It’s time for a fractured fairy tale: Spinning the Web: P.R. in Silicon Valley, courtesy of the New York Times.  Once upon a time in a Sand Hill Road conference room, an entrepreneur, a VC and a PR consultant met to discuss the launch of Wordnik, a website about language and word usage. The PR person suggests a press tour of leading tech blogs (TechCrunch, GigaOm, etc.).  This suggestion is rejected by the VC as not a good match for a language website. Instead, they decide that they would have influential Silicon Valley entrepreneurs mention Wordnik in social media.  As so it came to be.  Digg founder, Kevin Rose, twittered that Wordnik was “truly amazing.”

From there, people started madly retweeting, which led to Wordnik becoming a trending topic on Twitter. Then, everyone in the Valley was abuzz about Wordnik. People will look back on these past few months as the “Summer of Wordnik.” And they all lived happily ever after.

Except that in the real world, the launch of Wordnik went virtually unnoticed.  As Michael Arrington reported in TechCrunch, Wordnik received a small blip in traffic and then quickly returned to its previous minuscule level. Since this is a fractured fairy tale, the frog doesn’t get turned into a prince.  But there are some lessons to be learned.

Hipsters vs. Word Nerds:  Before starting a launch plan, the first imperative is to determine “who is the target audience?” Then, look for the best way to reach them.  Here the target audience was …. Wordniks. The VC was correct that word nerds really don’t follow mainstream tech blogs.  But targeting hipsters using twitter is more about making a fashion statement than a viable launch plan for a language website.  

Something Old, Something New:  Much of the debate generated by the Times article is about whether social media is replacing PR. This is based on a false premise. The rise of new technologies doesn’t mean that the old technologies are banished to a virtual thrift shop. The new supplements the established. The old technology adapts to fit in with the new. At the time of the original Fractured Fairy Tales, PR people mailed press releases to the local newspapers. Today, the number of communication tools and influencers has increased exponentially. But press releases now incorporate SEO and still remain in the mix.

PR and Social Media, Better Together: Combining PR and social media into an integrated strategy can deliver great results. PR provides an efficient way to quickly gain traction with the targeted influencers and audience. Social media builds connections with these folks.  By social media, I mean participating in conversations on Twitter and Facebook, joining the blogosphere by writing and commenting on blogs rather than having Internet celebrities tweet on your behalf. You could argue it would be better to just use social media to gradually grow an audience (especially with a niche product).  But these days, VCs and board members want to see immediate results, as evidenced by Wordnik’s VC participating in the PR discussion. Though prior to launching a PR campaign, it is important that the product is ready for the attention (see: PR for Tech Start Ups – Are you ready for your close up?).

The Happy Ending: Completion of a product launch should be the first of many interactions with customers, partners, and influencers. There are many opportunities to build, even on a less than successful launch. After all, it’s more important where you end, than how you start. And this is where this post happily ends.

Brianna Schweitzer and I just left the Florida Venture Forum’s Capital Conference in Naples.  It was a fabulous event, and did an excellent job of connecting investors from all over the world with emerging companies throughout the state of Florida.  As you may guess, the buzz was all about the economy.

The keynote was Martin Schaffel from AVI-SPL.  He told a compelling story of true entrepreneurship and how he grew from a University of Florida graduate without a dollar to his name, to running a $400 million a year company.  For thirty minutes, we were captivated with a story that was lighthearted, interesting and inspiring, then ended abruptly with the message that things will be hard for a couple more years.

Even with the down economy, the people at the conference who were most inspiring were those with a positive outlook.  It was said more than once that the greatest economic times in our country were born out of the very worst times.  It was refreshing to be at a conference and see hopes high, business flourishing and deals being made.  The overall feel was uplifting, and reminded me of one of my favorite quotes that has gotten me through many times and has rung true everytime:

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”  -Harriet Beecher Stowe

My key takeaway from this show is the importance of staying positive and keeping focused on putting yourself in position to succeed.

Apologies to anyone looking for stock market advice based on the title. But to paraphrase Bones McCoy, we’re a tech PR blog, not the Wall Street Journal. However, we are talking about money today.

In the new financial climate, sales, business development, public relations and venture capital are now intertwined. Yesterday, a VC told me that he could no longer provide venture capital funding for start ups that do not have any sales revenue. His advice is that companies need to ramp up their business development and PR efforts now, even if they are not in the process of raising money. This will ensure that when they are raising funding, they have the requisite sales track record.

We also are seeing a related trend. Start up clients now are looking at the publications that are followed by VCs and the financial community as part of the top tier publications. One more piece of evidence for the connection between your PR efforts and venture capital.

The decision as to when to launch a PR campaign is more about determining your marketing goals than about picking a date. When you launch a PR campaign, you are shining a kleig light on your company and inviting the world to take a look. Typically, this means that your product is available, with website and marketing materials ready.

However, we are starting to see a trend where companies are now looking to raise awareness in advance of having an actual product. These companies tend to be in developing areas of technology where the start ups want to establish themselves as thought leaders and experts in their emerging fields. It is especially important for a start up with products that have long purchase cycles to get on the radar of their potential customers as early as possible.

Another reason to get started with PR early is if the start up is looking for financing. Coverage in publications followed by VCs and angel investors can expand the universe of financing options and create the opportunity to finance on better terms.