Unsure your startup needs a PR hand? Meet Coco Alexandra PR & Events. Co-founded by PR pro Coco Alexandra Chan and auditor-turned-entrepreneur Dan Lun, this six-month old startup wants to help entrepreneurs perfect their product launches.
With 10+ years of product launch, social media, PR strategy and event management experience, Chan has worked with a variety of big brands including Brickhouse, Lane Crawford and Redbull, just to name a few. Lun, who comes from an auditing background, grew tired of his accounting role – so he switched into a sales and business development role for a mobile payments startup.
After launching in March 2014, Chan and Lun began taking on clients in the food & beverage startup space such as ‘Craft Brew & Co.’ in Hong Kong’s hip Soho restaurant and bar district. Although the majority of their clients are in F&B, this dynamic duo plans on branching out into the tech space and are currently helping one startup with their app launch.
How soon should a startup engage a PR professional?
According to Chan, businesses that have just started up should hire a PR professional about 1.5 to 2 months before they launch their product. “We need time to evaluate everything, iron out all the kinks, make a targeted list for media and do a sneak preview or everyone so it’s a smooth launch for them,” she said. “There’s a lot of prep work needed in the preliminary stages that a lot of people aren’t aware of.”
How long is a typical contract?
Lun recommends their new clients to start with a retainer (contract) 2-3 months in advance before their launch, with terms of engagements running from three months to a year. “We normally sign a retainer with our clients, they pay a monthly fee and we list all the services we would provide to them. It’s all inclusive in one monthly fee,” he said.
Who and how can Coco PR help?
Coco PR will be offering special package pricing to ‘Early Stage’ to ‘Series A’ level Hong Kong startups. Here are two packages to choose from:
1. Basic Package (Min. 3-months Retainer)
Package includes:
- Target Media List
- Press Release Creation (not inc. translation fee)
- Press Release Blast to Media
- Media Inquiry Follow Up
- Unlimited phone calls/emails
- 1 Hour face to face meeting/month
2. Standard Package (Min. 3-months Retainer)
Package includes:
- Target Media List
- Media Pitching
- Press Release Creation (not inc. translation fee)
- Press Release Blast to Media
- Media Inquiry Follow Up
- Generate Editorial Coverage
- Facilitate interviews/photo-shoots
- Unlimited phone calls/emails
- 1 Hour face to face meeting/month
For pricing and questions, please email Coco and Dan at [email protected]. For more details, visit their website.
Though this is a nice way to help startups, however, you don’t really ‘need’ PR when you’re a startup. Startups should actually do all the above themselves.
There is only one thing you need and that is sales. May it be users or revenue, sales is the backbone of the startup.
These are just my 2 Cents.
I agree slightly with tlamvip, but in the age of Apple, Samsung and etc, a good product launch really does require a good PR campaign. Look at the “Coolest Cooler” launched on Kickstarter. First time around they didn’t meet their crowdfunding goal. Then they put together a nice media pack and video, got it viral, and then raised USD13 million. Good PR makes all the difference. You just need to make sure you hire the right firm.
In response to tlamvip and thor, I agree that sales is important, but marketing and PR DRIVES sales. Unless you plan on building out a 500-man sales army, you need ways to scale, and PR is a good strategy.
In addition, PR helps build stronger branding and market awareness. In our line of business, we used to have a lot of prospects say to us “Who are you? How come I’ve never heard of your company? Are you reliable?”.
Being all over the news gives prospects / consumers greater confidence in your product. It may not lead to 1-step conversions, but I can guarantee it helps shorten the sales cycle and brings leads.