story together

• Ties your channels together

• Helps you express, connect and engage with your ecosystem

ENGAGEMENT

• Lets you listen

• Give your customers / partners a voice

• Enables amplification of your story

• Which can lead to….

DISCOVERY

• An act of faith

• Parents, teachers, kids are searching for you

• Let them discover you

• Find others

• Get discovered, covered by media

content (curated,

contributed, posts)

socialcommenting

writing

Branding your startup with content adds a unique layer of value

Your Startup’s Voice

BRANDED JOURNALISM EXAMPLES….

• News

• Content

• Story Telling

• Media

WHAT’S YOUR VOICE ?

• Educator

• Love kids

• Helps parents

• Gets teaching

• A better world

EXECUTION…

• Agree to some basic milestones

• Don’t be afraid to write

• Don’t publish until you feel comfortable doing so

• Build out an editorial calendar

• Share the responsibility with your co-founders

EXECUTION

• Decide on the outposts (channels)

• Allow 90 days to get the process going

• Use stock tools

• Your SmartPhone is a very powerful story telling platform

SUGGESTED READING

!

• www.adweek.com/topic/branded-content

• www.digiday.com

• www.battellemedia.com

• www.ragan.com • all photos (except for The Beatles, BB King, etc) by me.

LET’S CONNECT…

• Twitter

• Facebook

• LinkedIn

• Instagram

• SoundCloud

• YouTube

Thank You.

alan@weinkrantz.com www.alanweinkrantz.com

all photos by me…