Before focusing on content marketing or PR, make sure you have a product people want, create high-quality content that resonates with your target audience, and use various strategies such as Facebook pixel, influencer marketing, and customer profiles to boost branding and conversion for young companies.

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  00:00

  Make sure you have a product people want before focusing on content marketing or PR, and create content that resonates with your target audience.

  • Cat and Craig discuss a framework for early stage founders to think about marketing, content marketing, and press, defining terms such as content and PR, and emphasizing the importance of telling the story of your startup clearly and succinctly to investors, press, users, and potential employees.
  • Before focusing on content marketing or PR, make sure you have a product people want by writing code and talking to users, as press is not a scalable user acquisition strategy.
  • Craig talks about content marketing and advises to start it after making something people want and ensuring they're not churning.
  • Content marketing is like creating a product, and the key is to make something your customers want, not just what the general audience wants.
  • Early-stage companies should focus on engagement or conversions, set up analytics using Mixpanel and install a Facebook pixel to capture site visitors and remarket to them later.
  • To find your customers, ask them where they hang out and create content that does well on those platforms.
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  09:16

  Dedicate time and effort to creating unique and high-quality content, hire experts, and promote effectively to succeed in content marketing.

  • To succeed in content marketing, companies need to figure out where their customers are, what does well, and spend enough time brainstorming to create unique content that stands out.
  • The Onion picks headlines by having 10 writers each submit 10-15 headlines a week, with an editor removing names and the group picking their favorite, resulting in consistently good content over a long period of time.
  • Dedicate real time to creating quality content rather than rushing to produce something every week and ending up with low-quality content.
  • Hire people with domain expertise, be precise with language and be prepared to kill a lot of your work as you are not competing with people who make the same stuff as you.
  • Creating valuable and engaging content is important, but promotion is necessary and requires creativity and optimization for the right platform.
  • Airbnb improved their SEO by creating CD guides, which helped drive traffic to their site.
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  16:09

  Use Facebook pixel, influencer marketing, customer profiles, text interviews, and industry advice to boost branding, conversion, and hiring for young companies.

  • Using Facebook pixel, influencer marketing, customer profiles, text interviews, and industry advice can help young companies with branding, conversion, and hiring.
  • Next Thing Tools is a YC company that created a website with curated email templates for various purposes.
  • Engaging with your community on sites like Hacker News and Product Hunt, as well as publishing books, can be effective for building influencer status and acquiring early adopting users.
  • Wait to pitch to press until there's a call to action for your intended audience, and prepare a checklist of things to pitch objectively when the time comes.
  • Don't hire PR firms until you have more funding and inbound, as building relationships with reporters yourself will provide the most interesting stories.
  • Don't outsource pitching to press in the early stages of your company, build relationships and DIY your own PR by spending at least 30 minutes per week on recommended prep work.
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  23:13

  Create a media list, plan press pitches, and ask users what they read to get coverage for your industry.

  • Create a list of media outlets and reporters interested in your industry, ask your users what they read, and plan your press pitches in three to six month increments based on upcoming milestones and announcements.
  • AI is boosting brick-and-mortar retail sales, and to pitch a story, define goals and audience, draft a one-sentence pitch, a three to five sentence pitch, and answers to frequently asked questions.
  • Create a clear and compelling one-sentence pitch for your company that is easy for anyone to understand and remember.
  • OR B builds flying robots for inventory monitoring and surveillance, while Box offers cloud storage and file sharing services.
  • Robots with lightweight vision sensors are being designed to work alongside retail or warehouse employees, saving them hours of manual work per shift and allowing them to focus on serving and helping customers.
  • The box company is solving the non-recyclable and non-compostable packaging waste problem in the food delivery market with a patented box that improves the entire delivery process.
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  28:59

  Prioritize the right publications, use warm introductions, and keep your pitch concise to increase your chances of getting coverage from reporters.

  • Draft succinct answers to frequently asked questions by reporters, practice but don't over rehearse, and bullet point the three to five points you want to make sure to talk about in an interview.
  • To get coverage from TechCrunch, you need to have a news hook or be part of a current news story or trend, and avoid pitching during big news events.
  • Choose the right timing and audience when pitching your news to increase your chances of getting a response.
  • When pitching news to reporters, prioritize publications that cover startups at your stage and vertical, offer an exclusive to your top choice, and consider briefing multiple reporters only when you're a bigger company.
  • The best way to get in touch with reporters is through warm introductions, as cold emailing only has a one in ten response rate, while warm introductions have at least a 50% response rate, so creating a stack rank list and asking for introductions from your network is the most effective approach.
  • When reaching out to reporters, keep your email concise, give it time, and avoid obvious mistakes.
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  35:56

  Promote your published piece on all your channels and ask friends and family to help, but don't work with influencers who don't need your product.

  • Don't lie or exaggerate, don't act entitled to a story, don't suggest headlines or ask to see a draft when working with reporters.
  • Promote your published piece on all your social media channels and email list, and don't be afraid to ask friends and family to help promote it as well.
  • If journalists are reaching out to you but you don't have product market fit, focus on the product and don't spend time meeting with them.
  • When starting out in content marketing, it's effective to have a personal blog with a human touch, but it's important to have it on your own site for SEO purposes.
  • Working with influencers who don't need your product is not worth the cost and often doesn't result in significant conversions.
  • Influencer marketing can be effective, but paying influencers may not be worth it early on, and it's important to communicate both the current state and future vision of a company.
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  44:01

  Publish good content regularly to build your brand, but focus on finding product market fit and value over frequency.

  • Clickbait headlines may bring in more traffic, but it's better to focus on authentic content and titling it in a way that will appeal to your target audience.
  • Publish good content during the early stages of product marketing, aiming for monthly releases, but don't stress about frequency as it takes time to find product market fit and value is more important than quantity.
  • Publish frequently to build your brand, but without product market fit, it won't be helpful in funneling traffic even with a celebrity endorsement.
  • The potential downsides of having controversial figures associated with your brand are rare and not something to worry about early on, but it's important to be prepared and distance yourself if necessary.
  • Don't send updates to reporters about your product too often, but if you have news, reach out and give them the chance to say no if they're not interested, and engage with journalists on Twitter.
  • Herald is a tool that journalists use to send out emails asking for help on various topics, allowing experts to build relationships by sharing their knowledge.
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  52:15

  The speakers advise to ask questions and contact them through Y Combinator's website.