1. What is your approach to Web design?
2. In which Web development services does the firm specialize?
3. What technologies will you use to create my Web site?
4. Can you show me samples of other Web sites you have designed and provide client references?
5. Do you have experience in my industry?
6. How experienced are the people who will work on my project?  What are their skills and credentials?  Are the people involved in the project selling process going to be involved in the on-going project?
7. What is the process for updating and adding new pages to the site?  What is the turnaround time for updates (if the developer is going to provide maintenance)?  How do you manage the handoff of the site management to clients and what training do you offer to help them become self-sufficient (if you are going to manage your updates and site maintenance internally)?
8. How often do you work on projects in my budget range?
9. What are your payment terms for initial development and ongoing maintenance?
10. Will I get all of the source files needed to maintain and revise the site, including all editable graphics files such as Photoshop, Illustrator, or Fireworks files?  (Make sure the answer to this is yes!)

A well-executed public relations program is one of the most cost effective promotion programs a bootstrapping company can select – especially when implemented with support from inexpensive targeted direct marketing (email, postcards, and sales letters) and an integrated Web marketing program.  In addition to helping build buzz about your company and products, a good PR campaign fuels Web traffic and generates fresh content for your Web site, collateral, and direct marketing pieces.  The individual elements certainly don’t have to cost a fortune, but together they deliver much more bottom line value than any single effort.

It is true that working with a traditional PR firm can seem expensive.  The minimum monthly fee for many firms that accept startup clients is around $5,000.  This typically buys a few hours of consulting from an experienced account executive who manages your program and weekly editorial calendar monitoring and story pitching by a junior associate.  Once your startup can afford a $5,000-$10,000 monthly retainer, a good public relations agency can offer outstanding value for your marketing program.  Until then, here are a few tips for building your PR program on a tight budget:

1) Do it yourself via bootstrapping.  Public relations isn’t rocket science and you don’t have to pitch every publication in the known universe to be effective.  Target a set of 10-75 publications that cover your market segment and create your own press list.  Read the most important publications regularly and familiarize yourself with the editors and reporters who cover stories in your industry.  Visit the advertising sales sections of the publications’ Web sites to find their editorial calendars, lists of the features they are planning for upcoming issues.  You can use these to pitch yourself as a resource or send relevant product information to the reporters working on stories related to your business.

When you have news, send each reporter on your press list a copy of your press release – call the most important contacts to make sure they received it and to ensure that you’re sending it to the right person.  You can also distribute it via a wire service – the two major ones are PR Newswire and BusinessWire.  You have to pay a nominal fee to join these services and a fee for each press release they distribute for you.  Both services offer flexible programs to meet your distribution requirements.  They also host regular “meet the journalist” events that are quite informative and help you get to know journalists in your geographic area.  Business Wire’s Web site has exhaustive lists of the publications in their distribution circuits.  This can be a very helpful resource for building your own press list.

Initially, bootstrapping your public relations program is a very time consuming process, but if you establish good systems you can manage it eventually.

2) Do it yourself with professional PR tools. For roughly the cost of two or three months’ of public relations firm retainer fees you can subscribe to the press contact and editorial calendar resources that PR professionals use.  Bacon’s and Lexis-Nexis both offer large databases of press contacts and editorial calendars.  PR Newswire’s ProfNet service will email journalist info requests directly to you several times a day.  Using professional tools obviously costs more than the complete bootstrapping approach, but it gives your PR program more reach, allows you to pitch stories more professionally, and takes much less time to manage.  I used this technique quite successfully to generate quite a lot of press coverage for a small company in Silicon Valley.  Working diligently a little each day resulted in press mentions in Time, CNN, The San Jose Mercury News, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and many regional and trade publications.

