The holy grail for publicity-starved tech companies might be TechCrunch, GigaOm or Techmeme -- but there are other more effective ways to get attention. For example, getting featured on Good Morning America, like JobVent.com and Glassdoor.com did this morning, can put a product in front of millions of viewers who might not normally find it on the Web.
Good Morning America on ABC and The Today Show on NBC both average around 4,000,000 viewers per day. That's more traffic than just about any news website you could get your product on -- far more than TechCrunch, that's for sure. If your site appeals to the average joe, like company review sites JobVent.com and Glassdoor.com, getting a profile on a widely watched tv show will do wonders for your unique numbers, and give a nice clip to show potential investors.
A number of companies were profiled in this ABC News piece on how to get information on potential employers and coworkers. The clips give advice to job hunters looking for information about the culture about prospective companies and insight into how much salary to ask for.
Glassdoor has been written up by TechCrunch before, but mainstream attention and appeal is needed to help a site truly thrive (for a site missing both of those, see: FriendFeed). That being said, getting noticed by a high-profile tech site is probably the first step on the way to landing a spot on the Today Show.
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Comments
Yes, but demographically speaking, the type of company profiled on TC versus GMA would appeal to two totally different customers. How many "2.0" businesses would consider GMA viewers their target audience (maybe a slight percentage)? I suppose it depends on the type of site featured. For instance, I would be willing to bet a Glam network site might do fairly well on GMA, and beyond the natural traffic spike actually get new repeat customers.
True, Eric, but the Web 2.0 early-adopter crowd will never support a site on its own. Crossovers like Facebook, etc. are the tipping point for these sites.
ummmm, 4 million viewers? Silicon Valley needs to stop being so insular and start thinking out of the box when it comes to media coverage. would you turn down the coverage? i don't think so.
I'm not sure what your point is, Jessica.
my point is in my experience counseling many start up clients they believe there is a silver bullet for PR...and they limit themselves to audiences and opportunities to reach audiences. it appears Glassdoor did not do that, hence the results. It is not an either or decision. i cannot tell you how many clients think there is some formula - get a story here and here - and we'll get users and investors, particularly in Silicon Valley. Trying to get them out of that mindset is impossible. GOOD pr just does not work that way, and i think your post gets to the heart of this...as pr seems to be getting a bad wrap these days.
....and i was reacting to the nitnork comments above...come on people 4 million viewers???!!!
Ah! I thought you were disagreeing with me, but I couldn't figure out how.
I've been featured on techcrunch twice.
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
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