c3PR - Mar Junge

At c3PR, we love to work with well-funded startups. The excitement is contagious and their work ethic amazing. Check out our Expertise page. You’ll see names of companies we’ve worked with since they were just a gleam in the founder’s eye. And other companies you may not recognize because they’ve come and gone. But even if their first company didn’t make it, entrepreneurs usually bounce back. If you are one, or work with one, we hope you’ll enjoy our how-to guide.

How to Work with Entrepreneurial Clients

• Be conservative with budgets. Every successful business owner keeps an eye on the bottom line. Don’t be surprised if instead of looking at the benefits PR provides, they ask you outright how much the project will cost them. If you’re having trouble explaining the importance of an activity in your PR plan, give them a cost/benefit analysis.

• Be considerate of their time. Entrepreneurs tend to get up early and stay up late. You’ll likely see a comfy couch in their office — short naps are the backbone of most of the successfully self-employed. They squeeze in emails, calls and deals in between meals. Despite the pressure, many actually have a great sense of humor. But if they consider your latest PR idea a “waste of time,” they’ll be grumpy if not allowed to move onto something they deem more productive. So make sure your proposals are practical and non-fluffy.

• Be comfortable with competitive risk taking. Entrepreneurs calculate and analyze every risk, including the risk of doing business with you. You’d be wise to minimize that risk. Entrepreneurs are also extremely competitive, so be sure your skills are topnotch before challenging them to anything – be it sports, gaming, gambling, whatever. Fortunately, competitive risk takers won’t want to micromanage PR activities and appreciate minimal input on easily-taken-care-of situations.

• Have the courage to buck trends. An entrepreneur is not someone who follows the pack. If the rest of the world thinks one way, your client will likely think exactly the opposite or between the lines or even off into the future to see some eventual possibility most could never imagine. So be prepared to throw your data to the wind and try it their way.

• Be flexible and solution-oriented. Don’t be surprised if they drift off during a presentation and then swim back into the conversation to turn some random comment you made earlier into a business application. They are problem solvers in the extreme and get inspired by off-the-wall ideas. And they may get a bit irritated if you interrupt their stream of thought or creativity. If you’re proposing an idea, make sure it’s fully formed. They simply will not understand you wanting to talk through something without offering a solution.

• Be honest and direct. Forget the voluminous agency contracts. All your talent, charm, sales-ability and intellect won’t help if you’re a by-the-rules corporate suit. Entrepreneurs surrounded themselves with people a lot like them. They know when they want to work with someone and if you’re that someone, they’ll trust you enough to seal the deal with a handshake. So tone down the sales efforts. When an entrepreneur sets his or her sights on someone they want to get to know better, that person becomes their latest goal and business usually follows.

About the author:
Mar Junge has helped scores of Silicon Valley companies with their marketing and public relations campaigns since founding c3PR in 1982. A prolific writer and thought leader, her original and ghostwritten articles have been published in more than 50 industry publications. To contact Mar, email her or call 408-730-8506.