3) Find an Independent PR Consultant  Hiring a freelance PR professional is an excellent way to build a high quality public relations program with a smaller budget.  Many freelancers are senior PR professionals with agency experience.  Since they do not have the same overhead costs as the large PR firms, they can charge less for services.  If your budget precludes even this option, you might find an independent consultant may at least be willing to develop a press kit and press list for you and periodically send you an editorial calendar opportunity list.  You’ll save a bundle if you do your own editorial calendar pitching.  Even if you decide to have the consultant do the pitching, you can save time and money by previewing the editorial calendars list and using your expertise in your industry to help target the most promising opportunities and eliminate the less promising ones.  (Make sure the consultant has subscriptions to professional tools similar to the recommendations in #2.)  You might have to shop around to find someone who is willing to offer bare bones services like this, but keep looking they’re out there.

4) Benefit from Other People’s Public Relations  Be sure to leverage you clients’ and partners’ PR resources.  If you do a joint release, work with their PR firm to help get the message out.  Many companies – especially other startups – are hungry for regular news and press coverage.  Help their marketing and PR teams get coverage and it can help you, too.

5) Submit Your Own Material  Write articles in your area of expertise and give presentations to conferences that have press coverage.  The more visible you are, the more likely a reporter will contact you for information.  Make sure you put your press kit in the media room at each conference or trade show where you speak or exhibit.

Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway, and Jon Warshawsky, authors of the book Why Business People Speak Like Idiots have made available Deloitte Consulting’s infamous “Bullfighter.”  This freeware plug-in for Microsoft Word analyzes your marketing copy then calculates a Flesch Reading Ease score and a Bull Index score.  Once you know your scores, you can adjust your copy as needed.

Download Bullfighter 1.2 here:
http://www.fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp

1) Pre-Show Marketing

Let people know you will be exhibiting at the show! Put a promo for the show, including your booth number, on your company home page. If possible, get a copy of the pre-registered attendee list. A postcard mailing to attendees about three weeks before the show is a cost-effective way to let people know who you are and where you will be. Sponsoring a contest or prize drawing at the show and promoting it on the postcard is a popular way to attract booth visitors. If you have an opt-in email list of your clients and prospects, you can send a digital postcard.

2) Pre-Show Selling

Trade shows offer an excellent opportunity for salespeople to meet customers and prospects. Many shows provide free admission tickets for exhibitors to distribute. Your sales team can invite their best customers and prospects to the show and offer them the free admission tickets. Also, have the team review the pre-registered attendee list. This allows them to identify promising prospects and to book appointments to meet with them at the show.

If you can prearrange multiple sales meetings to take place at the show, you can potentially save thousands of dollars in travel expenses and still have the benefit of face-to-face contact. Make sure you have some seating in your booth and plenty of coffee or soda for these meetings. If you expect to have many on-site meetings, consider adding a small meeting room to your booth. A 10′ × 20′ booth space can accommodate a comfortable meeting room without sacrificing too much exhibit space. Another alternative is to rent a meeting room off the show floor or in the hotel for these meetings. Meetings at these locations are more difficult to schedule, but the locations are more conducive to longer, in-depth meetings.

3) Pre-show (and On-site) Public Relations

Most trade shows and many conferences offer a wealth of press opportunities. Industry journalists frequently attend and report on major shows. If you request the list of pre-registered journalists from exhibitor relations, you or your public relations firm can try to schedule appointments to participate in media interviews at the show. Also, if you have any company news in the weeks before the show, you might consider delaying your news release and making your announcement at the show. Make sure to put your press kits in the show’s press room.

4) Pre-show Training

Is your booth staff trained to talk about your products and your company? Can they clearly explain your value proposition and the features and benefits of your product? Are they comfortable talking to strangers in a crowded exhibit hall? Use role-playing exercises to practice answering the most common questions the staff will encounter at the show. Also, make sure they completely understand how to collect business cards or swipe the badges of show attendees who are interested in your product.

Now that you have collected your leads, do not forget to follow up promptly within two to three weeks of the show. It is very easy to let this slide as your sales and marketing team members try to catch up on the work that accumulates while they are out of town at the show. Once again, pre-show planning can make a difference. You can even plan and prepare your follow-up campaign before the show.